Define your brand, business goals, and company mission.
Customers rarely buy products.
Instead, they buy into and from brands that they feel positive about.
Whether a brand inspires trust, trendiness, or innovation, people buy from brands they believe in.
This is doubly true for new businesses.
Without the history of a long-standing brand, customers can quickly dismiss a start-up that doesn’t capture their imagination or give them a reason to believe in the business.
Start by creating a company vision which covers:
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Your Unique selling point (USP)
Outline how your business is different to competitors.
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Why customers should believe in your business
Why should a customer use your business? What is unique, compelling, or different about your business?
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The reason your business exists
What does your brand stand for? For start-ups this is often the reason why you founded your company.
It might be to deliver excellent customer service, to sell locally sourced, sustainable products, or to offer 24/7 access to a safe taxi service, for example.
This is often expressed as a mission statement – it details why your business is here, what it stands for, and what it aims to achieve.
It brings the values of your company to the forefront, such as being friendly, secure, caring, and knowledgeable.
Make sure that your marketing activity communicates your brand vision and values, along with the products and services you’re selling.
These values also determine the objectives you’ll have and how you’ll achieve them.
Brand basics
Getting the brand basics right is important.
Make sure your brand name, logo, website, and email address are the same across all your advertising.
Use your brand vision – its values, USP, and reason for customers to believe – as a filter to pass all your marketing materials through.
If it doesn’t convey your brand, don’t use it.
Brand Logo
It may be worth investing in professional logo design.
Expect to pay between £500 and £2,000 for a decent logo and up to £5,000 for extras such as signage, vehicle livery, and marketing materials.
Ensure your logo ties in with your business message and your business name.
It needs to be memorable and easy to reproduce, so simple shapes and icons are better.
Ensure your logo is recognisable in black and white.
Brand advertising
Your brand will be the foundation for all your marketing material – from the copy you create to the images you use.
It’s worth investing in some creative support at this stage.
Ask a designer to take your brand values and mission and put together some house styles for how you create advertising copy.
What words and images should you use? Are there reasons you would want to avoid using certain words?
Think about typefaces you’ll use and why.
For example, thin, sans serif typefaces are often used by technology and modern business (Apple uses the San Francisco typeface for products), whereas an old-fashioned serif font such as Times New Roman suggests a business that has a long history and is more ‘serious.’
It's also worth giving some thought to whether your typeface is as accessible as it can be, RNIB have guidelines that may be helpful.
Learn more about how to set up a brand with our helpful guide.
Your previously read articles
Chapter four: Marketing channels
Discover the different channels a business can use to get its message to customers.
Next chapterDisclaimer: The Start -Up Loans Company makes reasonable efforts to keep the content of this article up to date, but we do not guarantee or warrant (implied or otherwise) that it is current, accurate or complete. This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind, including legal, financial, tax or other professional advice. You should always seek professional or specialist advice or support before doing anything on the basis of the content of this article.
The Start-Up Loans Company is not liable for any loss or damage (foreseeable or not) that may come from relying on this article, whether as result of our negligence, breach of contract or otherwise. “Loss” includes (but is not limited to) any direct, indirect or consequential loss, loss of income, revenue, benefits, profits, opportunity, anticipated savings, data. We do not exclude liability for any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under English law. Reference to any person, organisation, business or event does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation from The Start-Up Loans Company, its parent company British Business Bank plc, or the UK Government.
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