This is the sequel to the first part of this trilogy and I may or may not be making a Lord of the Rings reference. The last one was pretty lengthy so in order to stick to my original four minute reading time, I will be making this as short and as concise as possible. This is not a promise.
In part one we took a look at what differentiates a startup from a small business; how they both become brands; how a brand is built; the impact it has for startups and the three key elements startups need to develop a solid brand strategy. It was a bit exhaustive, I know. This piece takes a slightly unconventional approach to how startups can craft a brand strategy for themselves, especially since they will rather use their in-house marketing/brand/growth teams than employ the services of an agency--so from an agency guy, here’s a lean and agile way to develop a proper brand strategy for your startup.
Brands are like people; they have emotions, they have ideals, they have goals, they also have people they like, things they like to do and certain virtues they stand by. Though in all of this, people have a purpose. You may say “oh but what if I haven’t discovered my purpose on Earth yet?”, well honey I hate to break it to you but that’s your problem--nobody can define that for you. Same with startups, to each his own and with each new product or service is a different purpose. Assuming of course it is deeply rooted in the key human needs.
Developing Strategy
Startup lingo says lean=less clutter. I agree, because when you are built to scale you must focus much more on your North Star Metric than anything else. As it should be. Brand strategy takes the same approach, where the key focus is on purpose, while everything else is built around it.
So if your startup sells cake for instance, the purpose of the startup is to be at the beck and call of cake lovers, satisfying them with flavours from tasty dimensions.
Yes, purpose exaggerates the EXPERIENCE but not the product/service. Since it must stem from a human need, saying almost nothing that has to do with the business, but DESCRIBING everything that has to do with the user. From purpose, you build what is called a brand platform. Which is where you assemble the person the brand is meant to be.
Brand Platform
After your startup has discovered purpose, it must proceed to establish the pillars for which it will stand upon. Now, many books and courses have exhaustive pieces on this but like i said: lean and agile, so here’s how you can set them up:
Brand Objectives: these are the functional benefits of your business. Best to keep them at three but if you must list plenty, 5 max.
Brand Mission: this is the singular emotional benefit of your business. Don’t say too much. It should answer the most basic question of “why?”. So if it’s cake, then why do people eat cake? (It’s best to answer the “why?” question five times so as to give your brand mission some clarity.)
Brand Vision: that crazy reason that made you want to build a startup, this is where it goes. Does your cake startup want to make cake as easy to come by as eggs? Say it here, no holds barred.
Brand Architecture: most startups eventually incorporate other services in their makeup. Some offer two or three at a go. This is where you display how they’re all connected. If you want to sell custom ordered cakes and champagne for people who attend the Opera ONLY, that’s a luxury arm of your regular cake startup so it’s best to show how it's directly or indirectly connected to the main idea. (This comes after the functional and emotional benefits have been defined so that the big picture has been established and you’re only fitting bits and pieces).
Brand USP/UVP: what makes you special? This is where you combine your emotional and functional benefits into one. (My cake startup USP: we sell happiness through cake at egg-level prices)
Target audience: I made quite an elaborate piece on this.
Brand Positioning: now that we know what your startup does and how you are different from everyone else, it is still not enough. Your brand positioning entails how you want to be EXPERIENCED. To properly do this, pick 3 or 5 adjectives or verbs that you think clearly defines your startup, with reference to your USP. (The result of this exercise will lead you to giving your brand a personality).
Brand Archetype: this is the personality of your startup, where you clearly state how you want to sound or look like. This should help you with that.(Some brands have more than one archetype. That’s totally okay but please only two archetypes max: Primary and Secondary)
Brand Messaging: what’s your tone of voice? This should be done by taking a look at the emotional benefit of your brand and the archetypes you believe suit you. Use 3 sentences at best to describe this.
Brand Pyramid: remember what you did in brand positioning? Yeah that's the same thing here only these are the words you want your brand to be described with. List them in three sets of five words each: emotional, functional and crisis. (Crisis because you will most definitely have PR issues and your choice of words will allow you to navigate it. So, what do you want to be known for during a PR mishap?)
In the end…
People are hard to understand and brands are hard to develop. Everyone changes more often than not and it is the same way brands do need a refresh or a complete turnover. There’s nothing wrong with this, it happens often but since brands are built to last, it is wise to look at what you are building and ask yourself if this can survive the next ten years--or twenty. The reason the brand's purpose is rooted in human need is that no matter the advancement of technology or the human civilization as a whole, our basic needs will still be: food, shelter, security, reproduction/longevity, possession and community. In part three, will explore how to execute on an already crafted brand strategy.
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