It’s a confusing time for you, the young entreprenuer, who is waste deep in paper work, trying to iron out the wrinkle in business plan and wondering how to make money for your company. There is still one more problem, how do you brand your startup?
There are essentially four types of branding that need taking care of: you, your company, your concept and your community.
What’s Your Expertise?
What are you an expert in? Upon answering this question think to yourself if you are good in golf and logistics then why not pursue a golfing company that ships clubs. Find something you are interested in and know a lot about. Since you have explored this option many times, you become an “expert” in shipping golf clubs. So you may have a startup site that imports and exports golf clubs from inside and outside the country. Now you become the expert of importing and exporting golf clubs. Not only the expert, but the go-to expert, which is more important. It’s all about how you position yourself and your company.
The People In Your Company
A cheerleading squad would not be a squad with one person. What good would one person do? But a squad of people can be visually appealing and much louder. A company full of enthusiastic employees are likely to spread the good word about your company faster than you can do by yourself. As always, strength in numbers.
Building Up Your Concept
Make sure people understand your concept. If you want people to sing praises about your company; being an expert and telling people how your concept works may cause people to stand behind your company. If your concept is already being used by 20 other companies, then finding away to tweak your concept would help you separate yourself from the others.
The Support Around You
Keep in mind the people who support your company. Talk to the people in your community and gather more support. Like a politician, knock on doors and hand out flyers, making sure to explain your concept along the way, (only with a startup, you may be handing out virtual flyers and knocking on virtual doors via social media). Interacting with the community will gain you more support and you’ll have more people talking about your company’s concept. Keep them engaged and interested in who you are and what your company is about. Because other companies may be aiming for the same community that you’re trying to target.
Branding your startup is more than just your company’s name or logo. You are the one in the middle of it all. You build the startup, you need to fine tune your expertise, and cultivate your support.
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