How a great Brand Strategy can save your Start-up from Failing

Ouch!

There are about 137,000 newborn business everyday day or about 5 million yearly as established in research done by Moya K. Mason.

But 90% of these businesses fail. So if I did the math correctly, 5,700 business fail every hour and an estimate of 85 companies fail every minute. So yes, after you finish this article, more than a hundred entities have folded.

So why do these businesses fail?

After building multiple start-ups, talking to countless of start-up founders and doing various research myself, these are top few reasons (in no particular order) why start-ups fail.

1. Lack of focus and clarity
2. Lack of motivation, commitment and passion
3. Taking advice from the wrong people
4. Lack of general and domain-specific business knowledge: finance, operations, and marketing
5. Raising too much money too soon or run out of money
6. No market need and not catering to what customer needs.
7. Not the right team
8. Poor product
9. Poor business model
10. Got outcompeted

Yes yes, there are many other reasons why start-ups fail, and as you read this, there are pointers you’ll like to add in yourself. But that isn’t my main point.

Let’s look closer to why would some of these reasons arise as an Entrepreneur builds his/her business.

Ouch!

The birth of the problem(s)

As Entrepreneurs, we are so focused on the Vision and Mission of the company. We are so concentrated on that one secret sauce we have — That one idea or service, we are convinced we might just hit the Home-Run with. We pitch and share that burning passion in us almost daily with any individual we bump into. Opportunities seem to be everywhere…

We head out to more events just to be out there, marketing and sharing our ingenious of an idea only so we may encounter an opportunity that may change the very fate of the company and our own lives for the better.

Being out there allow us to talk to people more often than usual, creating conversations out of thin air just so we meet someone who may take a chance on our business or product as customers, investors or advocates.

The more people we meet, the more ideas are bounced, the more we feel there are better methods out there to move forward with. That’s what a start-up is., isn’t it? — We have that ability to continually change and be agile, especially in the early stages.

Well, that is actually correct but.. it can be lead up to many problems too.

Soon, we are back in our garage, stuck with the idea or the business strategy that the guy from the coffeehouse this morning planted in our head. Or that new market that seems to make sense to target because that lady from a networking session we went to last night said so with much conviction.

And because of the obstacle we face almost daily, we get disheartened, and those fresh and newer thoughts just seemed so much more attractive and logical.

That defeatist parasite in us slowly grows into multiple problems, and soon, we become part of the 137,000 start-ups that failed that day.

We slowly get hit by the disease of Lack of Focus [ Point 1 ] and with that, little by little, the passion and motivation drain out of us [Point 2 ]. We get desperate and listen to anyone out there who seems to have “more experience” (well, sometimes we get so desperate, everyone seems more experienced somehow) [Point 3 ]. With that desperation, we lose the priority that customers are imperative and they drive the business forward, and we are just looking for ways to keep the company afloat, to keep the talents that stuck with us… [ Point 6 ].

Well, you get the idea…

Well, the good news is, we can solve many of these reasons with a comprehensive Brand Strategy.

After building multiple start-ups myself, I have come to realise that having a strong brand strategy can help guide us through really tough seasons.

Ouch!

But what’s a Brand Strategy?

A Brand Strategy is a long-term strategy that clearly defines rules and guidelines on how, what, where, when, and to whom you communicate your brand messages. It is a strategy that is put in place to create higher brand equity. (Read my previous article on Branding)

A well-defined and executed brand strategy leads to a consistent brand message, affects all aspects of a business and is consumer-centric — directly connecting to their needs, emotions and problems.

As Richard Rumlet expertly articulates, any good strategy must consist of 3 critical interdependent:

1. Diagnosis — A clear definition of the nature of the challenge. A diagnosis simplifies a complicated situation and identifies certain aspects as critical.

2. Guiding Policy — An overall policy or approach for overcoming the obstacles identified in the diagnosis.

3. Set of Coherent Actions — The coordinated actions set out to accomplish the guiding plan.

A strategy is the outcome of thousands of actions, if you improve those, you improve strategy. — Henry Mintzberg

Now that we understand as a whole, what makes excellent strategies let’s dive deeper into the topic of Brand Strategy.

These are a few critical components of a Brand Strategy:

1. Purpose — Your ‘Why’. “ Why do I wake up every morning to build this brand/business” What is your story.
2. Goal — What does your company want to accomplish, and how do you plan to do it?
3. Competitive Analysis — Understanding your competition and positioning your brand differently.
4. Target Audience — Clearly defining a specific type of target audience and clearly understanding their needs and wants. I cannot emphasise how important this is.
5. Brand Promise — After understanding your customer’s needs, what is it that your brand can help solve?
6. Brand personality — Creating that relatable connection between your customers and you. The more ‘Human’ approach.
7. Brand Identity — Your artistic direction that compliments your brand personality so people can visually relate to your now ‘Human’ brand.
8. Internal Employees — Employees often have a much deeper relationship with customers, so nurturing them as ambassadors of your brand is how they’ll inherit your branding strategy.

Remember, to improve your strategy, has very little got to do with coming up with broad strategic plans, its to improve the behaviours. If we can improve many behaviours, (how we interact with our customers, how we interact internally) we will improve the brand strategy.

Ouch!

How does a long-term strategy help save a startup?

So, as mentioned above, to improve behaviours, the real key is to be this — Consistent.

We are what we repeatedly do — Aristotle

Be consistent with point 1–8 of your brand strategy. I mean, like consistent. If I would ask you to describe Donald Trump to me, you definitely can because of his iconic blonde hair, white shirt and thick red tie. Same goes for Steve Job’s black turtle neck, blue jeans and sporty shoes.

To be consistent, we have to check back with the guidelines in everything we do, and it helps with our decision-making process on individual business decisions or even marketing campaigns. It helps us to stay focus and on track. It helps remind us why we first started the company, which target market we are addressing and their pain points, despite the noisy world out there.

Let’s talk about Design and Branding or start-ups! Connect with me via Linkedin.