Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeMessagingAttaching your Startup Brand to a Movement

Attaching your Startup Brand to a Movement

I was reminded of a post written by Jason Calacanis a million years ago (OK, it was 2008) on getting PR for startups and one of the points he made was that startups should attach themselves to a movement.  His examples (unfortunately, in my opinion) revolved around movements that he started and allowed others to take advantage of.  In my experience with small companies, the opportunity isn’t so much around creating a movement as it is about being smart enough to recognize the trends or movements that your company is a part of.

Doing this involves figuring out what your company stands for.  I know startups that answer the “What do you stand for?” question with vague platitudes like “We want to change the world!” without a concrete definition of how they plan on doing that.  I’ve heard companies that tell me they exist to make money for themselves or their shareholders or that they will “be the greatest software company in the world.”  These statements to me seem like an outcome of what they are doing rather than what they stand for.  Customers don’t care if you’re planning on getting rich or not.  If your mission can’t be expressed from a customer’s point of view, it doesn’t count.

Etsy didn’t start the handmade movement but they are now a major part of it and it’s rare that folks talk about buying and selling handmade items without mentioning them.  Zappos is the poster child for a new kind of corporate culture that embraces employees as empowered human beings and is known almost as much for their corporate culture as they are for shoes.  They aren’t just an online shoe company, they’re starting a customer service revolution.  At a time when we are questioning traditional banking, CommunityLend is changing the way we think about investing and borrowing money.  As we think more about environmentalism and charity, ECHOage is turning children’s birthday parties into a opportunity to teach kids about giving.  At a time when traditional media is struggling, The Mark News is not only changing the way online commentary is created and distributed, but also the economic model surrounding that.

Are you changing the world for your customers?  How do you describe that?  What larger movement are you part of?  Now think about your messaging.  If Etsy is about “Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade” and Zappos is “Powered by Service”, what is your company all about?

First time reader?  You can sign up for email updates, subscribe via RSS or follow me on Twitter.

RELATED ARTICLES

8 COMMENTS

  1. Great Post! I work for a company that provides enterprise software and we are struggling with how we give our story more oomph. Can you talk a bit about how more traditional software companies (i.e. ones that are obviously linked to some sort of social trend) can position themselves as more relevant or current?
    Thanks!
    Alli

    • Hi Allison,
      Thanks for your comment. I’ve spent a good chunk of my career marketing enterprise software. Sometimes you are talking about macro-level trends. Software as a service is getting more mature now but when Salesforce.com started out they spent as much time talking about SaaS as they did talking about CRM. I also like how 37Signals talks about “software the requires training is failed software”. When they talk about their products they are talking much more about what they stand for and their philosophy of how to make great software than they are about individual features/functions.
      Does that help?
      April

  2. Interesting idea but aren’t you sort of part of a movement or not? Won’t you look like you’re jumping on the bandwagon if you try to attach yourself to something you just aren’t? I’m thinking about the companies that tried to be “Green” that later got called out for greenwashing.

    • Hi John,
      Thanks for the comment. I totally agree that you shouldn’t force your company to be part of something it isn’t. At the same time however, some startups I’ve worked with haven’t done a great job of articulating how they fit into a larger context even when it’s obviously there. Doing that is important because it helps customers (not to mention press, analysts, employees, etc.) understand what you do because you’ve placed it within a larger context. Understanding what you stand for can also make internal decisions easier. Does it make sense for Etsy to branch out into manufactured goods? No way! Should Zappos outsource their customer care? Are you kidding me? They seem like obvious decisions but they wouldn’t necessarily be if those companies didn’t have a clear idea of what they stood for.
      April

Leave a Reply to John Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular

Recent Comments

Ashawndra Edwards on Choosing a New Vertical Market
marcelene28 on Startup Marketing Podcast
Name: Johanna on How to Name Your Startup
Samuel Riksfjord on A Value Proposition Worksheet
Vivian Dilberd on Startup Marketing 101
Krissie Thornton on A Value Proposition Worksheet
Krissie Thornton on A Value Proposition Worksheet
David Locke on Startup Marketing Vs. Art
Justin Graf on Startup Marketing Vs. Art
Randomarketer on Startup Marketing Vs. Art
i2i-management.com on 3 Startup Branding Mistakes
Tim Johnson on Startup Messaging
Paul Bevan on Vertical Marketing 101
Tim Johnson on Vertical Marketing 101
Tim Johnson on Vertical Marketing 101
Alex Nimson on Vertical Marketing 101
Tim Johnson on Influencers Suck
Tim Johnson on Influencers Suck
Tim Johnson on Influencers Suck
Faisal on Influencers Suck
Kerry on Influencers Suck
Jonathan Beech on Influencers Suck
Martin Stimp on A New Marketing Framework
Tim Johnson on A New Marketing Framework
Sam Title on Press/Media Pages 101
Jonathan Beech on How to Name Your Startup
Tim Johnson on How to Name Your Startup
Johnson Choy on Startup Marketing Podcast
Andy Donovan on Startup Marketing Podcast
Maggie Jones on Startup Marketing Podcast
Joseph Dill on Startup Launches RIP
mrsprpro on Startup Launches RIP
topsy_top20k on Startup Launches RIP
JonMaster on Startup Marketing 101
topsy_top20k on Startup Marketing 101
Tony Wilson on I’m the #1 PM Blogger!
Jason Serres on I’m the #1 PM Blogger!
My boss is a Flintstone on Collateral Damage: Building a Content Plan
Steve Matthews on Spam is not Marketing
Mara Krieps on Finding First Customers
Carole-Ann Matignon on ProductCamp NYC
Adam Bullied on ProductCamp NYC
Andreas on ProductCamp NYC
Stewart Rogers on ProductCamp NYC
Roger L. Cauvin on The Art of the Customer Quote
April Dunford on Making it Real
April Dunford on Marketing Penalty Cards
April Dunford on Unhappy Customers Complain