We all know the power of brands. You only have to look at some of the instantly recognisable names and how people react to new product launches to see how a strong brand can be vital to growing your business.
But there’s a lot more to branding than just picking a logo and a company name. Your brand has to run through every aspect of your business and the most important thing for a startup is to be able to communicate what the brand is about to prospective customers.
However, it appears that this is where British startups are falling down, according to a new survey. Forbes reported on research by Studio Graphene, which found that many new businesses employ marketing and communication strategies that confuse potential buyers.
They don’t provide any useful information about the product or service, the news provider explained, which means they’re failing in their efforts to get potential customers to be excited about their offering.
For the research, Studio Graphene asked people to match ten company names and logos, all of which were new businesses that had recently secured Serie A funding, to descriptions of each company’s business model.
The exercise revealed that an average of just 21 per cent of people were able to connect the name or logo to the sector or type of business described.
Over half (55 per cent) of those questioned said that they felt too many businesses had obscure names, while nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) stated that they wouldn’t work with a company that isn’t clear about what it offers.
Within the group of ten logos shown to consumers, the company that performed the best was Medopad, a healthcare analytics company. 41 per cent of people correctly identified that it operates in the healthtech sector.
Ritam Gandhi, director and founder of Studio Graphene, told the news provider that part of the issue is that startups focus solely on their product, treating the brand as an afterthought. But he also said that it isn’t just the branding that’s the problem.
When it comes to advertising in general, it seems many companies are failing to hit the mark. 51 per cent of those questioned said they “regularly” saw adverts in a range of media that didn’t clearly explain the product or service being advertised.
“That means that about half of all advertising is wasted,” Mr Gandhi stated.
He also offered advice to businesses at every stage of their development, commenting: “It’s important to make sure that your message is always very, very clear. You should always make sure that people know what you are doing.”
If you’re not sure how to start branding for a new business, working with a Buckinghamshire branding agency is advisable to get advice not only on design, but also on how to make sure your brand is properly represented across everything you do.
Having a name that’s a little more obscure and not obviously linked to your product or service is fine, provided that the rest of your messaging is really clear, the news provider added.
We recently offered our top tips for small business branding, so if you need something to point you in the right direction take a look at that post. The most important thing is to identify your USP and use that to drive your branding and messaging.