Giving start-ups the brand platform they need to succeed
As a start-up, there’s a lot on your plate. While you pivot, strategise, source funds and build teams, you want your branding and advertising to perform without taking your valuable time.
Among your challenges and distractions (and much-deserved success), brand development sometimes suffers. With our help, that doesn’t have to be the case.
The power of a thought-through brand delivers the growth you aspire to and gives investors the confidence they need. With nearly three decades of working with ambitious start-up businesses, we can elevate your brand to the next level.
Investing in building a brand from the get-go is critical to long-term success. If you’re not sure where to start, or you’ve started and want to take things further, spending some time with us will give you the clarity you deserve.
Good stories, better told
In the fight for attention, salience and loyalty, when it comes to your brand, the right strategic foundation is what separates the leaders from the thanks-for-comings.
First, we’ll help you define a compelling positioning and an authentic narrative. One that goes beyond what you do and the pursuit of profit – with focus firmly on what makes your brand different. Then we’ll create the verbal and visual assets that cut through the market noise and bring your story to life.
And that’s just the beginning. Every brand touchpoint and experience is an opportunity to reinforce and amplify what you stand for and why anyone should care.
We’ll craft insight-led campaigns and communications that contribute to building the value of your brand every time.
Brand definition
Working with us means you can be confident your brand is built on the most robust strategic bedrock.
It all starts with defining your brand – creating clarity around what you stand for, why it matters, and your point of difference.
Our proven methodology, honed over time, will guide and challenge you toward a focused, compelling and unique brand position. And this will be the foundation for a story that’s easy to understand and articulate.
Brand discovery
A rigorous exercise in building understanding and gaining insight. Customer, competition, company, context – we leave no stone unturned.
Brand positioning
How do you want your customers and other stakeholders to perceive you? The goal here is to bring absolute clarity to how you want your brand to be seen.
Brand articulation
With your positioning defined and your story clear, the challenge is to tell it well – so that others will buy into what you stand for and spread the word.
This requires crafting your brand identity. The image your brand presents to the world. The verbal, visual, and behavioural expression of who you are and what you stand for.
As an agency that’s been creating brand identities for leading-edge organisations for years, we’re well-placed to help you build a story with transformative potential.
Verbal identity
What you say and how you say it is a huge and often overlooked opportunity to drive distinctiveness and build salience in a competitive market. We work with our clients to create brand languages that go hand-in-hand with your visual identity to help you stand out.
Visual identity
Together with verbal identity, we’ll ensure your look reflects and reinforces your brand positioning, communicating through distinctive assets (or brand ‘codes’) who you are and what you stand for.
Brand amplification
From brand or product launches to investor communications – all present an opportunity to build salience, trust and brand equity.
And yet few start-up organisations truly recognise this – with consistency often breaking down among the competing priorities. It makes short-term tactical thinking the norm. The key is balancing the need to meet growth pressures with sustained brand recognition.
We’ll make sure any communication or campaign fulfils its immediate marketing purpose, and still contributes to building long-term brand value.
Campaign strategy & creative
Dramatising the solution to your customers’ problem in the most engaging and compelling way.
Integrated marketing communications
Insight-driven, joined-up activity, where a multi-channel approach has impact.
Employer branding
Attract and retain the best employees to help you achieve your goals.
Internal communications
Realising the full potential of all your people pulling in the same direction.
We are really proud of our brand. We’ve had overwhelmingly positive responses particularly when it comes to the bold use of colours, and everyone loves our “All systems go” strap line which we think captures Cocotec perfectly! Further, those who know us well, thought our brand reflects our personalities brilliantly. Working with mark-making has been a great experience, and we’re delighted with our new brand and website. Thank you very much to everyone in the fantastic mark-making team!
Cocotec CEO
mark-making* were recommended to me by one of our Board Advisors (Colin), known for picking winners! They have made our journey through brand definition and design a fun, inspiring, and thought-provoking one, and our early decision to give them full freedom to explore strategic avenues and creative direction was sound and to be recommended. I’m confident that our business proposition, combined with our eye-catching and meaningful brand created by mark-making* will create a winning formula for Bevan’s future success.
Bevan CEO
Got questions? Here are a few we are most frequently asked.
What kind of start-ups do you work with?
From disruptive to purposeful. From start-up to scale-up. All our clients have one thing in common – a desire to make a positive difference as well as a return. If that sounds like you, then we’ll be a great fit.
How do I convince others in my organisation to invest in the brand?
That’s a common challenge. Especially for busy founders and CEOs. But every category leader knows the value of consistently investing in brand building from day one. If you’re having trouble being heard internally, you’ll need to pull together a compelling business case. We appreciate that it can be daunting, so we’re always happy to help.
How is mark-making* different from other agencies?
Our clients tell us that what makes us different is a combination of our expertise and our culture. We’re the best at what we do and our goal is always to add value. We also recognise the day-to-day stresses our start-up clients are often under, so our focus isn’t just on producing effective work – making our clients’ lives easy is something we’re proud to be known for too. It probably explains the exceptional longevity we have in our client relationships, some now spanning over 20 years.
Why is branding so important to start-ups?
Recognised brands are just that – recognised. Which means you need to forge a path to becoming meaningful and memorable. The problem often comes when founders and leaders get overwhelmed by the sheer workload required to create a successful start-up. Take Innocent, for example. They started as a market stall. However, their bold and unique branding differentiated them against a backdrop of a crowded market. Now, they are an established and instantly recognisable brand.
How do I know when to invest in my brand?
That’s a good question. In short, as soon as you’re able to. The value of a strong brand can see your business grow multiple-fold. It’s a good idea to look at your market, where you can make gains, and what you need to say to help you stand out (that last bit we’re particularly good at). But we were also a start-up once. So, we’re happy for you to lean into our experience, too. We often find the support of an external voice is enough to help you clarify your thoughts and appetite for brand development.
What sort of budget will I need to see a return?
No two situations are the same. Our approach to brand creation and brand development is based on a proven and robust methodology. Whilst the process is consistent, the inputs and deliverables may be flexed as necessary to meet different needs and objectives. Whatever stage you’re at, we can support you, starting with an initial chat. And if we don’t think we can help, we’ll be sure to recommend alternatives.
How does branding for start-ups differ from established organisations?
There are more differences than you may think. Aside from budget differences, established brands will often be a lot slower adapting to market demands or communication trends. That’s where being a start-up is a massive advantage. You’re in a growth period that will often require unique ways to win customers from traditional brands. This can result in exciting campaigns that help you carve out new income streams or practices. Our strategists and creative studio are adept at thinking of new approaches and proven ways to solve most problems.