DOI: 10.5176/2251-2098_EMG15.6
Authors: Maja Konečnik Ruzzier and Mitja Ruzzier
Abstract: In the past, branding was generally related to large companies, even multinationals. Today's fierce environment in combination with endless use of information and communication technology has significantly changed the rules in the area of branding. Branding has become an important issue among startups all over the world. This was confirmed in 45 interviews with startup founders and other stakeholders from the entrepreneurial ecosystem spread across four different continents. Discussions with them confirmed our initial proposition, that for today's success in the market, companies need to search not only product-market fit but also brand-market fit. In comparison to larger companies, branding in startups follows the idea of the lean approach; with each iteration, branding responds even more to modern customers. Combining previous knowledge from branding and entrepreneurship area and with the help of in-depth interviews we proposed startup branding funnel (SBFunnel), a new approach for developing startup brands, consisting of four phases and eleven building blocks, that entrepreneurs should follow in order to develop and implement successful brands.
Keywords: startups, branding, brand, lean, model, SBFunnel, in-depth interviews
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