Why Startups Need Branding - Upstage Brand System Building Part. 1
2022/09/02⏱ 5mins -
Haley (Content Communication)
This article was written by Upstage Kim Geun-Kyo Comm. Adapted based on the director's brand system summary.
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Startup managers who want to start branding for the first time
Business/marketers interested in branding
Anyone who wants to know about branding
Those who want to gain business insights
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Get business insights through the reasons, goals, and considerations that need to be considered for branding even for startups that the early AI startup upstage organized in the process of establishing the brand system.
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✔️ Brand Essentials
✔️ Why Startups Need Brand Systems
✔️ Branding Goals
✔️ Rebranding of startups
✔️ What to consider for setting up a brand system
“I’m a startup, should I invest resources in branding?” 👀
“Isn’t branding only for large corporations?” 🤔
This is probably the most heard voice in startups that think of branding. If you are just starting a business or are a small startup, it is not easy to prioritize branding because of the time and financial burden. On the other hand, as market competition intensifies, many companies make new attempts and invest sparingly to create a more competitive brand.
What the hell is a brand, and what is it that so many companies are trying to brand? Also, do startups need this branding?
UPSTAGE, AN EARLY-STAGE STARTUP THAT IS PREPARING TO LAUNCH A TOTAL AI SOLUTION CONTAINING ALL THE SYSTEMS NECESSARY TO INTRODUCE AI TECHNOLOGY WITHIN THE YEAR, ALSO SHARED IN-DEPTH THOUGHTS ON THIS. IN THE PROCESS, WE WERE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE MEANINGFUL TASK OF ORGANIZING WHY BRANDING IS NECESSARY AND ACTUALLY BUILDING A BRAND SYSTEM FOR UPSTAGE.
Through a total of two series, we review the reasons why startups need branding (Part 1.) , and share insights with those who are thinking about branding on the topic of the upstage brand system establishment process and introduction (Part 2.) would like to
Brand essentials
If you look at domestic and foreign countries, there are places where the color of the company is very clear. The images drawn when we think of companies such as Nike, Google, Apple, and Kakao are the result of the branding they have built up.
A “clear brand identity” is necessary for a company to have its own unique color, regardless of factors such as world-class service, friendly customer service, excellent public relations skills, and talented staff. Because a brand's identity has the power to attract people just as we are attracted to someone's unique personality, scent, style, and thinking.
So, why do you need a well-crafted branding system?
Why Startups Need a Brand System
There are five main reasons why a brand system is needed.
1. Consistency: Branding ensures consistency in name, logo, products and services, marketing techniques and messages across all channels. This consistency serves to enhance the brand experience and satisfaction for customers.
2. Monetization: Branding is a key factor in generating sales and revenue in your business. Depending on how your branding marketing strategy works, you can reach a lot of people, which is a direct source of revenue.
3. Trust: Branding has a positive effect on forming bonds with customers and enhancing customer loyalty . The more pleasant experiences you have with a brand, the more trustworthy you will be with that brand. Therefore, even a single line of text on the website determines the tone and manner according to the corporate identity.
4. Originality: Branding is the identity of your business and how customers perceive you and your business. Branding ensures uniqueness and originality that competitors cannot imitate or imitate . In order to show our own color that is different from other companies, we need to have a brand system.
5. Stay motivated: This is the most important part for early startups and their internal members . In order to promote branding to the outside world, strong internal branding must be preceded.
A strong brand improves the quality of work within the company . Branding is not a single line of meaningless sentences or pictures. Sentences have power. One of the reasons why people decide to apply for or join a company is because of the company's mission or vision.
As such, branding is a powerful tool to keep members motivated and feel a sense of belonging. When it comes to how and where you work, you can also cut down on communication resources by making decisions based on branding principles.
Factors to consider when building a brand system
If not only general companies but also startups share the corporate vision or mission at the beginning and form internal branding well, then external branding to promote the company to the outside will also work more effectively.
Branding goals
When you realize the need for branding like this and start implementing it in earnest, what goals should you set for proper branding?
1. Indicators for external communication
First, it should be engraved that branding is an indicator for external communication. As mentioned earlier, branding is a promise to the customer . Consistency and continuity are essential to that promise. All actions to go outside are based on branding.
For example, Apple's policy of maintaining security before product launch is a strategy to deliver a differentiated experience with a core value of 'Surprise and delight'. Planning and presenting unusual events to customers at events, conferences, etc. has become an annual Apple event attracting public attention. The consistency of this keynote helped give Apple a clear image frame. As Apple has become a brand that delivers surprise and joy, branding is used as an indicator of all external communications (marketing, sales, recruitment, event execution, service provision, etc.) .
Even for start-ups, as the size and influence of the company gradually grows, it will become more and more important to introduce the company to the outside with a consistent voice.
Apple logo Think Different.png:derivative work: Stoopkitty (talk) 19:55, 31 January 2011 (UTC), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
2. Indicators for communication among internal members
“The beginning of creating a strong brand depends on how much consensus you have with internal members .”
No matter how good branding is built, it is useless without the empathy and understanding of internal members. Recognizing this importance, Upstage also tried to build a strong branding. This is so that internal members can sympathize with the company's mission and develop based on a common sense of purpose. It is expected that branding will help align the ultimate goal and direction in communication, product development, marketing, and sales activities as well as in internal decision-making .
Startup rebranding
So far, we have summarized the reasons why startups need a brand system and the purpose of branding. Based on this, Upstage took a closer look at the existing brand system once again. Because I thought it was a necessary step in order to show the upstage-ness on the world stage.
AI Startup Upstage created a mission and vision of 'Making AI beneficial' and 'Easy-to-apply AI' through numerous discussions and considerations at the beginning of its establishment, and is the core of One Team, Sharing, Personal Growth, One Step More, and Ethics. value has been established. Nevertheless, I have come to the conclusion that a rebranding is necessary, and why?
This is to further refine the mission, vision, and core values that Upstage has been following since its establishment , and to realize a unified definition. For example, even when thinking of the mission 'Making AI benficial', it is highly likely that each member will define and interpret it differently.
Therefore, we needed a process of refining and sharing our identity once again by gathering the subtly different images of the inner stars. This is because the brand's identity cannot be shaken by delivering consistent interpretations and meanings internally and externally.
What should not be missed here is the “ customer-oriented mind” . We must not only contain what we want to say, but also contain customer-oriented values such as messages and benefits that the company can deliver. Because one of the roles of branding is a promise to the customer. By complementing these points, the upstage brand system introduced in the next series was born.
Points to consider for setting up a brand system
In order to establish a brand system, you must first create a core value that becomes the center of it. Upstage tried to complete the core values and brand system that could satisfy them by asking themselves the following three questions.
Is it a language and meaning that is easy to understand both internally and externally?
Does it contain the image of the company from the customer's point of view?
Can it be a reference point for internal members' decision-making?
As mentioned above, core value setting should be checked to see if it is keyworded so that not only customers but also internal personnel can understand and practice the value of the service . This is because successful branding begins with the ultimate internalization of the core values of internal members.
IN THE NEXT PART, WE WILL INTRODUCE IN DETAIL HOW UPSTAGE ESTABLISHED THE BRAND SYSTEM, THE PROCESS AND RESULTS BASED ON THIS. IF YOU WANT TO GET BUSINESS AND BRANDING INSIGHTS THROUGH THE VIVID BRANDING PROCESS OF UPSTAGE, AN AI COMPANY, DON'T MISS THE NEXT CONTENT!
#AI #STARTUP #UPSTAGE #BRANDING #BRAND #BRAND MARKETING
Episode composition
📌 Part. 1 Reasons why startups need branding
📌 Part. 2 Upstage brand system establishment process and introduction
📌 Part. 3 Rebranding, about countless invisible works that have been done so far
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Under the mission of 'Making AI beneificial', Upstage is developing AI products such as OCR Pack and Recommendation Pack to create a better world with AI. Check the Upstage website for more information.
