Every startup needs to make their brand strategy a priority, but are we always getting it right? As someone who has spent over 20 years in brand strategy, working with iconic brands like Nike, Google, and Disney, I’m here to tell you that branding goes far beyond design. If you’re struggling to differentiate, to command higher prices, or to bring in leads, here are some of the strategic mistakes you could be making.

1. You’re focusing on design, not strategy

I love a beautifully designed website, killer fonts, and a good colour palette, but this is not a brand strategy.

Brand strategy is getting intentional about the space you want to claim in your industry, based on the scale of your ambition, the market dynamics, how things are changing, and how you can leverage that change.

You should be asking yourself questions like: Where is the blank space (the opportunities others haven’t seen)? Where is the highest value? (what commands premium pricing?), and What is ripe for disruption?

Once you get clear on what you’re trying to do and why, everything you do, from your design to your client experience, business model, and messaging, is your opportunity to land that idea and claim that space.

2. You’re overly obsessed with your product

It’s hard to hear, but your product or service probably isn’t that different to many others and actually that doesn’t matter.

Nike makes great sneakers. So do many other brands. They spend no time telling people about the details of their leather uppers or double stitching, they’re too busy creating the brand that people will buy into.

Most startups spend too much time and money talking about the intricacies of their product, when they’d be better investing their energies into the brand that wraps around it. This is the valuable bit. It’s what gives your business meaning, it creates an identity for your clients to buy into.

Tap into the emotion over the logic. Always.

3. You’re waiting to earn your space, rather than claiming it

Maybe you’ve had a stellar corporate career or several other businesses, but this business is new. You’re new in this space. And so you act like a newbie.

It shows up in your pricing, in how bold you’re willing to go in your messaging, in the difference you’re genuinely prepared to stand for. It’s often easier to focus on being excellent first. Taking more certifications, building more case studies, more external validation and proof.

Let’s assume you’re already brilliant at what you do. If you’re new to a space, to business, what is the gold that you bring from your previous experiences in the world? What do you stand for and against wildly?

Claim your space from the start.

4. You’re playing the same game as everyone else

It’s tempting to look at everyone around you for cues on how to build a business, whether it’s how to structure your business model and offering, to marketing and messaging. We all love the certainty of a roadmap. But please stop.

Most strategies will work, you just have to find yours and you’ll build a more valuable business if you become the disruptor of your category, rather than a follower.

Rather than thinking ‘this is how to do it’, think about all of the norms that no one has questioned in your industry. Brainstorm them, write a long list. Then think of how you’ll break them, change things, do things differently.

5. You’re making Instragram your marketing strategy

In the online business world, there’s a lot of ‘Marketing 101’ advice and the worst of the worst is the need to use social media to build the ‘Know, Like & Trust’ factor. Women especially, do not need to be told to be liked.

It’s a great platform, but it’s not a marketing plan. It doesn’t mean that marketing your business requires you to become an Influencer, share everything about your life, show-up every day. Use it to sell, sell, sell.

This isn’t a sustainable marketing plan for most people. It might be a strategy to get things moving, but it won’t build you a seven-figure business. If it doesn’t feel aligned to you, it’s not right.

Powerful marketing is built around a disruptive idea, with an activation plan to land it seamlessly across your brand and business. You choose the stack of marketing channels that work for you and your audience.

Be remembered, noticed, and admired. Being ‘liked’ is a nice-to-have.