The Dos and Don’ts of Startup Branding

If you’ve read our blog, you know how often we emphasize that good branding, or lack thereof, can make or break any startup. No matter how good your business starting ideas  are on their own, you have to get people to notice, and then you have to get them to care. These are some of the dos and don’ts that every startup owner should remember while building a brand.

Don’t Fall For Trends

A big mistake that people often make when building a brand is choosing a trendy company name, slogan, or tone of voice. There are two things that can go wrong with this approach. First, your brand can get lost among its trendy peers. Or, it can work—but only for a while. But frankly, working for a while isn’t good enough in the business world. You need your brand to stand the test of time, so avoid trendy gimmicks while you are branding. Right now, a few trends to think about avoiding are: .ly, vowel dropping, and phoneme smashing.

Get Their Attention

The purpose of branding is to attract attention to your company and keep it. One of the most important business starting ideas is coming up with a company name that grabs people’s attention. You also need to think about whether people will easily remember this name, so it’s good for it to be evocative.

Compare With The Competition

Once you’ve got a naming idea that you like, write it out next to the names of your competitors. Does it jump off the page? You specifically need to pick a name that’s memorable in comparison to the others. Think about it: if you do a quick Google search for something that you need, don’t you usually glance through the first few results and pick the one that sounds most intriguing? You should assume that potential customers do the same thing.

Differentiate Constantly and Consistently

Your name isn’t the only thing that needs to stand out. Branding has a lot of other components; it includes everything from your color scheme to the attitude and tone of voice you adopt. Your business starting ideas are good—you just need to let them shine. Think of your branding as the clothes your business wears. Just like a great outfit, a good brand will turn heads.

If you need more branding and business starting ideas, the expert branding and naming consultants at A Hundred Monkeys are here to help. Don’t leave your branding to chance when you can work with experts who have a proven track record working with all kinds of customers. Contact us today to find out how we can help you get your business off the ground.