Branding has always been an important and challenging aspect of building a business. It helps define success and increases the influence of customers on products or business as a whole.
While startup owners understand the importance of branding and typically devote a lot of time to it, they often make a common mistake in the process: they need to focus on branding and connecting with their customers right from the get-go instead of leaving these tasks to the end of the product development phase.
It’s time to re-examine the basic assumptions behind branding to see if we can transform the way we develop brands and achieve success in business.
In a presentation entitled ‘Successful Branding: Connect with your audience,’ Mary Jane Braide (Strategist, MJ Braide Corporate Development) and Brenda van Ginkel (Brand Marketing Specialist) underline the importance of branding for startups in these times of tremendous competition and pressure.
They emphasize how vital it is to connect well with customers, and offer startups the following key recommendations for improving branding success:
The following video contains five hot tips, followed by the full presentation:
Below is a video of the audience discussion from the ‘Successful Branding: Connect with your audience‘ presentation, part of the MaRS Best Practices series.
Presentation slides: click here
As they say, “The most prepared are the most dedicated.” Use these tips to build a strong brand from the very beginning!