Brand recognition: should I spend a lot of time building it?

[Torrey]

Starting a company from the ground up. Just wondering, in the midst of building a website, marketing strategy, pitch, and brand, should I be spending a lot of time and effort on brand recognition?

I.e. I spent hours last week developing a logo, name, business colors, etc. made t shirts and now making business cards and flyers. Will be making a bumper sticker for my car, few other ideas just to get my business name rolling.

Question: is spending time developing a brand crucial in the early stages of my startup, and, if so, what other things could I be doing to express my brand? Thank you bunches.

Torrey

 

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[Jchris18]

It depends on your niche and target market. It's not the first thing you should be doing in my opinion. What's the point in spending time making bumper stickers if you aren't even going to make a sale

 

[Gsuz]

I think developing a brand is crucial in every stage of a company, but for me that does not involve printing stickers, flyers and T-shirts.

It's more about creating a product or a service that transports the values your brand claims to stand for. Let your products and users be your ambassadors. People will get to know you and your company from interacting and engaging(read: buy) with you and your products/services, not by some bumper sticker on a Ford.

Create something that is worth branding. Then print stickers, if you want to.

 

[WaystarRoyco]

Make some sales. Show that you've got a viable product/solution. Save the bumper stickers for later.

 

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[Torrey]

Okay. So ignore the little crap right now as far as branding. I probably have enough now anyways. I guess now my focus will be to make the website user friendly while also getting my sales pitch in gear. This will set me up for next week where I can focus on selling.

 

[TJPB]

All good suggestions above. The product/service really is important.

Here comes the but......but, there are instances when people won't give a rat's butt about your product or service if there is no brand.

Have you mentioned elsewhere what your business is? Sorry if I've missed that. Would be good to know to answer this question better.

 

[healthstatus]

Question: is spending time developing a brand crucial in the early stages of my startup, and, if so, what other things could I be doing to express my brand? Thank you bunches.

No, backwards thinking. Create customers that adore you, they will build your brand.

 

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[Blueskies4me]

I wouldn't focus on it but you want them to find you through your brand...if someone is looking for widgets you'd be really happy if all they could remember was it was called Torrey something. When people say I have a Mongoose I'm pretty sure 90% of people think "that's a cool bike" not "that's a cool pet" because they associate the brand Mongoose with a decent bike. Some people's business is their brand like Angie's List. It would be harder to market if she just had just called it a Really Great List for Finding Awesome Service. As far as putting money into it, nah. If you identify how you stand out, people will find you.

 

[SerpKing]

Have you validated the idea?

Validate the idea, get some signups or sales.

I wouldn't put too much time/effort/money into anything until you know that the market wants what you're selling

 

[Torrey]

Ok. Thanks so much guys. My main focus has now switched gears.

 

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[Enki]

More often than not your product or service is going to evolve. you might come to realize that all that work that you did on branding does little to contribute to your bottom line.

It's the biggest mistake I ever made with any business I started or tried to start.

Have you validated the idea?

Validate the idea, get some signups or sales.

I wouldn't put too much time/effort/money into anything until you know that the market wants what you're selling

And to add to what was said here. once you have steady predictable sales you can reinvest into outsourcing what would take you hours to do in branding logos and such.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I wrote a post about pre-sales a while back...Get the money asap bro. Forget looking sexy with the business cards and logos.

I wasted an entire year of my early 20's building a website, creating an LLC, and having business cards made for a company that got exactly zero customers. Lower your risk by starting a business in this order:

1. Validate demand
2. Get pre-sale money
3. Manufacture prototype/service
4. Marketing, marketing, marketing
5. Scale, scale, scale!

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-astonishing-secrets-that-zen*******-never-told-you…exposed.50097/#post-327413

 

[RogueInnovation]

all that work that you did on branding does little to contribute to your bottom line.

Numero uno mistake I see intelligent guys making, is they think "how can I be THAT guy!" pointing at a poster of coke or something.
Most businesses don't need brand, they need to clearly demonstrate WHAT they are doing, how it is valuable, and how the person can get it without having to stress.

The second biggest issue I see all the time is manager stubborness, where the guy thinks "his vision" is the WAY the business will bring in customers (often its the EXACT OPPOSITE and his vision is stopping them succeeding). You need to focus on things that actually have a visible effect on the real world or that increases the fluency at which you can deliver your value at low cost.

Third mistake is big doe eyes, "oh please please please pick me!", lets not beg and plead customers to enter our shops but do the groundwork to get them excited and then be casual and cool with them as they and all their friends come and get some great deals. Nothing screams "I just want your money" more than a guy with big wet puppy eyes saying "pick me!", don't be that guy, be the guy that pounds the pavement and is so tired that when he meets a customer he is just HAPPY he isn't pounding more pavement.

Don't confuse branding and wanting to be better than everyone else because it seems like it will get you the highest return for your effort. Nah, focus on real things and you'll get real results. Brand when you have an idea on what customers really want and you want to consolodate on that business connection you have built.

 

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[UniversalMind]

Like the others have said, definitely focus on producing a viable product, after you figure out if there is a big enough demand to produce it. Having a great product will definitely put your name out there via word of mouth. Branding strategy should only come later after the demand is there. Keep us posted on your results.