Startups…how much would you invest in your brand?

Full brand identity produced for Green & Field, a Leeds based floristry.

There’s no truer quote than from Henry Ford when he said “a man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time”.

We get it, starting a business doesn’t come cheap. There’s product development, branding, marketing, advertising - it all comes at a cost. But it doesn’t always matter how good your product is, if the world doesn’t know about it, then what comes next?

Our best piece of advice to any startup is to draw up a marketing budget and then work out the resources you’ll need to get things rolling.

Not sure what you’d need? We’ll list some of the basics for you…

1. Branding. You’re probably bored of hearing us say this, but people fall in love with brands. Not products. Brands! You’ll need to invest in creating a visual identity - which is something you’ll probably want an agency like us to help with.

2. Photography. Whether you’re a product or service based business, you need content. Without authentic photography, you’ll struggle to build trust let alone a customer base.

3. A website. An online home for customers to find you, research you, build trust in you, and get to know what it is you do, is absolutely essential. This will become the central hub to all of your marketing activity.

4. Social media content. This is your place to scream and shout about what it is you do, give people a feel for your brand’s personality and interact with your audience. For this you’ll need some great content, and unless you have the time and skillset to invest yourself, you’ll likely need an agency like us to manage it all for you.

5. Campaigns. To drive sales, you need to advertise! Depending on where your audience is and your type of business, this could be in the form of online ads, social media ads, email marketing, direct mailers (less common these days). You’ll need to carry out some market research beforehand to know where best to reach your ideal audience.

Are you a startup? Let us know if this journal helped you, or what you’d like us to provide some insight on next…