The Importance of Branding - especially for Startups

If it's good enough for Warren Buffet....

To make sure you understand his isn’t just some sales fluff:
Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors of all time, has been vocal about the power of branding.
He sees a strong brand as a business moat—a competitive advantage that protects a company from rivals. He’s even said it’s “a key determinant of a business’s health” and “the only way to build a very good business” because it gives you pricing power.
And guess what? He doesn’t invest in companies without strong brands.
So, if one of the world’s most successful business minds prioritises branding, shouldn’t you?

Branding: more than just a logo

Your brand is not just your name, logo, or colour scheme. Those are brand assets—important, yes, but they’re only a small part of the picture.
The common misconception among startups and small businesses that all that other branding stuff is something you do later—once you’re “big enough” to have a dedicated marketing team. But that thinking is backward. That stuff is exactly the reason why good ol’ Warren B invests in these businesses. Without it, he wouldn't.

A brand is what sets you apart from the competition. It's what let’s you ask the price you ask. Why customers choose you over the competition. Without a brand - whatever you have on offer is just a commodity that will be bought for the lowest price possible.

Why Start-ups need a Brand Strategy from day one

Let’s start at the beginning: what is a brand?
A brand is a dynamic perception (together with all of the associations) of what you have on offer for the audience.
I’ll do a series on each of these individual parts with a link to each as soon as they are live. But for now - an overview of why a brand is so important for start-ups.

1. Perception means that it is in the customers eyes / heart where the brand lives - you only give the framework. People will make associations regardless of what you do - so you can either focus their direction to those aspects and parts that put you in the best light, or have them do it themselves and just hope for the best.

2. It goes (way) beyond your product - a strong brand extends well beyond what you sell to include the emotions, associations, credibility and much more that comes with every aspect within the funnel and usage. Done well, branding creates loyalty, trust, and recognition.

3. It is always changing - it evolves over time. Even if all physical aspects of your brand would stay the same - associations would change. Simply because society changes around you and so the context changes. You need to adapt accordingly. So what you build now, will help you in the future to adapt and stay on course.

4. It is where business strategy meets audience - where business strategy and customer perception meet. This means that is informs where you show up, how you sell, how you price your product, package it, make personalisation possible, how you communicate, the customer experience - it all adds up and is part of your brand.

In short, a clear brand strategy makes you recognisable, makes you stand out, resonate, and be the business people think of first - or you can choose to not have a coherent brand and be forgettable.

Build a brand that sticks

Whether you’re doing it intentionally or not, you are building a brand. The question is: is it a clear, cohesive one—or a scattered, forgettable one?
Now you may think that I am overreacting. But consider the following: when you send a single message in communication - people get it. The more you add, the less people remember. This works with your brand as a whole just as much....

A strong brand doesn’t just happen; it’s built with purpose. And the best time to start is always Now.

Want to talk about building a business that lasts?

If you’re curious about how to apply this thinking to your own business, let’s chat.
I offer a free conversation where I’ll listen to your challenges, explore what’s working (and what’s not), and see if there’s a way to improve your marketing strategy.
No pressure, no hard sell — just a genuine conversation about growing your business the right way.