Having a high quality and unique brand might not feel like a necessity for attracting investors, but it might actually be the difference between securing that much needed injection of funding, or ending up looking like everyone else and falling into obscurity. The numbers are clear. A recent poll from 99designs by Vista shows that 86% of small businesses and entrepreneurs believe their visual brand plays an important role in the overall success of their business.

Branding is about far more than just a slick logo (although that is important) — it’s how you visually communicate the most fundamental elements of your business story and purpose to your audience. Whether you’re currently looking to attract investors or customers, here’s five reasons why investing early in professional design and branding could change the game for your burgeoning business.

Standing out from the crowd

Let’s start with the most obvious – effective branding can be the silver bullet solution for standing out from competitors. And if you’re a disruptor or a challenger brand, that difference can be crucial. It’s significant for attracting potential investors, but also signals to your customers and the broader market that you really are different. Words can only communicate so much: by allowing your branding to take unexpected, creative directions, you’re putting money where your mouth is and striking out on your own. Think of Klarna: in a sea of typical trustworthy blue in the finance sector, the brand has leaned into a shade of pink that demands attention in the most unexpected and memorable way.  

Building trust

As a startup, you’re typically at ground zero when it comes to building customer relationships. This is why consistent, cohesive branding is invaluable to your business — it creates a foundation for customer connections by demonstrating that your business is trustworthy, dependable and serious about the job at hand. In fact, 88% of respondents in the same 99designs poll said that visual branding was important in building trust with their customers.

Repetition and recognition play a key role here; over time things like colour combinations and font choice become inherently ‘you’ and the familiarity this creates for consumers and your community is a valuable commodity.

Think of all your touch points: emails, app, socials, website, promotional materials - are they visually communicating the same values and personality that underpin your brand? If not, what does that say to your consumer, and what are you missing out on?

Communicating your values

Great design allows you to not only signal what is important to you as a business, but shows you understand what your customers value too. In the early stages of building a startup, you will have spent countless hours researching your customers and their pain points, as well as developing your values, purpose and mission as you solidify your place in the world. Once you’re ready to introduce yourself to the market, having a well thought out and authentic visual brand that aligns these two critical elements of your business is crucial. 

Through consistent branding elements such as colours, styles and imagery, you can demonstrate what your business cares about, what you’re doing differently to your competitors, and why. This plays a significant role in attracting customers with similar values and keeping those buyers engaged. Which leads us to…

Connecting with your audience on a deeper level

Your branding is the thing that defines potential customers’ first impression of your business, particularly online, so making it effective is key to connecting with the right audience. Knowing who you are selling to is half the battle. 95% of our purchasing decisions are based on emotion, and most of the time these purchases will be made before a consumer experiences the product or service in any meaningful way. They may have read a review, or received a word-of-mouth recommendation, but at the moment of purchase, that emotional decision will often be dictated by what you’ve communicated using your branding. 

Branding decisions can help you demonstrate that you understand your customers. People are drawn to brands that tell a story they can understand, but also relate to. When that works, your audience engages with you from a place of trust, and so they’re much more likely to buy into whatever it is you’re offering. 

Tapping into globally diverse perspectives 

There’s enormous value in diversifying the ideas from which you draw as a business, especially as we spend more and more time online and markets become increasingly international. The same goes for your brand identity too. If you're building a product that you hope to be used by people around the world, the global talent that online design marketplaces like 99designs by Vista offer can open up a whole universe of creative possibilities that can add real value to your startup’s branding.

By tapping into global perspectives, you’re drawing from broader creative insights that may be different to your own, and will help challenge you to think differently and step outside of your comfort zone. If you want your brand identity and designs to stand out — and you should — it makes sense to draw from the broadest, most affordable talent pool possible.

Is it ever too early?

It’s understandable that for many startups, especially in very early stages, branding is something that’s lower down the list of priorities. But investing in design at this point can be a game changer. Much more than just a logo or attractive website, it’s about clarifying internal strategy and messaging, working out how and why you’re doing what you’re doing, and it’s often the key in making you stand out to investors and customers in overcrowded verticals.   

Even if you’re pre-launch, or just thinking about seed funding, you can start by just building your minimum viable brand (MVB). An MVB is the most basic version of a brand identity that can communicate a brand’s values and overall essence. There will be changes as you develop your company, and moments where previous branding decisions may need to be altered, but by working with an MVB, you allow yourself the freedom to pivot if necessary, while making sure that your values and your narrative are visible at all levels of your business. Working out your core values, target customers, what value you provide, and your differentiators all fall under the design umbrella and are vital to any successful business. 

So, whilst a focus on branding shouldn’t ever detract from the other vital parts of your startup and product development, don’t leave it to last if you’re really looking to change the game.