Lean startups need lean branding

If you talk to people starting companies, you’ll notice a four letter word that’s rocketing its way to ubiquity. That word is “lean.” This is primarily because of Eric Ries’ New York Times and Amazon bestseller “ You don’t know until you try…

Considering the vast majority of startups fail, it’s easy to understand why Lean Startup methodology has spread so wildly. The problem is, a lot of people interpret “lean” as stripping your product naked and throwing it into the woods. Of all the things left out of a lean process, branding is usually one of the first things to go. This is a big mistake.

It’s a mistake because you have a brand whether you like it or not. It’s a lot like a personality in that regard. If you say someone doesn’t have a personality, you’re really just saying they’re boring. With your brand, this personality is the feelings and experiences people have when they interact with your product or service. People still have experiences and expectations when they’re interacting with your MVP.

Early on in the development process, the main role of branding is helping users understand what you’re doing and why they should care. You’re trying to find your voice. If you neglect branding at this stage, you’re building and iterating without factoring in how customers will experience and understand your product in the real world. The feedback you’re getting is tainted.

The little things can make a big difference

If Lean is all about building, measuring and learning, you should be doing the same thing with your brand. You should be doing Lean branding. Don’t worry about the standard branding deliverables that a lot of people get stuck on. No, you don’t need letterhead or a style guide yet. Hell, you might not even need a logo. Lean branding should be about understanding and learning from your audience. Do users get the offering? Do they respond to the way you’re messaging? You’re looking for the live wires–what generates passion, frustration, excitement? What gets people going? Play around, see what gets a reaction.

What you learn from a Lean branding process makes you much more informed when you build out your full brand. You know your audience. You know what relationship you want to have with them and what gets them excited. Now when you’re naming and designing and writing you have clear communication goals. You’re not doing a big reveal of your brand with little-to-no idea of how it’s going to be perceived by your audiences. You’ve done the work in the trenches, you already know how they’re going to react.

When you know where you’re going, it’s easy to be confident.

Great brands are great because they connect with us on a human level. They speak our language. Lean branding is a way to start the conversation with your audience and begin to build a relationship with them in a low risk, high reward way.

If you want to talk more about Lean branding, contact us here.