You’ve done it! You’ve taken the plunge into sole business ownership! Take it from us, it feels good but it’s not all butterflies and rainbows. Starting a business is a big task and you want to make sure you’re taking the right steps in order to last longer than the current 15-year shelf life for startups! Companies implementing the right tactics have gone above and beyond their predicted lifespan. The oldest known business in the world still operating today can be found in Japan. Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, a family-owned hot spring hotel, has been run by 52 generations after its opening in 705! Their secret? Alignment. The employees understood the purpose and goals of the hotel and generated consistency between every plan executed to achieve their objectives. And what do you need to decipher these objectives and fully understand your business’s purpose? A brand strategy! Even 1,315 years later.

What is a brand strategy?
Your brand strategy is a thoroughly documented plan that captures the essence of the brand you want to build. It breaks down the business and gets to the root of its true purpose, examining why it was created in the first place and works as a basis for your marketing strategy. 

Your brand strategy outlines your objectives and the road map to achieving them, it is an essential resource that is referred to time and time again during every aspect of business communication and growth. Implementing a brand strategy at the beginning of your business journey makes life much easier in the long run, you’ll have everything you need to connect with your target audience on an emotional level right in front of you!

Overcoming the problems startups experience
Startups are always going to hit a few bumps in the road. What you want to look out for though, are the bumps that can be avoided by targeted planning. The main problems that affect startups can be mitigated early on, with the implementation of a high-quality brand strategy.

• Competition/ congested market.
  50 million startups emerge every year all over the world. What does yours offer that will make it the one that lives on? To navigate the sea of competitors, you need to highlight your differentiators and build recognition of them.

  No matter the size of your company, the key to success is looking at your brand from your customers perspective, making yourself memorable and maintaining consistency.
  A brand map is completed during the creation of a brand strategy, determining where a business stands amongst its competitors to decipher what it offers that others don’t, allowing marketing efforts to target the gap the product or service is unique too.

• No plan
  Go into the business game with realistic, controlled expectations. Understand what resources are available to you, decide on a realistic timeline and design a solid plan with a clear goal. Change doesn’t happen overnight and takes even longer if you don’t implement the correct strategies.

  A brand strategy creates a clear vision for a business. It outlines the types of customers that make up the audience while deciphering the customer journey and what steps should be taken during each stage to gain a favoured outcome.

• Low customer engagement
  An engaging and loyal customer base is what sets a successful startup apart from those that fail, they’re a guiding force behind a businesses growth. Implement a customer-centric philosophy that feeds into all communication. Social media has made word of mouth a powerful factor and a strong presence here can give your startup leverage.

  Your brand strategy creates a structured identity for you to use as a basis for all communications and marketing. This exposes your audience to your brand on all platforms, starting their journey from a cold audience to a loyal customer.

The way to successfully grow your brand is developed in your brand strategy. It narrows down and clarifies a startup’s vision, purpose and overall customer interaction experience, setting you up to start on the right foot from the get-go. With a brand strategy, your purpose and next steps are easily accessible to remind you of the journey, helping you stay on track. If you’ve got the right idea but need help building your brand into a well-rounded identity that your target audience can respond to, get in contact with as at Pascal Satori. We use our rare imagination to design bespoke strategies, working with you to solve problems and find opportunities.