Branding Essentials for Startups
When starting a business, one of the main goals for most business owners is to develop a brand that is iconic, recognizable and, of course, successful. But the gap between setting up your business and coming up with a name, to building an instantly recognizable, strong brand can seem intimidating and difficult to start. In addition, determining what brand elements your company actually needs to be successful can also be a challenge. Luckily, we’ve outlined the brand building essentials for startups in this article to give you and your new business a starting point, and to ensure you have a bit of a plan for what you should be implementing to build your brand right from the start.
Before diving in, however, I just want to note that, whatever branding you and your business does, make sure it’s consistent across all marketing platforms and initiatives. I’m talking from your website to your social media profiles to any printed collateral you have. A strong brand is a consistent brand. If you want your brand to be instantly recognizable, you need to make sure your brand’s elements are actually recognizable and memorable. And the best way to make them memorable is to show them consistently wherever your brand is presented. So, how do you make sure all of your branding is consistent? Well, it helps to work with a branding agency (like us!), but it also starts with a brand standards /style guide.
Brand Standards / Style Guide
When you work with a branding agency to help build your brand, the first thing they will likely work with you on is a brand standard / style guide. This document, whether it’s a single page or a full out booklet, will outline exactly how your brand is meant to look in all marketing / public circumstances, and the rules that need to be followed to ensure the brand is always portrayed consistently. Again, ensuring your brand is displayed consistently is what makes it recognizable over the long run. This stage of brand building for startups is key, as you will be determining the overall brand image, look and feel that you are going to be using for the next 5-10 years (or longer)!
Your brand’s style guide will typically include your corporate colours, typography, corporate messaging and slogan, the types of images your business can use, how the logo can be displayed, and more. Again, when developing future marketing materials for your business, the style guide will need to be referenced to ensure that everything you make is on brand and follows the rules that you and your branding agency have set out in this document. It is also the foundation for everything that’s about to follow in this article.
Logo
During the brand standards / style guide development process, you will likely also start to create a primary and secondary logo for your business. After all, the style guide outlines how your logo can be used, so it only makes sense to design the logo at the same time!
Your primary logo is essentially your main logo that you’ll use in most places. The secondary logo, however, tends to be a smaller or more abbreviated version of the primary logo, which is handy when you need to place your logo in a small space, such as the bottom corner of a slide deck or on an envelope.
The corporate colours, and even typography, selected during the brand standards / style guide process will really help drive the look and feel of your logo. And, of course, the vision for your brand will also propel the logo to life. The key is to work with a graphic designer to create a logo that meets your vision, while also maintaining the your brand standards. After all, the logo is typically the most recognizable element of a brand.
Related: Check out our branding prices & packages here!
Slogan
While developing your logo, you should also start to create your brand’s slogan. This doesn’t have to be a long, winded write up. Good slogans tend to be short and direct, while very quickly providing insight into who your business is and what it offers.
Slogans can sometimes be incorporated into logos, however they are most often included in your website header these days, meaning it’s the first thing potential clients will often read when they land on your page. The slogan can also be included in several other places, including your social media bios, the cover of brochures, on your company letterhead, etc.
If you need help writing a good slogan, I’d recommend working directly with a copywriter as, again, the slogan needs to be short and very direct, so getting it right is important.
Company Website
Once you’ve got your brand standards / style guide, logo and slogan set, you’ll be ready to build your company website. Again, you’ll want the website to match the look and feel you’ve already developed for your overall brand, however now you will need to actually develop more copy about your business for each page. For small startups, a simple website with a home page, about page, team page, services page and contact page is generally recommended. If you’re selling a product, however, you will need to build out a number of different product pages with strong, sales-driven product descriptions.
Working with a copywriter is highly recommended when building a website. These days, a website is kind of like a brochure, as most potential clients will go straight there to learn more after they’ve become aware of your service / product offering. That’s why it’s essential to have good, direct writing throughout.
Branding Photography & Videography
While building your website, it may also be a good time to hire a commercial photographer or video production company to capture branding images, professional headshots, product photos or explainer videos. Strong, consistent imagery can really help sell a product / service, and also help make your overall brand image look more professional.
Depending on your business, you could also license some stock imagery for your website, however, when possible, we’d recommend creating your own imagery, as the content will be more authentic for your brand, and will really work towards telling the brand story you’re trying to create.
Slide Deck Template
Depending on the nature of your business, you may be creating a lot of pitch decks - especially in the startup days. Having a strong, on-brand slide deck template for your pitch decks can help set you apart during presentations, and also ensure that your messaging gets across as directly, concisely and clearly as possible.
When you work with a branding agency, they can either create a simple slide deck template that meets your brand standards where you will plug in the content yourself, or, if your pitch deck will likely be the same for most client meetings, you can work with them to develop all of the copy and layouts for a completed slide deck.
As a bonus, once the slide deck is completed, you can also have it printed and bound into mini coffee table booklets that you can give to potential clients.
Company Letterhead
A company letterhead may not seem like the most riveting piece of brand marketing, but you’d be surprised by how often you need to send messaging to potential clients using it. Sure, you could simply send them an email. But utilizing a branded company letterhead helps send a more professional message, and allows you to present your brand image in another way to potential clients, again helping make it more recognizable in their eyes. And, if you’re creating anything like a proposal or a quote, adding a company letterhead to the front is almost an essential!
While going through the brand development process, we’d recommend developing a company letterhead - even if you’re not sure when you’ll use it. They don’t take too long to make, and it’s one of those things that you’ll wish you had on hand when the moment arises.
Business Cards
In our modern world where smartphones reign supreme, you may be surprised to find out that a lot of businesses still utilize the old school business card on a daily basis. Why? Because a business card provides your client with a small, but instant, piece of marketing collateral that showcases your brand, who you are and how they can get a hold of you. Whether the client drops your business card on their desk or leaves it in their coat pocket, the next time they come across it they will instantly remember who you and your business are. Sending your contact info to someone’s phone will likely not have the same brand recognition effect.
In addition, networking is still essential for all businesses, which means, as a startup, you will likely have a lot of face-to-face conversations with potential clients. Make sure you always have a small piece of your company’s branding with you so that your clients can depart with something that truly reminds them of your brand.
Conclusion
When starting a business, there are a number of branding essentials for startups that will help make your brand strong, consistent and instantly recognizable. First, develop a brand standards / style guide, along with a logo and slogan, to ensure that you have established the general look and feel for your brand. Next, create a website so that your potential clients have somewhere to go to learn more about your service / product offerings. Finally, consider developing some additional marketing items that will help with your sales process, while keeping your brand identity consistent across all marketing collateral.
Branding Toronto
Does your business or startup need help creating a strong, consistent brand image? We offer complete branding packages, including web design, logo design, copywriting, business card design, branding photography and videography, and more, to ensure that your business has everything it needs to get started on the right foot. We also provide branding assistance for the Toronto, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga areas, as well as across Canada.