Startup Branding Checklist

What are the benefits that a startup has to transform itself into a brand?

  • Higher sales
  • Greater awareness and organic reach
  • Savings in ad spend and increased profit margins
  • Virality and ease of promoting product

Follow the steps below to build out your brand and position yourself firmly amongst your competition.

1. Competitive Research

This step is extremely important and can save you tons of time and headaches if done correctly. Most don’t have a clear understanding of who their competition is, and if they do, don’t know how to effectively gauge what marketing techniques are occurring in their space.

  • Find out what the competition is in a given space
  • Understand where you rank amongst your competitors
  • See how your competitors promote and sell their products.
  • See what strategies they follow to leverage more customers.
  • Research their reviews and understand the holes in their offerings.
  • Follow them on various social media platforms.

2. Find your Story and Develop Powerful Brand Words

This step will be the building block of how you will approach the market. Create a vision of what you plan to be (it’s ok if you just started your company) and then develop a story around that.

  • Create a vision statement of where you want to be 3, 5, 10 years from now
  • Create a slogan that matches your vision (i.e. Nike has “just do it”)
  • Find keywords you want your company to rank for when customers are searching for services or products similar to yours

3. Proper Knowledge of Your Potential Customers

This should go without saying… but know your customers. Understand who they are, where they live, and what they’re currently buying. The more specific you can get on this, the better you will be at attracting the right customers.

  • Conduct interviews with your current customers as well as prospective customers
  • Research your market online in blogs, Facebook groups and forums to understand what conversations they are currently having with each other
  • Develop buyer persona profiles for your customers

4. Choose a Domain BEFORE Solidifying the Name

Names are everything (almost). However, before you commit to a name, ensure there are available domains that fit the name you’ve come up with. Believe us, this can save you a lot of money.

  • Check out domain purchasing sites to find the domain that fits the name you want
  • Before buying, ensure you check out any existing trademarks on the name you want to commit to

5. Design a Memorable Logo

Almost all of the top companies in a given space have hired top designers to help them build their logos. This shows the importance of a carefully crafted logo and how it can increase awareness for your company and ultimately drive more sales.

  • Research other logos that you feel may tell the same story you want to tell
  • Find a rockstar freelancer or agency you trust to carefully understand your brand and design to your needs
  • Ask people in your network (we recommend +/- 15) to give honest feedback on your logo
  • ALWAYS develop variations of the logo in different colors, sizes and layouts for multifunctionality
  • Save logos in different types of files (.ai, jpeg, pdf, etc.)

6. Choose the Right Color 

Psychology plays a huge role in our purchasing decisions. Understanding what triggers your potential buyers to buy your product gives you a major advantage.

  • Research the colors and what associated feeling you want your customers to feel
  • Play with different combinations to find a palette that works for you
  • Save all color palettes in a branding guide for future use by you and any other third parties you bring in

7. Make a Dope Website

Many times your website is the first thing that your customers will see as you scale. Make sure you’ve taken the time and effort to effectively tell your story through your website. An elegantly designed website will work wonders for your company if done correctly.

  • Find an individual or agency to develop your website (remember to vet their past work and relevance to your industry)
  • Ensure all of your branding content previously developed is incorporated into your website for consistency
  • Understand how your website stacks up against others in the space
  • Run tests to understand the customer journey and ensure flawless user experience through your site and third-party integrations

8. Create Consistent Outward Facing Collateral

As you’ve developed everything you need at this point, it’s now time to create collateral to sell and pitch to your customers. With a consistent tone and design throughout the entirety of your business, customers will appreciate the thoughtfulness you’ve put into making their journey seamless.

  • Print business cards and brochures to be able to drive in-person interactions
  • Create a signature for emails to mimic the rest of the branding
  • Create a template for all presentations and decks to save time and have consistency
  • Create a look and feel for social media channels that match the tone and visuals previously created

And there ya’ have it, you now have a comprehensive brand and guidelines to get your company hitting the ground running. Please reach out to us, MAVRK Studio if you would like to chat!

Written by:

Aaron Swinton

Aaron Swinton

Founder, investor, and operator in the startup space with a passion for building and investing in high-growth companies.

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