Cutting through the noise is tough, especially when you are a new startup. Without having brand awareness or the reputation. The only way you seem to be able to get business is by cutting your prices and taking on assignments with razor-thin margins if any at all. In most industries, this is an encouraging a race to the bottom, where businesses need to get creative to make a profit. Especially when it’s tough to ascertain if one service provided by supplier X is better than the service provided by supplier Y. And you can’t blame customers for not knowing. Suppliers do sound awfully alike! In these cases, you need to make your brand work harder and cut through the noise. Here are some pointers to do just that.

Make sure all your branding assets are as good as they can be. Ranging from your website, your social media, your physical assets such as brochures, your banners you use for events, are as perfect as they can be. Don’t accept that low-resolution image on your assets where you can actually count the pixels. You want to portray to the world you have a keen eye for detail and a drive for perfection. Get a professional designer and printer such as EventDisplay to get you where you want to be. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should hire a branding agency and get an expensive brand research and brand guideline book done. It does, however, mean approaching your brand as a project in itself. That means that when you get artwork done, consider how this translates to all your marketing material. Is there a line between old and new, can you consider it evolution, does it still speak to the same rational and emotional elements? Don’t just consider a flyer to be ‘just a flyer.’ Any branding you put out there will become part of your brand story, just make sure you are telling one that is cohesive.

Make sure you find an authentic voice. Nothing will evoke more of a ‘next!’ reaction than sounding like a cookie cutter generic company. You know the ones, the ones with mission and vision statements full of platitudes and it might as well be a horoscope. Start with yourself and your values and see what could translate to your business. That could be any causes you stand for, any local community engagement or accentuated passion you have for your profession. Of course, clients want to see credentials and a reasonable price for your services, but sometimes, and some people would even argue that this in most cases, people don’t make decisions based on rational arguments, but rather on emotional ones. Connecting with your prospective client, having good chemistry and making them feel you are more an extension of them than a supplier, all help in winning the business.

So there you have it, determine the personality of your business and hone your message. And when your business goes out in the world, tell your story well.