Disclaimer: This Article was originally written by Saad Masud, Revised and updated by Athar Ahmed & Yusra Qasim.

“Your brand is what people say about you after

you leave the room” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Your brand is your company’s identity and it can be used to be a big selling feature, however, at the same time if your company gets a bad reputation that damages its brand then it will negatively affect the company. Your brand is a crucial part of your marketing and when used effectively can highly increase the success of any marketing campaign.

Why is digital marketing essential for startups?

The first step to building a successful brand is to first realize the aim of a brand; it serves to provide the company with human traits and a back-story to make it more relatable and more suited to sell a certain product. Redbull an energy drink, markets itself as an “extreme” drink, all the ads are an adrenaline junkies dream, and Redbull is actively involved in several sports such as mountain biking and Formula 1 races. All of this is to develop the brand that Redbull now has. Their slogans like “Redbull gives you wings”, implies that  a drink loaded with an unnecessary amount of sugar will somehow make you more energetic and athletic, though in reality the product has very little to do with what the ad campaigns claim.   However, since the branding was effective that’s now the drink’s image and why it’s a household name. Redbull’s campaign is a good example of a brand and how it can be used to sell a product, while the marketing and the product have no correlation the image of an extreme drink is created.

Your brand is more than a logo or a slogan.

Try to define it as a person and further what type of person would it be? Is it a male or female? Is it young or old?  What kind of activities would it do? What sort of personality would it have? While all these features may not be told to consumers directly it’s important for you as the head of the company yourself to have a clear vision of what sort of person your brand is. This allows you to evolve the brand when change is required. It gives your brand a more fleshed out personality and provides it a compelling back-story. The last thing you want to do with something so crucial to your business is to make it on the fly, take a little time out and build a proper brand. Don’t be lazy and take a risk on something so important.

Why is digital marketing essential for startups?

Build your brand based on your target demographic, for instance, if you’re selling children’s toys then you don’t want to be associated with any sort of risky behaviour. However, if you’re selling muscle cars then it’s a completely different market which has to be addressed in a different way. Therefore, build your brand based on your product, not the other way around. Who do you want to target with your product? Older generations won’t be interested in a product such as a gaming laptop, so your target would be anyone below 35 mostly. Even if older generations wouldn’t use your product there’s nothing stopping them from buying your product as a gift for someone else, and that’s where your brand comes into play. If your company is known as trustworthy, reliable and known for delivering a quality product then you can sell your product beyond a target demographic. Creating patents

Go the extra mile for your customer, as a new company with no established brand. There’s nothing as beneficial as building a strong customer base that appreciates your extra effort. Not only will these customers get attached to you and provide an almost guaranteed income, they will also market your product for you laying the foundation of a customer valued brand. The most important thing to remember with growth is that there’s nothing more valuable than organic growth, that is,  not only is it free but it’s the most sustainable, showing that there is a large enough demand for your product. A cheap way to build your brand and to grow your business is a referral system; provide people with benefits for inviting their friends.

If you’re entering a market which you don’t know that well, an easy way to figure out what sort of brand you should have is to check out the competitors. Examine all of their different brands and then build your own utilising parts of their brand you liked best, and then changing them to represent you and what you want to build. Make sure you don’t copy them but rather only use them for inspiration since you’re not going to pull the competitors customers away by being a copy of them. Identify what makes your brand unique, what makes it YOUR brand and use that to pull in customers.

Who would invest in your startup and why?

Conclusion

If you’re a small business with only a few dedicated customers then an easy way to develop your brand is to build a website for your customers. There you can post special deals for them and stay engaged with them. A website has the added benefit of providing you more data and analytics about who your customers are and who your target demographic can be. In the fast paced age of the internet, it also constantly reminds your customers that you exist. It doesn’t have to be much work either, posting a few times a week should be enough and even some interesting blog posts and backs-story about the company should be enough. Maybe some occasional behind the scenes videos can be helpful to build a more personal space. The website can be utilized to stay engaged with customers; people who regularly visit your site are far more likely to buy something so keep them engaged. Click here for more

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