Branding over Marketing for Startups
People don't care about features, they care about how a brand makes them feel. Strong branding creates a perception that drives decisions, making marketing more effective.
People don't like to be sold, but they like to buy. It's a paradox that seems tricky to implement it just right. Let's admit: Marketing has become mainstream for growing a startup. Almost a cliché. And as someone from a branding and marketing background, I can see the obvious reasons why startup owners think marketing as the only way to get leads. Because it shows numbers, and business owners prefer anything that quantifies.
Everyone talks about offerings, metrics, quality, results and pricing. And people still don't choose to work with them. Why? Because everyone bombards them with quantifiable elements. But handful really create a feeling and perception. It does not matter what you like as founder of your company, but understand what truly matters to your customers. Yes you should speak about your offerings, metrics, quality, results and pricing. But emotions drive people. And when people perceive your startup in a certain way, it helps them consider you over the others.
Let me crack this down for you: Marketing only works if your branding is right. And branding is much more than colours, design and your logo. It conveys an emotion that sums up your brand identity, value proposition, care towards your customers, culture, vision and beliefs. And this is where most startups don't invest their time in.
Say you did a market research and understood what your audience need. Then, you create a set of offerings that caters to them. And you feel you need start marketing. Congratulations! You are now one in million companies doing the same. Your customers understand your brand. It creates a perception around your startup and in turn seeds a feeling towards your business.
This perception is way more powerful than telling them what you sell and how affordable you are. It drives decision making and encourages them to consider you over your 1 million competitors in the market. This is Branding. It changes the way you think Marketing.
Adding to the paradox I mentioned at the start, here's a takeaway: "Sell your brand perception. People will buy." It is so important to decide what your customers should feel about your startup, more often that what you sell.
