10 THINGS YOU NEED TO
KNOW ABOUT STARTUP
BRANDING
Presented by:
Assaf Guery, Managing Partner, Nascent
www.nascentgrp.com

INTRODUCTION TO NASCENT

NASCENT HELPS COMPANIES INNOVATE
by aligning brands, products, services, software and
user experiences with business goals and processes,
nascent delivers sustainable competitive advantage,
from strategy to execution.

A SNAPSHOT OF RECENT WORK

ENGAGEMENT TYPE CLIENT TYPE GEOGRAPHY
GUI
Brand 2
strategy E
US & EU
Websites
Branding High Tech Local for
A-Z international

PAST EVOLUTION FUTURE
ORGANIZATION ORGANIZATION BRAND ORGANIZATION
finance
technology
human resources finance
operations technology
human resources
sales
operations
marketing sales
branding marketing

ONE. YOU ARE YOUR BRAND AND YOUR BRAND IS YOU
At the beginning, your brand personality and that of your
startup are one and the same.
Your passion, drive, integrity, and total belief will shape:
• the employees who join you
• the investment opportunities you receive
• the media coverage the company receives
• the overall perception of the company

TWO. MESSAGING & POSITIONING
Messaging and positioning are at the core of everything the
company does. If you can’t articulate what you do, which
market you’re in and who your key target audiences are, you
need to think again...
Messaging and positioning should be communicated:
• internally - to employees
• externally - to investors, the media, analysts, partners and
all other key stakeholder groups.
Your brand’s equity is built in the minds of the two groups
above. Your brand is what they say it is, shape their perceptions

THREE. STRATEGY, THEN TACTICS
Branding is a strategic undertaking and not a tactical one.
Brand strategy deals with issues at the core of the business,
things like:
• vision
• mission
• messaging
• positioning
• naming
• brand architecture
• identity
these things, when aligned, build brand equity over time.

FOUR. CUSTOMERS & POTENTIALS. THE NEW PARTNERS?
Companies succeed when their brands and products delight
their target audiences, by answering an unmet or unknown
need, or by radically improving on an existing product or
service.
Startups need to understand the needs of their customers and
elicit their feedback at every opportunity, to gain rapid market
traction. This is true for both B2B and B2C startups.
“Peer production is about more than sitting down and having a nice conversation...
It's about harnessing a new mode of production to take innovation and wealth
creation to new levels”
Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

FIVE. THE 80 / 20 RULE: IMPLEMENTING NPS
Q: How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a
friend or colleague?
Sort the responses into three groups: promoters (9's and 10's),
passives (7's and 8's), and detractors (0's through 6's). The
percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors
equals your score. A company with 75% promoters and 15%
detractors, for example, would have an NPS of 60.
Bain & Co. (who invented the system) estimate that 80% of a
company’s new business leads are generated this way.

SIX. MANAGE YOUR BRAND LIKE YOUR FLAGSHIP PRODUCT
Often times, internal marketers are hired relatively late in the
start-up recruiting cycle. Most startups (especially Israeli ones)
are technology driven.
N.B. The majority of end users have no interest in technology.
While there is always an urgency to get the product to market,
think of your brand as a parallel or even flagship product.
That means it needs to be:
• actively managed
• have a development roadmap
• be discussed regularly at senior management level
• be someone’s key responsibility
• aware of other competing brands

WHATS GOOD FOR YOUR PRODUCT...IS GOOD FOR YOUR BRAND

SEVEN. USER EXPERIENCE IS BRAND EXPERIENCE
In today’s digital, always on world, the user’s experience of
your product is synonymous with the brand experience of
your company. Give your users something to celebrate and
talk about:
• aim for simplicity
• believe that less can be more
• invest in your product’s user interface and usability
• enable some level of personalization
• let the user experience design lead the technology
• Involve design thinking earlier on in the process

EIGHT. CREATE A BRAND BUDGET
Brand building takes time, a rich skill set and the development
of smart, relevant content to touch and inspire your audience.
You should budget for:
• a brand strategy
• a brand identity
• technical and or product marketing writing
• SEO / SEM
• corporate / product social media content development
• public relations

NINE. BRAND BUILDING IS A TEAM SPORT
Brands are built by teams not individuals. In most cases, the
domain expertise resides with you, the company, while the
brand expertise is delivered through an ongoing agency
relationship, built over time.
• spend time with your agency, learn to trust them
• share your ideas but be open to others
• provide as much information as you can
• be focused but patient
• enjoy the process, learn from it, develop your brand skills

TEN. A BRAND IS A LIVING ENTITY
Tom Peters, the famous marketing guru and bestselling
author said “you cannot not communicate”. So remember:
• your brand is being built, with or without you
• you can chose to shape perception or let it be shaped
• your brand makes it “easy to tell and easy to sell”
• Its simplifies complexity but is in itself complex
• It makes things clear to those inside your company and
outside
• Brands need to be nurtured in order to grow strong and
stay relevant. Spend a little time each day, thinking about
how to improve and communicate yours!

RESOURCES / INSPIRATION
Serial entrepreneur_startup branding http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/marketing/post/120606.html?page=0%2C0
Sun startup camp_branding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7P-XQetSEg
Sun startup camp_messaging / positioning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4zJQ8OPjM&NR=1
Net Promoter Score_NPS http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/21/smallbusiness/customers_sell_for_you.fsb/
index.htm
Tom Peters http://www.tompeters.com
Brand channel http://www.brandchannel.com

THANK YOU
www.nascentgrp.com