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Building a Brandfrom ScratchWhat early stage entrepreneurs need to know
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Hi,
I’m Colin Nagy.
Twitter: @CJN
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I’m passionateabout small companies, entrepreneurs and building interesting businesses.
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Building a brand from scratch. Not just a product or feature,
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but a living, breathing brand.
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In a perfect world
a startup has:
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1. Someone who understands how to build technologies and systems to solve problems;
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2. Someone who understands the human factors behind these problems, why they exist and how to shape the experience.
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3. Someone who understands how to reach, talk to and sell to people and keep finding more of them.
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An observation: in the early stages of a startup
80% focus on the product.
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An observation: in the early stages of a startup
20% focus on the marketing, brand, etc.
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This is a recipe for
danger.
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Sometimes you just focus on
the hard product,
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And not enough on
diplomacy.
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Sometimes you just focus on
the brand voice,
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And not enough on
the product.
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The balanceis hard to find.
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“...So if an entrepreneur is a coding genius, Andreessen will work on helping with go-to market strategies, marketing, recruiting, and more. The firm has developed a network of talent in-house to help with this.”
-Techcrunch “The Rise of the Company Builders”
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Founders should deeply understand brand.
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We need more emphasis on
creating meaning.
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But this can be abstract.Let’s explore a bit.
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What is
brand?
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What you tell your customers.
What is
brand?
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What your customers think and tell their friends.
What is
brand?
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Brands are builtover time through proactive iteration and refinement.
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Brands are a cohesive storytold to the world.
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And when donewell, can be adifferentiator.
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But most brands are boring.
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Many categories are commoditized.
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Consumers are harder to reach than ever.
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But starting from scratch is a beautiful thing.
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How can you be new & interesting?
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The MBA teaches:PositioningCompetitive setVisual identityMissionValuesWhy/How/What?
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But there’s a newrulebook and new imperatives.
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It is no longer
just your tag-lines or materials,
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it is the review
in the app store, the tone of the @reply.
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Your aesthetic and user experience.
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Brands exist in people’s heads.
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So, how can a brand feel
human, vibrant and engaging?
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Building blocksWhat are the things we need to consider when building a brand from the start?
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What problemare you solving?
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How are you different?
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What is the tone?
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Who are your mostimportant constituents?
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What role does your audience play in the brand? active or passive?
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Through which channels do
you communicate?
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12 rulesof building a brand from scratch:
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1Coherence is key (across all mediums)
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2Have a core belief that is easily articulated to the world.
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3Manage expectations.
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4Gut check your messaging and communications with the real-world. Don’t live in a vacuum.
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5Relationship building needs to happen long before you need it.
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6News only comes around once in a while. Have a plan to fill the void.
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7You don’t need a huge media budget to acquire customers.
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8Build a brand through iteration and refinement. Space to grow over time.
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9UX is now integral to brand experience as much as a logo is.
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10Improving your niche and category through goodwill can reap benefits.
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11Don’t take shortcuts on cultivating the right audience.
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12Don’t forget about real life. Step out of digital and into the community.
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Thank you!
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