The three sides to the branding story

For start-ups, focusing on the “branding triangle” can build a path to long-term success in the marketplace.Start-ups by nature are heavily focused on developing and implementing their business ideas and getting the business off the ground. This means start-ups spend most of their energies, efforts and funds on their offerings, and less on the value and benefit of communications, brand building and relationship development with their key customer personas. Put simply, start-ups are mostly focused on filling a gap in consumers’ functional needs. This is perfectly fine, because start-up ideas emerge from target personas’ needs and preferences. But while coming up with a solution to consumers’ problems is necessary, it is not enough to be successful long-term. The communication of the solution offering and turning it into an energised differentiator through branding is often the overlooked item in the menu, often an optional side dish. A toddler drawing with meaningStart-ups with a branding mindset often limit their efforts and focus too much on perfecting their visual design, font psychology, colour psychology and form psychology. However, without a meaning, personality and a compelling story of origin, your branding efforts may not go far enough. Instead, a toddler drawing-type visual design that is simple and has meaning and character may resonate better with your target audience, and may be more likely to come across as authentic. And yes, “creative” and “innovative” are the types of personalities most start-ups tend to adopt, so go beyond the common character of start-ups. Short-cuts to boost awarenessStart-up branding should in the early days prioritise descriptive branding strategies to boost brand recognition and recall. Descriptive logos use textual and visual elements to describe the key offering (product/service) of a brand. Match.com (matching couples) and Catch of the Day (now Catch) are examples of brand names describing the offering. Start-ups may also choose a visual design that doesn’t describe the offer but matches the brand name. For instance, SoundCloud, Survey Monkey, Twitter and Apple are examples of pictorial logo designs. Such a strategy may help with brand recognition, but it doesn’t necessarily help with forming a brand’s image and personality perceptions. Using metaphor instead is effective in communicating the meaning, personality and qualities of the brand. The best scenario for start-ups is to mix pictorial design with metaphor (mostly animals) with the brand name. This branding triangle can be the most effective in simultaneously building brand awareness and image/personality. Sherpa can be used as a good example of having all three elements. The brand name is Sherpa, the logo is a mix of typeface and the Sherpa logo, and the brand personality is around speed, being fast and agile (Sherpas’ characteristics). Start-ups should also avoid abstract logo designs, which could be seen as unclear or conceptually complex (meaning different interpretations of the personality and meaning). Abstract logos are mostly adopted by established brands since they’re known and there is prior knowledge about the brand, and a single branding cue would suffice to retrieve the brand from memory and associate key attributes and personalities to that brand. Until then, start-up brands benefit more from descriptive, pictorial and metaphorical brand elements. Creative spelling (eg Lyft) and fabricated names (e.g. Xobni, which is “inbox” spelt backwards) are also other name and logo design solutions popular among start-ups. Your logo shouldn’t limit your future extension potentials A logo design that is narrow and too specific may limit your extension potentials. It took Uber quite some time to figure out the brand logo that could be used as an umbrella logo, allowing the brand to extend into relevant industries such as Uber Eats, Uber Air and Uber Boats. From a lettermark logo to an abstract logo, then to a typeface all capital-letter logo, and finally a revised typeface word letter logo, Uber has made several logo design rebrandings. Instagram’s logo is another example of turning a visually complex but limiting logo into a minimalist and less complex logo, into a more extendable and transferable brand across industries. While the abstract and minimalist logos are more effective in brand extension, getting the combination of descriptive versus abstract logos right is a balancing act.  The role of supporting branding strategies Besides direct brand strategies, there are a range of supporting branding strategies that start-ups can implement. Branded content in the form of a signature story has proved to be very effective. Built on emotion, signature stories with a clear strategic message are great solutions to grab the attention of your target audience, and generate engagement and participation. Depending on what your customer values the most, through a signature story you showcase your solution for greater customer experience, your commitment to embrace and celebrate your customer persona’s higher values. Chipotle’s “Back to the start” signature story carried a clear message about what they offer: “fresh organic fast food” was a great success in terms of publicity, engagement and positioning.  Final thought: Have a vision about where you want to go, and what you want to be.About the author: Dr Abas Mirzaei is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing at Macquarie Business School.