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|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room – Jeff Bezos

Completely agreed! I know several startups who have created an attractive website, their business is located at prime location, they spent a good amount of money on digital marketing, they are owning a team of skilled staff but still waiting for calls from customers. Is it happening to you too ?

If your answer is a big yes, don’t worry! You are at the right place. But before diving into the article, remember what Jeff Bezos has said. According to him, it’s all about your brand. Your brand represents your business and reputation. So, be sure to have a good one.

Many people argue that they already have a good and attractive logo, what else is needed in branding? Do you really think having a good brand logo is enough for the branding? No, definitely not.

Here I am going to mention some common startup blunders that businesses are making and how one can fix it.

Blunder #1 – Inconsistency

What is the color of the logo of social media giant Facebook? Blue, right? Did you ever see Facebook using its logo color as red in any of its marketing campaigns? No, I am sure. Consistency is very important in building a brand. If you are using yellow as your logo color on the website, keep it yellow everywhere. Otherwise, it confuses users and perhaps they won’t be able to recognize your brand at a glance. Inconsistent branding can lead to customer confusion and a high bounce rate.

Solution – Be consistent. Be consistent with your designs and brand color. It will not only help you in building brand image but also provides recognition.

Blunder #2 – Replicating competitors

This is another blunder that most of the startups make. It is good to know and research what your competitors are doing but copying exactly their marketing strategies lead you to a pitfall. Understand first, you are in the starting stages of your business. You don’t have enough capital like your already established competitors to spend a lot on everything. It is also possible that their marketing styles and trends will not work for your business.

Solution – Do a good competitor research, try to understand what they are doing in promoting their business. But don’t copy everything from them. Don’t try to replicate their marketing styles in hope of getting better results. You can also try some DIY. Tools like Canva help you create your own visual identity.

Blunder #3 – Marketing it everywhere

Do you join every function you are invited to? Certainly not. Likewise, every marketing platform is not a perfect place for showcasing your products. Just because, your company’s name can be somewhere, you started posting everywhere. Representing your brand at wrong places can directly affect your branding campaign.

Solution – Research and figure out what are the best-suited places for running your marketing campaign. Don’t try to be present everywhere.

Blunder #4 – Ignoring social media

Today, everybody has gone online. Even a 10 years old kid is hanging out with friends on several social media platforms. Social media has enormous power. Businesses, politicians, and everybody is seeking the help of social media in promoting their brand name. One can’t ignore the power of it especially startups should be more active on such social media platforms to reach out to the targeted audience. They are the best platforms to build your brand value.

Solution – Be active on social media platforms. Figure out which one works best for you out of a lot. Not every platform is of use to you. Post offers, spread awareness and post attractive contents regularly.

Blunder #5 – Neglecting the power of analytics

Do you really think posting and commenting on social media platforms is enough in branding? It is not. If you ask any digital marketing expert, he will explain to you the importance of analytics. The analytics will help you in knowing which type of content is driving more traffic than other.

Solution: Always have an eye on analytics. With the help of analytic tools, you should know what type of content you need to post and who is your targeted audience.

These are some blunders that most of the startups are making while building their brand. Try to avoid such mistakes and show your customers your real value. Build a brand in a right way. Don’t forget Jeff Bezos.

Don’t make these mistakes and before doing anything, do analyze your business well.

About the Author

Kavita Paliwal is Independent Marketing Analyst and Blogger. When not glued to her laptop, she can be found making travel plans that rarely happen. Connect with Kavita on Twitter & Linkedin

|In: Brand Building|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Akosha, an online complaints redressal company, is now Helpchat, a messenger based personal assistant platform which will help people get things done. Helpchat is available as an app on the Android store.

Sensing a much larger play, Akosha entered into an elaborate re-positioning exercise with the Mumbai based agencies Ogilvy & Mather and Open Design. To pin down the ‘big itch’ around which the service would revolve, the team mapped the customers’ needs and queries, which in turn revealed a major theme of our world today: People are drowning in tasks and are constantly looking for help.

HelpChat

Speaking about the re-branding, Ankur Singla, CEO & Founder, Helpchat said

We are here to end the biggest battle of our daily lives—the one against tasks. We started as a complaint platform, but as more people started using our service, the nature of queries changed and we realized that people were seeking all kinds of help.

We are providing a helping hand to make every day easier. Imagine if you can message your personal assistant to get all kinds of things done. From deciding your next purchase, ordering a laundry service to booking a restaurant table, from tech support to locating a medical specialist – everything that is part of our everyday task list. Being a mobile app, we are fighting for precious real estate. We want to become a default behavior. Have to get something done? Put Helpchat in action.

Kali Charan Shukla, who heads brand strategy at Helpchat, says

We live in a world complicated by information and choice, where every little task demands time and attention. We wanted to position Helpchat as a power tool in the hands of the people – one that amplifies their ability to get things done. Our promise: Do more, by doing less.

Vishal Chaudhry, CTO,Helpchat adds

We are also using NLP/AI to automate the answering of these queries. Currently, more than 25% of the 30,000 daily requests are handled by a chat-bot.

Based on the realization that businesses play an important role in getting things done for consumers, Helpchat provides priority access to large brands, including major players like Aircel, Voltas, Eureka Forbes, Spice Mobiles, Rediff Shopping & more.

More than 100 local businesses in Bangalore [Kormangala & Indiranagar] across categories like grocery, fitness, laundry and beauty are using this app to help their customers. Helpchat [then Akosha] had raised Rs.100 crores from Sequoia Capital two months ago.

About Helpchat

Helpchat is a chat-based personal assistant app that helps people to get more things done. Previously known as Akosha, Helpchat goes a step further by being a true power tool in the hands of consumers. It amplifies their ability to get things done easily with its brand promise: “Do more by doing less”.

Be it anything, from recharging your phone to tech support, travel booking to holiday guidance, grocery to food ordering, shopping assistance to finding deals and coupons, web check-in to getting your laundry done, Helpchat can get all of this done over chat. In a world where one’s ability to do more things finally defines success, Helpchat can be every smart consumer’s little trump card.

|In: Brand Building|Last Updated:

Though there are plenty of things to worry about during the start-up phase of any business, there are few things as important as brand creation and management. Whether you are securing investors or building your customer base, your brand is often one of the major determining factors in your success.

The following tips and tricks are great ways for your start-up to establish & build a brand:

Understand the Many Facets of Your Brand
Many start-ups get lost in the act of brand building and fail to realize just how detailed the process can be. The end result is a weak brand. Brand building and management is not just about everyone sees your brand. It is about how investors, employees, customers and partners see your business individually. Though positive aspects for each group tend to offer some benefit to others, building a truly strong brand is about focusing on each specific group and showing them exactly how your start-up is the best target for their money, time and trust. By monitoring and building your brand from each perspective, you can ensure that your brand is solid, stable and strong.

Research Your Market to Help Establish Your Brand
With the competitive nature of a globalized economy, market research is more important than ever. Establish a demographic & market and build your brand from there. Knowing your market makes establishing value and building your brand much easier. This also ensures that other parts of your brand, such as the name, logo and advertising, are honed easily to fit your market for improved results in your start-up efforts. Each of these factors can impact the success of your start-up. It is also much harder to alter many of these smaller aspects once the business is established. By researching before and during the start-up phase of your business, you position it for long-term success.

Embrace Your Brand
You can ask anyone what they feel makes the brand of a large corporation or business and get many answers in return. It is easy to promote a brand after it is created. However, establishing a brand in a start-up is very different. Most start-ups have only a few employees. This means that everyone should be embracing and living the brand of the company. When so few people are involved, every action you take reflect directly back on your start-up and could help or hurt its success. If you are living your brand and integrating into your practices, partners and eventually employees will be more likely to adopt your stance as well. This makes brand management and promotion easier in later stages of the business. The opposite is also true. If you live in opposition to your brand, your employees, investors and customers will be the first to notice and point it out to others.

Build Your Brand from the Beginning
Every second that a business delays in building its brand it is risking failure. Branding is not a process that requires substantial investments or dedicated professional services. Branding should start at the conception. This means that it should be an integral part of the start-up process. Branding establishes a number of things, ranging from your target market to your potential competition. This makes it one of the most crucial yet overlooked aspects of the start-up process. By establishing your brand early, you are defining the value and benefits that your start-up will offer consumers, investors and other entities. While making money is important for any business to succeed, creating value and establishing a market are two major keys to long-term success.

In summary, know what you are trying to convey with the brand, do the market research to know what your target audience will respond to, and don’t delay in executing — just do it !!!

About the Author

Eric Armstrong is a marketing professional specializing in qualitative market research.

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