Branding for IT startups

Launching a startup is only half the battle. Most don't survive due to various reasons, including focusing solely on the product, its functionality, and interface, without considering broader factors like market needs, customer experience, and long-term sustainability.

A weak point of startups is focusing too much on the product and neglecting branding

Initially, it’s essential to ensure the business idea is sound and start earning, but as competitors emerge with similar products, building a strong brand becomes crucial. Without emotional attachment and brand strength, your company will struggle with price competition and constant advertising. Focus on creating a brand that resonates with your audience and differentiates you in the market.
You need to build not only the code but the brand.

A brand is a company's main intangible asset, with its value surpassing physical assets like factories or offices. It’s the image formed in a customer's mind, based on associations and emotions triggered by the brand. While many entrepreneurs focus on the product’s rational benefits, a strong brand is built on emotions and shared values. Additionally, a founder’s personal brand is crucial for attracting investors, as they often prefer a strong team over a great idea alone. Building this personal brand requires more than just curating a LinkedIn profile.

Even without strong competition, having a strong brand becomes essential for attracting top talent as your company grows. Your HR brand is intrinsically linked to your corporate brand, offering a different perspective as an employer. In consumer branding, brand value is reflected in how much more consumers are willing to pay for the product. In HR branding, it’s about how much employees are willing to lower their salary expectations to work for a company with a strong HR brand.

Companies sometimes misunderstand HR branding, thinking it’s just about perks like a game table in the office. I once had a false impression of a company’s atmosphere when I noticed a foosball table during an interview. However, once I joined, I realized no one played because the commercial director was nearby and would ask, "Do you have enough work?" HR branding goes beyond office perks; it's about the work culture and how employees are treated.

The contrast with American companies is striking. At Facebook's office in New York, for instance, employees can bring a friend once a week, enjoy free food and drinks, and play games—all provided by the company. This approach fosters a relaxed and engaging atmosphere, which contrasts with more work-focused environments where even small perks are often scrutinized.

How to create a brand

To create a brand, you need to develop a brand strategy, define its DNA (personality, values, character, etc.), tone, and visual style. All of this is communicated through various touchpoints with the audience: advertising creatives, website content, product features, and much more.

Brand development begins with deep audience research. While startups often focus on user experience and functionality, few explore the underlying motivations of their customers. As a result, we end up with numerous similar services, many of which will fail in the market. Understanding what emotional needs a product fulfills is crucial for differentiation and success.

Many products lack clear positioning. For example, "task manager" just describes the functionality, not the market position. The key question marketers need to answer through audience research is: why does the customer need this product? What emotional needs does it fulfill? For instance, Trello isn't just a task organizer; it saves time, makes work more enjoyable, and adds a personal touch with its friendly interface. This emotional connection is why users may prefer it over similar tools, like Asana.

If we understand the deep motivations of people, their lifestyle, and preferences -

we can build relationships with them, choose the right words, creatives, engage them, instead of just providing a soulless service for money

Depending on the investment volume and risk level, research can be conducted in-house with internal resources or by hiring an agency. Typically, at the start, so-called qualitative research is sufficient—focus groups or surveys with a small number of users. This is how positioning hypotheses emerge, which, ideally, should later be validated through larger-scale quantitative research.

How much does it cost to develop a brand?

In the consumer market, you can first identify an open niche for positioning and then think through the brand. For example, Tide and Ariel — Procter & Gamble’s brands — functionally don’t differ. But in IT, functionality is often primary and can truly be unique. It’s not worth investing in branding right away—these are investments that may not pay off. First, you need to ensure the product’s viability.
In large agencies, the development of a brand strategy and its visual identity — logo and corporate style — starts from 1 million and can go up indefinitely. A team, at minimum consisting of a strategist, creative director, designer, and manager, works on the project.

I don't recommend working with agencies that specialize in a narrow field, such as branding in the consumer market. If an agency’s portfolio, like ours, includes projects for various markets — IT, services, and online schools — that’s fine. A broad perspective helps extrapolate experience from one market to another.
Agencies usually have a clear price list, which already accounts for potential challenges. When I worked as a project director at Coruna Branding, if a client didn’t have 1-2 million for a comprehensive project, I had nothing to offer them. That’s why startups appreciate boutique studios like Brand to GO — we don’t have an office, coffee machines, secretaries, or promotion costs — clients come to us through word of mouth. We calculate the cost individually after conducting an audit, which shows whether research is needed, if it can be done in-house (usually it can), and what the company specifically requires. In the end, it’s much cheaper than with an agency with an office in the city center, more personal, more fun, and often more efficient.

Brand Adaptation in New Markets

A brand is built through communication channels such as the website, social media content, media advertising, events, and PR.

When entering a new regional market, the brand's core values and character remain the same, but communication strategies may need to adjust to local nuances.

It’s important to consider the local market specifics—ensure the name doesn't have an inappropriate translation, understand local advertising laws, and respect cultural norms to avoid penalties and societal backlash.

Branding must adapt to cultural contexts.
For example, in the UAE, it’s inappropriate to use images of women in mini skirts, while in the US, campaigns often focus on inclusivity—highlighting diverse groups like the LGBTQ+ community, African Americans, and people with disabilities.
In the UK, advertising often features long-form texts with rich language and subtle irony.
Regardless of country, the brand should remain authentic, while creativity should adjust to cultural norms.

Creating a brand is about respecting yourself and valuing your work. Without a brand, customers will simply choose based on price. A lot of effort, money, and resources go into IT products—so it's important to build a strong connection with customers through branding and manage it effectively.