Entrepreneur's guide to building a memorable startup brand

P O S I T I O N I N G
V O I C E
S T R A T E G Y
V A L U E
I D E N T I T Y
E X P E R I E N C E
P E R S O N A L I T YM I S S I O N
A MEMORABLE STARTUP BRAND
ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE
TO BUILDING
by Iryna Nezhynska
H O W T O
G E T I N T O
P E O P L E ’ S
M I N D S

The goal of writing this guide was simple:
to get more startups to focus on brand building
instead of launching "just another product".
Why? Most early-stage businesses are over-focused
on creating product features and finding investors, and
often forget that it is all about getting into people’s minds.

In the era of product overload,
your success depends on how people will perceive you
and what emotions will turn them into your customers.
This guide will help you to create
products that people will love.

Once upon a time
there was a young entrepreneur who decided
to turn a brilliant idea into a real product
and start her own company.

`
She worked very hard
and finally came up with a business plan
and a minimum viable product concept.

Weeks passed
the young entepreneur found a dream team
and an angel investor

REC
At last, the Big Day came.
Launch!

A shiny new product, unlike anything else out there,
is on the market and available for purchase.

But why don’t people buy it?
Do they notice it at all?

You know that your idea serves the market’s needs.
You talked to the target audience.
You tailored your product to them.
So what went wrong?

The answer is that you missed just one thing:
“Whatever brilliant product
you create, customers will not
automatically love it”

B e c a u s e o f t h e
p r o d u c t n o i
s e
i n o u r m i n d s .

If you want to delight customers
so that
more people buy more things for more years at a higher price,

you need to build
not just a product,
but a brand.

(Marty Neumeier, “Zag”)
Brand is...
... a person’s gut feeling about a product or company.

Brand is...
... a space your company
occupies in someone’s mind.
In other words,

It is the reputation
of your company.

If a good reputation is so important,
why do startups skip the branding
when creating the product?

1) time; 2) money.
Because
branding campaigns take

1) time; 2) money.
While
startups are short on

Minimum Viable Product
creating a

MVB is...
... the brand with a defined strategy and emotional message
and with only the necessary visual assets, which allows
you to fully express your vision and engage early adopters.

Define your strategy.
Choose the right name.
Uncover your brand personality.
Create a list of touchpoints.
Design brand assets. repeat as your
company grows
S T E P S O F
C R E A T I N G M V B
1
2
3
4
5

D E F I N E Y O U R S T R A T E G Y
Who are you?

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do, and why?
3. What is your promise?
4. What is your ONLY-statement?
5. What is your story?
6. What is your future?
7. Who are your competitors?
8. Who loves/may love you, and why?
Q U E S T I O N S T O D E F I N E
Y O U R S T R A T E G Y

WHAT is your category?
HOW are you different?
WHO are your customers?
WHERE are they located?
WHY are you important to them?
WHEN do they need you?
WHAT: The ONLY
HOW: that
WHO: for
WHERE: mostly in
WHY: because they
WHEN: in the era of .
O N E S E N T E N C E
S T R A T E G Y
(Marty Neumeier, “Zag”)

Unlike , our helps
who want to by and .
E L E V A T O R P I T C H
(“Value Proposition Design”, Strategyzer)

C H O O S I N G T H E R I G H T N A M E
What’s in a name?

1. Create a different name than those of your competitors.
2. Make it brief (4 syllables or less).
3. Skip generic patterns - create new words instead.
4. Try to create a story (or fairytale) around the name.
5. Test-test-test on people (corridor testing):
- is it easy for foreigners to spell?
- is it easy to repeat after the first time?
- do people have any associations?
6. Check if the domain name is available. If so, buy it today!

U N C O V E R I N G T H E B R A N D P E R S O N A L I T Y
How do you look and feel?

Important:
a designer should always guide you through this stage.

Are you
expressing
yourself?
Are you
modifying
your customers?
We are... /
We want to be seen as...
People buy our product because,
they are... / they want to be...
At first,
decide:
Then, describe your brand’s personality.
or

modern
young
casual
loud
playful
classic
mature
elegant
quiet
serious
...
S L I D E R S T O D E S C R I B E
B R A N D ’ S P E R S O N A L I T Y
(and so on)

Sometimes it is easier to describe your brand as a person:
“What if my brand was a person?” / “Who do my customers want to become?”

C R E A T I N G A L I S T O F B R A N D T O U C H P O I N T S
How can they experience you?

`
Tagline
BRAND
MARK
Symbol
Wordmark
Color
Image/Photo
Pattern
Material
VISUAL
IDENTITY
Typeface
Layout
TYPOGRAPHY
Editorial style
Interior
Business papers
Digital media
Marketing materials
Advertising
Presentations
Signage
Vehicle identification
Packaging
Uniforms
Exhibits
Established companies have
complex brand identity systems.

1) cost a lot; 2) take time; 3) are risky
(you may not need
some elements)
For startups,
big branding campaigns are resource-wasting, because they

For startups,
the best practice is to grow step-by-step:
Core assets
Identity 1.0
Identity 2.0
(name, logo, tagline,
mood, voice, color palette)
(key touchpoints)
(complete as you grow)

Touchpoint is...
... every interaction point between a customer and the brand.
These interactions influence the customer’s perception
of your brand at the each stage of the customer’s journey -
Awareness, Engagement, Purchase, Using and Sharing.

Aware
Engage
Buy
Use
Share
(a person discovers that
you exist and who are you)
(he/she starts to believe
in your values and realises
that you are the best
among others)
(convinced customer
purchases your product/service,
online or offline)
(from the moment
when customer unpacks
the product and later)
(delighted customer starts
telling people around
about his/her experience
with your brand)
C U S T O M E R ’ S
J O U R N E Y
the positive reference
attracts new customers
customer
comes back
to buy again

Example:
T O U C H P O I N T S F O R
T H E M O B I L E A P P
S T A R T U P
Core assets:
logo,
tagline,
colors,
typography.
Digital assets:
the app itself,
landing page,
confirmation mail,
social media,
product presentation,
meadia kit.
Printed assets:
business cards,
letterhead,
envelope.

Example:
T H E I T S T A R T U P
( D E V I C E S )
Core assets:
logo,
tagline,
colors,
typography.
Digital assets:
website,
confirmation mail,
social media,
media kit.
Printed assets:
business cards,
packaging,
user manual,
invoice,
envelope.

Example:
T H E E - C O M M E R C E
O R R E T A I L
S T A R T U P
Core assets:
logo, tagline,
colors,
typography,
photography style.
Digital assets:
online store,
confirmation mail,
social media,
media kit.
Printed assets:
business cards,
invoice,
packaging,
product labels,
staff badges.
+ environment for
the offline store.

Once you have all touchpoints listed,
take your time and have a rest.
The only thing needed from you
is your constructive feedback in time.

A designer takes your strategy notes,
brand workshop results and
the list of touchpoints...
Because
it is time for design.

and makes your product
stand out from competitors.

Later,
after launching successfully and after
testing your Minimum Viable Brand in real life,
you will grow and add new touchpoints.
Identity 2.0

Feel free to print templates from this guide
and take them to the meeting with your designer.

If you want to make the best use of this guide,
and build a brand that will hook people,
remember three important rules:

Successful brand identity
is never created in-house
if you don’t have a designer
in your team.
Similar case:
When your tooth hurts, you go to the dentist.
Self-treatment doesn’t help here.
Rule:

Know who does what.
And respect these roles.
Together with your team you define
the strategy and create a name.
While designer takes care about
the visual side of your business.
Rule:

Designer
Your
startup
team
Strategy
and naming
Visual
design
Branddf
personality
and
list of
touchpoints
But there is a part of process,
where collaboration is key.

Brand is not a logo.
Design visual identity in a way,
that if you delete your logo,
people will still recognise you.
As you will recognise brands
on the following slides.
Without logo and appropriate content.
Rule:

This brand’s identity
was build on the black and green colors and
dark overlays on the big background images.
Now, when people got addicted to this product and fall in love with its style,
the founders decided to rebrand, going more dynamic and free in the identity.

WELL-KNOWN IN 250 CITIES,
this brand position themselves as reliable, modern and elegant.
They use electric blue and black colors, tech font and
detailed graphics to make their customers feel the same.

THIS
BRAND
has been using their yellow frame
as a main visual element for 105 years already.

Finally,
Vibrant colors, a curvy sans-serif typeface,
friendly icons and smiling faces and emojis everywhere.
People, who use their product,
explain this brand as “fun and playful”.

These brands got into customers’ minds
and settle there for long.
Because from the early beginning
they have been following
a different way of thinking:

We create perceptions
and turn them
into relationships.

I hope that you will also follow this mindset.
And from the deep of my heart
I wish your startup to find the way
to the customers’ minds. And stay there forever.

After publishing this guide
I started working on the
Startup Branding Toolkit

that will equip you and your designer
for the challenge of creating minimum viable brand.
(Only
down-to-earth
practicalities)

Once the Startup Branding Toolkit is online,
I will notify you, so you can start using
its materials immediately. Just drop me a line on:
iryna.nezhynska@gmail.com
to be the first to know about its launch.
(And of course, I’m happy to hear your feedback on this guide.
It will help to make upcoming toolkit more useful.)

I’m a visual designer based in Warsaw. I create brand identities
for digital products helping new companies express who they are.
It is my daily job and my passion. It is the air I breathe.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons attribution, noncommercial, share alike licence.
behance.net/eirena
dribbble.com/eirena
iryna.nezhynska@gmail.com

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