The Role of Branding in Startup Business Strategy

"Yeah, I know we've got to tighten up the messaging and positioning, but right now we've got to focus on revenue. Pipeline's the top priority at this stage," says every startup founder. I hear this all the time, and it drives me CRAZY. The reality is, you can't build sustainable demand generation without a solid brand foundation. But you can't afford to spend months on brand strategy while your pipeline sits empty. It's not an either/or decision. It's about the right sequencing. Here's what I mean: If you start with demand gen first without positioning (what most startups do): → You're building on shaky ground with unclear messaging → You end up with scattered tactics that don't reinforce each other → Your cost per acquisition stays high because prospects don't understand your value If you start with pure brand foundation and no demand gen: → You spend 6 months perfecting messaging while competitors gain market share → You build beautiful strategies with no validation from real prospects → Your board starts asking uncomfortable questions about pipeline → You risk over-engineering something the market doesn't care about The strategic approach? Do it quick-and-dirty at first. Start with an MVP (Minimum Viable Positioning)... just enough clarity on positioning and messaging to launch meaningful demand gen. Then use those experiments to refine and strengthen your brand foundation. I recently worked with a client who had the same issue: a messaging/positioning problem and a board breathing down their neck to produce revenue. Instead of choosing, we: ✓ Spent 3 weeks nailing their core positioning and key messages ✓ Launched targeted messaging on the website and with clients to test messaging ✓ Used feedback to refine positioning and expand messaging framework ✓ Built sustainable demand gen processes on the validated foundation Your brand foundation doesn't need to be perfect before you start generating demand. But your demand generation will always underperform without clear positioning.

If your startup’s only differentiator is “AI-powered,” you’ll be in trouble soon. Right now, I see a lot of startups making the same mistake: → Their entire positioning is built around being AI-powered. → No branding. → No other differentiators besides being “AI-powered”. → Sometimes not even a business model. Why is it dangerous? Because it might give you an advantage for a couple of months. Or maybe 1-2 years if you’re lucky. But what happens when: → Bigger competitors start to claim their own “AI-powered” tools? → AI becomes a default expectation for users? → You realize AI alone doesn’t make your product better than anyone else's? Remember when “mobile-friendly” or “cloud-based storage” was a differentiator? Now it’s just expected. Any new tech stops being a differentiator when: A. It has become widely available, with most companies offering the same feature. B. Mass adaptation happens and it becomes an expectation from users. Here’s the part most startups overlook: Your brand, positioning, and user experience are what will set you apart when the tech itself is no longer a differentiator. AI will get commoditized. But a strong brand, seamless product experience, and clear positioning? Build long-term value. P.S. Want to see what great branding looks like in AI startups? Check out Clay, DecideAI, Descript, folk, Zams (prev. Obviously AI), Perplexity, Prevalent AI, SayBriefly, and a few others I’ve included in the images. They’ve nailed their branding and product experience. Strong products solve real problems. But strong brands make products unforgettable. That’s is how startups scale with design.

Founders/CEOs who say, “Branding belongs to marketing," they’re overlooking a vital truth: Branding is the voice of vision, not a checkbox for marketing. With this mindset, your brand becomes just another chore—not the driving force of your growth. Truth is, strong branding starts inside out. It’s an active investment company every day to stay relevant across decades (if not centuries). Because “brand” is more than pretty brand assets. It's the meaning people attach to you. When founders step back from branding, they miss out on: → Setting a clear direction → A brand that mirrors their bold vision → A tool that propels the entire company forward To prioritize brand across your organization: → Make branding a daily priority, not a side project → Involve your leadership, not just marketing → Choose partners who see beyond strategy into revolutionary ideas → Stay actively engaged to keep the brand connected to your vision Branding needs a visionary leader—a voice that can see the horizon and rally the company toward it. Marketing amplifies your message… …but visionary leadership protects it. wearemotto.com

🎥 The brands that grow the fastest are the ones that invest in strategy, not just aesthetics. 📌 Your brand is more than just a visual identity, it’s an asset. Make sure it works for you. Too many businesses focus on how their brand looks instead of how it positions them in the market. While aesthetics matter, a brand without strategy, messaging, and positioning is just surface-level. ✅ What drives real brand growth? 🔹 Messaging that connects and converts – Every word should reinforce your expertise and value. 🔹 Brand positioning that elevates authority – Your brand should position you as the go-to leader in your space. 🔹 A presence that attracts premium clients – Strategic branding ensures you work with high-value clients who trust your expertise. 📌 The mistake most businesses make?  ❌ Focusing only on visuals – A beautiful brand without substance lacks impact. ❌ Trying to appeal to everyone – A diluted message weakens your brand authority. ❌ Creating inconsistent messaging – A scattered brand confuses and repels potential clients. 💡 A strong brand doesn’t just look good, it builds trust, authority, and demand. If you want high-value clients and premium opportunities, your brand must reflect that. #StrategicBranding #BrandAuthority #BusinessGrowth #MarketingSuccess #PositioningForSuccess

Attract, convert, delight, and keep your ideal customers. ☝🏼 That is what a brand strategy helps you do. Most people see brand as a fluffy add-on to marketing. It's the design. The feeling. The logo. The creative campaigns that only the big B2C companies can do. When really a brand is how your ideal customers see you. And a brand strategy is how you influence that perception. In every aspect of your business. Let me give you an example. Back in July, I built an MVB Strategy for Smiling Bowtie. I've known Antoni Tzavelas for years. And love everything this dude does. He literally is Mr. Smiley on LinkedIn. Now, most people would see his brand as the message we created. Make Happiness Your Company's Superpower. Or the cool character he created. Gotta love a cartoon mascot with a bowtie. But his brand strategy included so much more. Like: - Creating an ROI dashboard so CEOs can see the progress over time - Creating a 30, 60, 90-day plan to keep teams moving forward - Hiring collaborative coaches to cover more expertise - Creating a welcome video so people see and feel the happiness - Design fun bowties to give out during workshops and marketing events - Use a happy color palette in all marketing materials - Host his own happiness conference Those are just a few of the tactics to help build their brand perception. Most of those are NOT marketing ideas. Because attracting and converting are only 1/2 of the equation. A solid brand strategy addresses the full customer lifecycle. From "I don't know who the hell you are"... ...to "you are the best damn company I've ever worked with." If you're struggling with any of those steps: - attracting - converting - delighting - keeping Get yourself a brand strategy. You'll find the clarity and alignment to level up your business. And turn people who don't even know you yet... ...into raving fanboys and girls. ✌🏼 #shftyourbrand

🛑 Startup founders need to stop blindly chasing product market fit... It's no secret that 90% of startups fail. Blindly chasing product market fit is a trap. It’s like trying to force someone to like you…and it’s extremely expensive for startups. The typical playbook for startups is something like this: 1. Have a product idea, but unsure if it’s an actual problem 2. Immediately start producing an MVP (minimum viable product) 3. Put out something bare bones with zero attention to detail, just the basic functionality 4. Gather user feedback with anyone and everyone (yes, even aunt Cheryl) 5. Iterate based on said feedback and reintroduce to the market for more testing 6. By the time founders have done this 5 rounds they have burned all their capital, tested their product in 20 different ICP’s, and the product is unrecognizable from the initial MVP 7. They raise more investment and ultimately get copied by someone with more cash, leading them to close the doors. 🛑 THIS IS NOT THE APPROACH We've gathered some really valuable insights after helping build 30+ startups... ✅ If you want to succeed as a startup, this should be your playbook (simplified for the sake of simplicity): 1. Founders need to have an idea that solves a REAL problem 2. They then map what’s important to them, and the vision as a person that will push this company forward for the next 10+ years 3. Start competitor research. What’s the competitive set look like in and in adjacent industries 4. Research who your competitors are selling to. What is the TAM (total addressable market), and whose needs are not being met? 5. Build your brand positioning within that competitive set. HINT: your positioning should be HIGHLY differentiated from anything that is currently happening. Standing out is crucial and your success depends on it 6. Build customer personas for who your ICP (ideal customer profile) is based on that, and any segmentation needed 7. Start developing your brand identity based on all of the above. What do you look like, sound like, feel like. Branding is everything you do as a company, from customer service to internal company culture. 8. Build your product based on the BRAND you have developed that is unique to you, and will speak to your customers in a very unique and special way. 9. Do cool shit to get their attention, and ONLY TEST YOUR PRODUCT WITH YOUR ICP - this is the only valuable data for your business. Stay focused and ignore majority of feature requests unless they show up in large quantifiable patterns. This is highly simplified, but founders need to have conviction. Your users don’t form your company - that’s your job. Stand for something, and make people FEEL something special. Products are copied daily, brands outlive their founders. 

After 20+ years helping startups build breakthrough brands, I keep seeing the same costly pattern: rushing to market without a solid brand strategy. Even amazing products with strong teams end up joining the 90% failure club within the first five years in business often, in part, because of this easy-to-avoid pitfall. The rush to market often means skipping critical brand foundation work — like building a skyscraper on sand. It might look impressive at first, but without a solid foundation, cracks will show, and the whole thing risks collapse. Smart investors are starting to require brand strategy work upfront to protect their portfolios. Why? Because brands with no there there burn through too much funding trying to reach — and effectively speak to — their market. What gets sacrificed when startups skip brand strategy? 🎯 Clear market position  💰 Premium pricing power 🤝 Team alignment on vision 📈 Efficient customer acquisition ⭐️ Authentic differentiation Here's what I've learned: Getting brand strategy right early doesn't have to be complex or expensive. With focused frameworks, you can build a rock-solid foundations in 2-4 weeks — without typical agency bloat. For investors, it's one of the lowest-cost ways to protect and maximize portfolio value. 

If brand strategy is so important, why is it so confusing? Some say brand strategy is about defining purpose and values. Some say brand strategy is a marketing plan for how to grow. And others say it’s about making you recognizable. I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to tell heads from tails 🙃. I’ve found that founders and marketers at growing companies tune this all out. They don’t have all day like me to wade through the info and build frameworks. So they say: “This sounds like it’s for big companies. I’ll deal with the brand stuff later. Let’s get straight into design and marketing. If you do that a lot, over time that’s branding right?” Hmm. Sort of? But your brand might feel like Frankenstein. One day, I accidentally said this to a founder, and instantly found this more helpful: Brand strategy is your customer-facing business strategy. How so? Well, business strategy is some combo of this: ↳ The market gap ↳ Customer segments ↳ Unfair edge ↳ The solution / the offer ↳ Channels (marketing, distribution) ↳ Revenue structures ↳ Cost structures (beautifully put into charts, decks, and models) Then this is unearthed: ↳ The Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Brand Strategy is: ↳ How to make the customer give two hoots about the above. In conscious and unconscious ways. In an emotionally resonant way. Foundational brand strategy is a simple idea with an emotional hook. It makes business sense AND has creative potential. And it informs design, copy, campaigns, messaging, and channels. It gives you rich material to create a culture around your brand. You want to land on this early, so that your design & copy are more impactful, your marketing is more creative, and every part of your customer experience feels intentional. You could grab your UVP and rush straight to market. But you’re going to be doing a lot of telling, without the power of showing. And you might pay a huge tax for that lack of clarity. Check out 4 examples below ⬇️ If you’re responsible for brand building at a growing company, what would make foundational strategy work more obvious to do earlier? Would love to hear thoughts.

Most companies fail at brand strategy. They treat it like an art project. Your brand is not marketing fluff. It's a precise economic engine that blends expression with rigor, emotion with facts. And it's your biggest lever for profit. Master this system and you influence market perception and unlock value. Here's the Playbook for building a great brand: - Define The Economics: Widen the gap between what customer think your product is worth and what it costs you to produce it. This is the financial imperative. - Differentiate With Purpose: Claim the market whitespace. This is what your brand *is* and what your competitors are *not*. - Forge The Foundation: Build identity, prove benefits, sharpen positioning. This is the 'why' behind your company that must be relevant for your key consumers (and your to employees!). - Execute With Precision: Own your digital space and deliver tangible assets. This is how you sustain your brand and produce the reasons for people to believe in your brand. - Embrace Evolution: Deploy an intentional brand architecture, drive smart growth, and revitalize when necessary. Anchor in Analytics: The analyst is the objective guardian, fueling every step with data. Brand strategy is not art alone. It's disciplined science. Blend them to earn more profit. Art+Science Analytics Institute | University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Chicago | D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University | ELVTR | Grow with Google - Data Analytics #Analytics #DataStorytelling #Brand #BrandStrategy

Most founders think 'brand strategy' has to do with all things visual and conceptual. The right color pallette. An intricate and flowery mission statement. Updating your logo once a year to match trends. Brand strategy isn't about how your company looks. It's about how you communicate. Your brand strategy is: * The story you tell * Who you're telling it to * How consistently you share that story across all touchpoints The truth? If your messaging shifts every month, building trust will be impossible. And if your team isn't aligned on the message, they'll constantly tell different versions of the story. In this scenario, chaos reigns. And this isn't a creative issue. It's a strategic issue. If your marketing feels like it's spinning without traction, the issue might not be the execution. It might be the story underneath it all.