Brand Strategy 101 for Start-Up Founders

When the term ‘amazon’ comes up, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Online shopping, right? You definitely didn’t think of Amazon rainforests.

Similarly, when a term like ‘apple’ pops, rather than thinking of the fruit we remember the tech giant Apple. And when you search online, you are Google-ing. This is the power of good branding. All consuming their user’s mind. But these brands are famous not just because of their products or services, but because they have mastered the art of branding themselves to their user.

And if you have decided to join the legion of start-ups shaking up the market, you will have to achieve such a level of memorable and, perhaps even disruptive, branding.

Flora Fountain, currently one of the best branding agencies in ahmedabad, was also a start-up back in the year 2016. Through our experience, we understand that building a new business from scratch is tough. But still exciting!

So here we are, with a simple brand strategy for you to not be “just another start-up”!

RESEARCH & FIND YOUR NICHE

The first thing as a start-up you need to know is – who is your audience and what moves them. Finding answers to simple questions can help you get clarity on what you need to do next. Questions like:

• Who is my target audience?
• What do they like or dislike?
• Where are they?
• How old are they?
• How likely are they to seek a service or product like mine?
• How would they come across a product or service like mine?
• Who are my competitors?

And so on.

If you think you need help in finding the answers to the above questions, you can also hire the brand strategy services from agencies that hold expertise in these segments and find answers to these questions through user and market research. Such services include interviews, surveys, focus groups and workshops which help find answers to such questions.

As one of the best branding agencies in Ahmedabad, Flora Fountain also conducted a similar branding workshop for a manufacturing company. With the help of innovative questions and exercises, we assisted them in finding their niche.

IDENTITY CREATION

According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of all the thinking that prompts our behaviour (including consumer decisions) is subconscious. That means your target audience will be driven by subconscious factors that they associate with the brand. How the brand makes them feel, whether or not it aligns with their values and lifestyle, how they think associating with this brand will be perceived in their peer group and so on.

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Lift Up Your Brand Spirits with Humour

An entrepreneur, an advertiser and a comedian walk into a bar….

Yes, they made a knock off your pants funny campaign together, got featured on Social Samosa, generated a whole lot of ‘shares’ and ‘saves’ on Instagram and branded their message right into their TG’s minds!

You get the drift.

So why anad how are some of the best branding agencies in India and Ahmedabad, yours truly at Flora Fountain included, using humour to create memorability and differentiation for a brand? Read on to know it all…

WHY HUMOUR WORKS IN SELLING?

People love to laugh. It’s something that almost everyone has in common. That’s why using humor is a popular advertising technique. The key, of course, is doing something that a majority of people will find funny. Laughter is always good for people. It can reduce pain and stress as well as lower blood pressure. Getting people to laugh also makes them more inclined to think positively about a business and buy its products.

And guess everyone knows, that the best ice breaker in the world is jokes (after food of course). And some of the most commonly heard conversation starters are, “have you seen/heard that ad where…”. That’s how humour creates a recall for brands, making it stand out and get its message shared among more people.

POPULAR BRANDS THAT HAVE USED HUMOUR TO SPICE UP THEIR MARKETING GAME

Let’s take a look at how some of the brands became household names with their wit and humour in delivering the message and marketing their products.

OLD SPICE

The popular men’s deodorant and hygiene products brand is known to go meta with their campaigns, making fun of the whole idea of advertising in itself. It usually features a very well built, handsome man, doing something completely out of context in their commercials, like riding a horse on a beach while mouthing the catchphrase addressing women, “Ladies, your man can smell just like me”. Here, take a look at one of their television commercials that aired sometime back.

PRIME VIDEO

Amazon’s video streaming service Prime Video in India has decided go all out and tickle the funny bone to promote the movies and shows on their platform. One look at their India Instagram page and you’ll find out posts peppered with humorous memes and jokes all involving some scene or dialogue from one of the movies in their catalogue, and a pop culture reference. One of their longest running advertising and marketing gags is wishing its followers “Good Morning” through funny memes. Here check out a few:

A funny take on WFH scenes with Welcome

 

Using a popular scene and dialogue from ZNMD for morning wishes

NETFLIX

Everyone hates spoilers. And everyone hates that one Netflix subscriber in the group who watches every movie, every TV show right when they release and give out spoilers to everyone. Netflix gave out fake spoilers of its highly popular shows through huge outdoor billboards as a part of their smart and funny campaign asking people to stay at home during the pandemic, to stay safe from the coronavirus and spoilers.

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Brand Voice: The What, Why & How It Matters

Imagine entering a family event and meeting your reticent uncle who doesn’t talk much until you ask or tell him something. But then you meet his enthusiastic world-traveller son, and you both just can’t stop talking and exchanging notes on shared interests established during the conversation! Now think about it, do you give the same attention to both of them? Are you equally engaged talking to both of them? The answer, of course, is no. Just like your uncle and cousin have different personalities and voices, on which your level of engagement with them differs, just like that, brands too can have different voices based on their personalities.

But the million-dollar question, does your brand need a voice? And is it ready to have one? But what even is a brand voice?

Read on to find out answers to these and many more questions from the best known branding and digital marketing company in Ahmedabad.

WHAT IS A BRAND VOICE?

Every brand has a defining persona that leaves a lasting impression on the audience it interacts with and the customers it serves. This happens through the various ways it communicates with them, through advertisements, social media posts, branding activities, promotions, etc. The language it uses, their flow of words, the personality it imbibes on, is what comes together to form a brand voice that makes people remember the brand and talk about it to others, hence ‘spreading the word’ about it.

HOW IT MATTERS…

A brand’s distinctive voice makes it consistent, memorable and recognisable. A brand increases the awareness of its product, services, ideology, mission and vision through its voice. With the digital landscape now massively crowded, it seems like a competition of who is the loudest. But when a brand maintains its consistency in voice through its words, graphics, pictures, it stands out amidst the din and people are able to identify it out of the crowd.

DEFINING A BRAND’S VOICE…

Don’t know what your brand should sound like? Worry not… everyone starts somewhere, even Coca Cola did. The branding and content marketing teams from one of the best branding companies in Ahmedabad has these five tips for you to figure it out and get started.

IDENTIFY THE BRAND’S AUDIENCE

Every brand must ask this question to themselves first, “Who are we serving?” This question unravels many aspects of the ideal customer a brand wants. It further brings out more questions like, what is their age, what language do they speak, where do they live, how much do they earn and spend, who do they hang out with, do they travel and where, etc…

When a brand starts to find answers to all these questions, they come up with the persona of their ideal customer, and that helps them target and speak to the right audience in the language that resonates with them. For instance, a Taj hotel will speak impeccable English in their posts, but a local café like Eleven11 in Ahmedabad would prefer using slang, puns and jokes in their communication. You get the drift…

BE CONSISTENT, AND DOCUMENT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT

The success of a well-defined brand voice lies in the consistency of its application. And to maintain this brand voice, it is important to document every important feature and aspect that defined it in the first place.

This brand voice document must mention the company and brand’s mission, vision, the personality traits of its ideal customer, their vocabulary, the brand tagline & the story behind it, some examples of the correct usage of brand language, and mistakes to avoid.

This practice will be helpful for multiple departments, from the strategist racking his brains over the next promotional campaign idea, to the rookie writer who will be writing for the brand’s social media and marketing copies, to not got astray.

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Designing a Logo? Don’t Forget To Include These…

So you want to make your customers sit up and take notice, maybe do a little dance of joy and discovery too? So you want to let them know your brand’s story, how different it is from all the competition out there? After all, in the 90s, there were lover boys and then there was Shakhrukh aka Rahul.

Enter BRAND LOGO

And just like in the movies, brand love does happen at first sight. And logos, being the metaphorical face of a brand, are often carriers of the brand’s first impression for new and future audiences. Logos are also a great way to distinguish your brand from other companies with similar products. So let’s dig a little deeper with the experts from one of Ahmedabad’s best-known logo design and branding agencies to find out all that a logo can be and should be…

Brand or pictorial mark

Made up of a graphic symbol or icon which represents a real-world object. A perfect example would be, Apple.

Abstract

Logos which consist of a unique symbol tailor-made for the brand, like the one for Pepsi.

Mascots

These logos are made of images of a character that act as a visual representation of the business, like Colonel Sanders in the KFC logo.

Emblem

Logos which consist of a typeface that sits within a border or a seal. For example, Starbucks.

Dynamic

These are adaptable logos, which change themselves according to the context in which they are being used, instead of having a standard font-color-text combination.

Wordmark

These logos consist of text only with company names, monograms or initials. Think Subway or Coca Cola.

Knowing the whole gamut of logo options, how does one choose which logo style works best for your business? Well, here’s how…

1. DO EXTENSIVE RESEARCH

You have only one chance to get the logo right! So, do it properly! And how can you do it? With the help of thorough research. Good research will show how you can explore different logos to create a perfect one for your brand.

Dig deep and research your competitors’ logos as well. Don’t do it, to copy from them, but rather to check what kind of design, scheme and layout they have. See what worked and what didn’t work for them. And with the help of your research.

You should show customers that you are unique and different. Plus, being too close to your competitors could be detrimental, and get you into legal trouble. Moreover, be clear of your audience and find out what colours or concepts work on them.

After your research, create a brand concept that reflects the ethos and goals of the brand.

2. ALWAYS HAVE A STORY

Have you ever seen a big brand without a logo? No, because there isn’t one. Logo tells the story of the brand. And you need to create that story too.

When consumers see any brand logo, they are reminded of the stories of the businesses those logos represent. For example, when people see an iconic Golden Arches, they know it’s McDonald’s. It is a brand which people recognise without even seeing the name. The arches represent the newly-constructed architecture of the first franchised restaurant in 1952. Did you see? A story!

This is how companies which have logos connected to the company’s stories or mission are often the most successful.

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