On Foundations. Why Startups Can’t Ignore Brand Strategy

Strategy is hard. Shifting it is even harder.

And that’s especially true for brand strategy. All too often, it’s the overlooked engine room of a business. Most startups and small businesses put it off. It’s either a ‘later’ problem (for when there’s more cash around) or the logo has been done, so the brand’s finished, right?

The truth is, as soon as you start communicating with the world, your brand starts forming. Whether you’re actively shaping it or not. So our advice is to get the fundamentals sorted early, before they get too expensive and too complicated to get right.

Brand helps steer everything

Brand strategy isn’t fluff. It’s not pictures, colours, logos. Well, it is those things, but it’s a lot more besides. It’s the connective tissue between your business goals and the people you’re trying to serve. Done right, it can help guide product development, innovation, marketing comms, hiring decisions, and employee and customer experience.

The fact that it runs through everything is what makes it so hard to change later. And if you don’t define it early, you risk building a business with unclear positioning, no distinctiveness, and a confused culture. But get your foundations sorted early, and everything that follows becomes smoother, faster, and simpler.

The discipline of branding has matured

Here’s the good news for small business owners and founders: brand strategy has never been more accessible. Experienced marketers are more accessible than ever through LinkedIn and YouTube, and a multitude of books. Tools like Mark Ritson’s Mini MBA have raised the standard of marketing and made high-quality brand thinking more widely available.

But for the non-marketer (especially founders trying to wear many hats at once), that can make it all feel overwhelming. The processes, frameworks, and exercises can feel daunting — a black hole for your already challenged budget. And that’s a shame, because early-stage businesses arguably need brand clarity more than anyone.

You don’t need a 6-figure process — start with 3 simple questions

But you don’t need to know all the language. You certainly don’t need a 60-slide deck. And you don’t need to sit through hours of workshops or AI-generated content. And you don’t need to conduct expensive research. But you do need to be able to answer the right questions with enough confidence and clarity to move forward successfully.

Q1. Who are you, and what do you stand for?

We’ve spent over 10 years working with founders, startups and scaleups. Sometimes there’s one person, sometimes there’s two, sometimes there’s more. But guess what, nobody answers this question the same. Even the lone entrepreneur changes this answer or has four different answers depending on what day it is.

Ultimately, this question is about alignment. Can everyone involved clearly communicate who you are and what you’re bringing to the table?

Q2. Who do you need to beat?

Understanding your business means understanding your competitors. And don’t just think of the obvious names (though they’re a good place to start!), think in terms of alternatives: what/who are people choosing instead of you? Why? With this knowledge, what makes you distinctive?

Like it or not, your customers are thinking about you in the context of your competitors. So it’s crucial to understand your fit.

Q3. What do your customers need, and how can you help?

Don’t be seduced by demographic data or generational buckets (‘we’re a brand for Millennials’). Also, try to avoid saying, ‘we’re a brand for everyone’. You may well be, but it’s still worth understanding your audience with a little more depth and nuance. It’s about understanding a problem they’re trying to solve, the driving behaviours, and key moments that lead them to your offer.

The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science has a nice way of thinking about this: Category Entry Points. Whilst it’s for B2B marketing, it’s a good way to think about behaviours — why are people coming to this category? What’s causing them to think about your brand or product?

Three simple questions, many hard answers

Simple questions? Yes. But not simplistic to answer. And if anything, those questions are going to provide a bit of painful reflection and debate. But answer them well and consistently, and you unlock practical insights that start to form you brand strategy. Knitting those answers together in the right way gives you some useful tools: a clear market position, a customer proposition, and messaging to help steer your brand over time and through growth.

Together, those tools unlock multiple benefits:

Stronger distinctiveness — so you’re not just competing on price
More coherent marketing — your comms won’t sound like five people wrote them, helping to make you more recognisable and memorable
Better product focus — you know who you’re building for, and why, and what to do next
Cultural alignment — the right people join your team and understand what you’re about and where you’re heading as a business.

Your brand already exists. The only question is whether you’re in control of it.

You don’t have to launch with pristine, multipage brand guidelines. You don’t have to spend tens of thousands of pounds. But you do have to be intentional. Because your brand is forming, right now through everything you’re doing (and everything you’re not — but that’s another article!).

So, get the foundations in place early. Not perfect. Not over-designed. Just clear and understood.

Funding your future – innovative ways to get your brand in place

FutureKings are always open to discussion about ways to fund brand development projects that are built around founders’ needs. Get in touch to have a chat about what might suit you, or watch this space for the launch of our third investment fund, which offers you the chance to defer payment until you raise.