When Should I start Investing in “Brand”

If you haven’t already, start now.

TL;DR:

There’s a lot of conflicting information about when you should start investing in branding
We believe you should work on shaping people’s perception of your brand from the very beginning
The two groups that your branding efforts will have the most impact on in the beginning are your team and your initial customers

Is it important to invest in “brand” at the beginning of your small business or startup journey?

The NYT best selling marketing books author, Donald Miller, says if you aren’t at the $50 million mark you shouldn’t be spending any money on branding. But he also has a book called building a story brand where he teaches you how to clarify your message so people listen.

So what is it? Are we supposed to not think about branding until we’re huge or do we need to start off with branding?

That depends on what you mean by “brand.” The problem seems to be that each person has their own definition of brand. Lets take this definition: brand is the gut feelings someone has towards a product or service.

Now, should you focus on this gut feeling when you’re just starting up? Absolutely.

There are two gut feelings you really need to work to influence in the early stages of your business.

Your team
Your initial customers

Your Internal Brand

How your team views you is a result of your internal branding. The things that make a good internal brand aren’t necessarily the same things that make a good customer facing brand. Employees aren’t looking for cool design or a discount on the product. Employees want to know that they can achieve their goals by being a part of your team.

You need to start with a strong unifying vision and mission that gives each person a sense of purpose. Take the time to really get the buy in of the entire team. Regularly reference the mission so it becomes ingrained in your team members’ minds.

When Donald Miller was saying you shouldn’t worry about branding in the beginning, he wasn’t talking about this, but that doesn’t matter because this is still technically branding.

Here are a couple things you can do to positively influence your team’s perception of your company: