Strong and Nimble
We like working with new businesses. It’s exciting working with founders when the idea is still just a seed, full of potential. But sometimes there lies a problem here: not everything has been worked out yet.
A business idea can change a lot in the first couple of years. It may start out as one thing, but as you grow and develop it can morph into something that serves quite a different function. And maybe it needs a different look too? So when’s the right time to take the plunge and invest in your brand?
Too early, and the brand may not suit where you end up once you’ve launched and learnt.
Too late, and you might miss the boat on the idea, and never truly test it with a compelling brand.
We believe that there are some good reasons to invest in branding early on.
Firstly, you’ll learn a lot about your business and what you want to achieve throughout the branding process itself. We work closely with clients to define their brand, their positioning and their ambitions, so if you haven’t properly nailed down these things yet, we’ll think about them together.
Secondly, a brand is never a fixed thing. Of course, the longer your business exists and grows, the longer and more expensive it is to change your course. But be prepared to adjust all the time: reacting to the market, trends, and opportunities.
A strong brand, in itself, might also inform and drive the direction of your business more than you would think. When we worked with Edmunds Cocktails, the brand and labels were designed to stand out on bar counters. But their appeal has led them to sell direct-to-consumer much quicker than they anticipated. The branding, in this case, produced an opportunity they hadn’t envisaged and meant they were in a solid position to capitalise on it.
So create a strong brand; create a compelling reason for people to believe in you and your business. But also anticipate change, and prepare to be nimble in the first few years. The stronger your brand, the better placed you are to navigate and thrive through those changes.
