Elements Of Better Online Branding For A Startup

2017 is full of challenges and opportunities for startups. The barriers to entry in the market are practically non-existent as once were. That is why there are increased chances of reaching customers and tapping into their needs.

As with every opportunity, the number of threats also rise. By threats we mean competition. An abundance of competition ensues. The marketplace is becoming saturated and for a startup to survive it takes improved branding than before.

In this article, we will highlight some elements for online branding which will make your startup stand out of the crowd.What are these elements? Read on to find out.

Start telling stories

We are by nature storytellers and are also naturally brain wired to listen to stories. I mean doesn’t like stories, right? According to one study, stories at large, not only stimulates the brain’s language processing part but also the parts as if we experienced the story ourselves.

You don’t have to be an expert to understand what power stories pack. It appeals to people of all groups and age. Stories tend to incite emotions in us which then stay there for longer periods of time.Now apply this formula to any marketing campaign and you have a winner!

Time and again we have seen that by employing storytelling as your marketing strategy renders your campaign successful. Branding is all about narrating your brand’s story to the desired audience. With time marketers have devised a new strategy which is to market themselves as storytellers instead of telling stories about the brand they are responsible for.

Thus, the following garnered, as a result, is enough and gives a particular brand an edge over its rivals. Whatever the marketer says he has consumed or availed automatically makes the customer want to have it (product or a service).

Defy expectations

By defying expectations it means you go beyond the call of duty in serving your customers. It is achieved by defying certain conventions which are practiced in your industry and it is up to you which conventions you break and which you do not. Much of it largely depends on the type of audience you cater.

Take a stand

Taking a stand means practicing newness in your branding. Cause-driven marketing campaigns are getting old at least from the millennials perspective. But they are the ones which are carrying the human generation forward and cannot be ruled out.

Philanthropy is considered as something which millennials don’t seem to care about. Let me tell this just a perspective. The truth is far from it. That is why I say millennials are very skeptical of acause-driven marketing campaign. To them merely maximizing shareholder’s wealth is not enough to get them to make purchases.

So in order for this to be addressed, there is a need for cause-driven business which takes into account the philanthropy aspects of the business. Earning money is not bad but it should also bebringing value to the humankind. The concept of finding meaningful work is quite common among millennials, why? Because they want to contribute to the society with the work they do. They wish to be the catalysts of change, the difference makers which the baby boomers lacked.

Focus on great design

Another techniqueby way of which you can give your startup a kick-ass start is by focusing on great design. The intent shouldbe to make products and services extraordinary. Now you must be thinking that I knew this already. I know great design is nothing is new, people have been doing great design for ages but it’s worth a mention because it is just not thebeauty of things.

Many products have experienced a shift from traditional ones to being a software and the looks in the traditional sense does not count rather it is the experience the end user derives out of it. I would like to discuss a classic example of Tinder here.

Now Tinder is a popular app but as for its design or the beauty elements, this app is nothing exceptional. Neither it is subtle nor elegant in its overall look but why does it continue to woo masses, one might ask? The answer is user experience (UX).

The intuitive interface of Tinder has not only made the usage of app extremely addictive but has perfectly conveyed the company’s message of casual online dating. Now for a startup to exhibit all of the above traits including design, Tinder carries all of them.

With casual dating aspect, Tinder is akin to a bar where naturally you approach a person and offer adrink, talk and ask out (not in that specific order, of course). Thus, defying expectations.