Let us assume that you are the CMO of a shabby startup and you have a limited (or no) budget. You have no name recognition and no time to waste. So where do you start to achieve the greatest influence?
Brand.
I saw this first hand. I helped to build into a category -defined brand and converted my company, Exit Five, into a seven -digit media business.
If I started from scratch today, I wouldn’t wait. I would go to the brand on the first day. Here is my approach to building a brand in your first 100 days before you have money or traction. Let us immerse yourself.
Why brands are more important than ever early Startups
Today’s AI-controlled market is full of imitators. So your brand needs a differentiating factor. For an established company, this is a brand proof. The CRM with 20 years of experience has more evidence of brand value. Startups in the early stages cannot indicate this type of history.
So if you are a shabby startup, you have to make more effort to stand out. This really requires you know your story. What is your message and what makes your trip so convincing that people remember? You can then reinforce this message with brand elements – a unique motif, a recognizable logo or a color scheme that screams You?
Take a look at this company called Blaze Ai, a marketing tool that was developed for automation. The branding is so noticeable that it is noticeable. The superhero topic is unforgettable. I remember my favorite comic books in which remarkable characters save the day. Maybe your offer can do exactly that for my business.
As a startup, you should already have competitive functions. Your offer must be just as good or better than what is already on the market. And if the product itself, your mood, history and the platforms you use keeps yourself, you are apart. They will be resonance among customers who are authentically on the same wavelength. This is important to expand your business.
How to build a brand as a startup founder or CMO
So how do you build a brand from scratch? Let me break what I think you should set priorities.
First create your strategic story, no exceptions.
Number one: Create a strategic story.
This means that you have a strong point of view about why your company exists and the problem that you help people will solve.
In my experience, when we talk about brand, we are obsessed with colors, fonts and websites. Ultimately, it is the story that counts. That is the reason why they exist.
When I was a young marketer in my career, HubSpot was a brand that I persecuted religiously because they came out this thing called inbound marketing. In the 2010s, the brand focused on marketers who produced content to win people for their company.
The tactic swung because my background was not paid. I realized: “Oh, that’s me! That’s what I do. I write. I do social media content. I have a newsletter.” Sure, I like orange and the events look funny, but the inbound marketing story pulled me in.
The lesson here? As a new startup, you may not have a market share. But you Do Do you have a unique angle – the problem you solve, or the story that makes you unique. You also have a founder who evangels this strong point of view. These are assets and you have to make the best of it.
Test your message on social media immediately.
So you have a story. Now you can have fun with the design, tactics and the execution. I recommend jumping in directly. You can test and iterate different branded elements.
If I were a founder, I want to be on social media now. Even if I only have seven supporters, I could test my news to see what works. I also send 10 DMS or cold, outgoing e -mails to my ideal customers in the hope of booking sales meetings.
But if none of these messages end up, these are amazing feedback and data. I know that this message clearly does not resonate in people.
When I was at Drift, our product was a chat bot. I interviewed our CEO, which scolded why lead gen was broken. Forms would be outdated with a chat bot and Drift would lead the new way.
This message was clear. So we took a bet.
We made the interview in an article for our blog. We posted it on social media. We sent it to our e -mail list. We pushed it forward to people. And within a few days the idea decreased. More comments were received than anything we had previously written to get more shares and to involve more.
This is the signal we needed. Now we could double. We came up with #noforms. We made stickers and it was an entire content campaign.
The enemy here is waiting for this perfect message. Riffing and experimenting help you move faster.
Find out where your audience already depends.
You really have to understand where your customers depend online, who influences these people and which podcasts they hear. This is only marketing 101, but digital.
In the past, trade groups, analyst companies and conferences had power. Well, everything happens on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tiktok and Reddit. My focus groups every day are comments in our community. I analyze the answers to our newsletter and my LinkedIn commentary’s feeling for the public.
If you don’t have an audience in these existing channels, you have to become creative. Let’s say I want to start a new juice box for children. I would go to Subreddits and Instagram pages for parents. I would meet other parents’ friends and checked my message in a smaller way before I expand.
If you carry out this type of tests, you do not need a massive research budget. You don’t need a chic agency. You just have to stand in front of the people who could buy your product. You can then see what swings.
Brand structure is a long game – play accordingly
The biggest mistake I see? Expect that your brand will provide results overnight.
The founders will say: “We started a podcast and not receive new leads after a month.” That’s not how it works.
What if you have held on it?
With Exit Five, I published a podcast episode every week for three years. And do you guess what? 75-80% state from our members that they found us through the podcast. If I stopped after 90 days, we would have missed it all.
The structure of great content and real chemistry with my co-moderator slowly brought us an audience. I started hearing: “Hey, I’m a fan of your podcast.” That is the victory. This is my signal that my brand works.
The same idea applies to social. When someone sees a great contribution, remembers her name and tried your company company for weeks – that’s a victory, even without a UTM day.
Yes, you still need sales, outgoing and direct answer. But if you invest in brand early, everything else works better. Advertisements met harder. Convert cold e -mails. Warm intros happen, of course.
The biggest brand error: on the safe side
I think the biggest mistake is really just like everyone else.
The typical B2B SaaS website looks like stripes. Think of Blue-and-White Branding with many product recordings. I don’t say that cannot work, but it’s boring. Why do you try to adapt the shape when you can forge your own way?
If I found a company today or run a brand today, I would like to play another game. Take a look at Malbon in the golf. They took a very traditional, stuffy industry in the storm and brought a streetwear atmosphere into the Golf. The brand is fundamentally different and strikes.
I would like to play this game-not the game in which every CRM website looks the same or where everyone has the black and white, simple feeling like an idea. I want to bet on something else. This is the biggest strategic decision you can make.
Your brand is your final competitive advantage
If you remove the whole sound, your brand is simply the following: your call and your point of view. It is not just your logo, your colors or your chic website, although these things are also important.
We live in a AI saturated, feature-electric world. The way they solve the problems they solve and the distinctive personality they bring to their market Is What makes customers select you through the sea of ​​options?
The companies that win today are not only technologically superior. They are the ones who understand that people buy from other people. And we buy from those whose mood fits our own. This connection between your company and your customer is what brands are about.