How To Start Up podcast season 10: all things branding
FF&M’s How To Start Up podcast, the entrepreneur’s ultimate handbook, is halfway through its tenth season all about branding. Guests including Estée Lalonde, Founder of MIRROR WATER, Randi Christiansen, Co-Founder of Néccessaire and Aaron Chatterley, Founder of FeelUnique and Indu, have been sharing brilliant advice on all aspects of branding for new founders to put to use.
Host Juliet Fallowfield, Founder & MD of FF&M, comments, “with Emarsys reporting that 73% of UK consumers regard themselves as loyal to particular brands, it’s clear that maintaining a relevant and engaging brand is one of the most important aspects to get right when starting and scaling a company. For our tenth season of How To Start Up, I wanted to help fellow founders solve many of these challenges by sharing advice from some of the leading entrepreneurs and innovators who have created globally renowned brands.”
To listen to all episodes from season 10, click here.
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Right at the outset of building a brand, you need to define your brand mission, vision and purpose. Juliet asked Julian Parmiter, co-founder and CEO of Create Academy, to share his thoughts on this. Julian explained that your mission is what you want to do, your vision is where you want to go with it and your purpose is why you want to do it. Far from being fixed forever, Julian advised that your brand’s mission and vision will probably change as your company grows. However, your purpose may well not change and will be what attracts customers to your brand, and what convinces investors to provide you with cash and keep you motivated during difficult times. So it’s crucial, he said, to spend time defining your purpose before launch.
When it comes to branding, one of the most frequently asked questions is ‘how do I write a brand story?’. To answer this, Juliet spoke with Tom Marchant, Owner & Co-Founder of luxury travel company Black Tomato. Tom reminded us that your brand is fundamental to your business. It’s your identity so you need to be sincere about it and believe in it. Tom recommends communicating how your company started, your values and what you were aiming for in simple and truthful language that conveys feeling and emotion. Not sure how to even begin writing your brand story? Tom suggests writing words on paper and eventually sentences will flow.
With research showing 90% of marketers agree that brand language is vital for business success, your business needs to speak confidently and clearly. For expert advice on how to define your brand’s tone of voice, Juliet spoke with Millie Kendall OBE, the renowned brand builder and founder of the British Beauty Council, Brandstand Communications and Ruby & Millie. Millie advised us to do plenty of target audience and competitor research to understand your market. Then, your tone of voice will naturally develop, followed by the name, the packaging and the style. Together, these elements will generate trust and loyalty in your customers.
Defining these aspects of your brand will provide you with solid foundations upon which to build your visual identity and begin marketing your business to your target audience. However, the question ‘how do I create packaging for my brand?’ has been asked by many new founders. Keen to have this question answered by an expert, Juliet spoke with Randi Christiansen, CEO & Co-Founder of Néccessaire, one of the world’s leading body care brands. With Protega Global reporting that 77% of UK consumers believe brands should use ‘as little packaging as possible’, Randi advised new founders to consider the environmental impact of any packaging you create and explained how minimal packaging can still stand out and have great shelf impact.
Once you’ve built your brand’s foundations and designed the visual identity, it’s time to think about how to get customers for your business. Acquiring new customers and persuading them to change their shopping habits is a challenge, however it’s definitely achievable if you use the right strategies. For advice on acquiring customers for your business, Juliet spoke with Aaron Chatterley, Co-Founder of teen beauty brand indu and beauty retailer Feelunique. Having co-founded Feelunique in 2005, Aaron and his team grew the business which was acquired by Sephora for £132 million in 2021. Aaron explained how it’s one thing to persuade someone to buy from you once, but that real proof of your business’s appeal comes when you get repeat custom. This is when you can be confident there is demand for your product or service.
Social media plays an important part in acquiring customers for your business. With Statista reporting there are 35 million Instagram users in the UK, it’s clear that emerging businesses of all types need to use social media platforms to build brand awareness and convert followers into loyal customers. However, navigating social media can be tricky, so Juliet wanted to hear advice from an experienced content creator. Estée Lalonde, CEO and founder of bodycare brand MIRROR WATER, has enjoyed a long career working within social media, building a personal following of over 677k. Estée stressed the importance of focusing on one thing and doing it well rather than trying to post on multiple platforms all the time. She also recommended posting on social media regularly to build consistent brand awareness among your target consumers.
We often hear that print media is dead and that digital media is leading the way. However, this isn’t actually the case. Achieving editorial coverage in high-quality print titles is still a brilliant way to build awareness for your brand among your target audience. To benefit from a print magazine publisher’s perspective on all things brand, Juliet spoke with Lucy Cleland, Co-Founder and Editorial Director of the renowned B Corp Certified lifestyle magazine Country & Town House. Lucy highlighted the importance of understanding your market and carving out your own position within it. She also recommended investing in design and good writers to build your visual and written identities. This will make your brand as strong as possible and distinguish it from its competitors, especially within crowded product-based sectors.
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About Fallow, Field & Mason
Fallow, Field & Mason is a B Corp Certified PR, communications and podcast production consultancy working with clients to build the next generation of responsible businesses. Believing that a company's founder, creative director or internal team is their own best storyteller when it comes to PR, we enable them to own their PR in-house for the long term.
FF&M also offers an end-to-end podcast production service to drive further brand awareness in an intelligent, approachable and engaging way.
Before launching FF&M, Founder and Managing Director Juliet Fallowfield built and led in-house global press offices for luxury brands including CHANEL, Burberry, Shangri-La Hotels and De Beers for over 20 years.