City of Paris

Lately, I’ve been fielding questions from a number of young companies at various stages of business planning, fundraising, product development or commercialization. The founders/entrepreneurs usually express communication needs in terms of naming (company or product), logo design, generating awareness through press releases and, most gratifying to me, honing their messages. Another common thread is spending money wisely, since budget is limited (whose isn’t?).

When should we start thinking about names and logos? It’s good to have a company name from the get-go. It’s a rallying point for potential employees, customers, partners, collaborators, advisors and investors. Logos are a nice-to-have at this stage. I would save my money to have professionals develop a corporate identity system when there is adequate funding. A simple layout for critical items such as business cards, letterhead and PowerPoint templates will suffice for raising seed capital, planning the business or testing concepts. Focus on functionality. Product names can wait until you are ready to plan your first product launch—unless a good idea comes along serendipitously. I would advise spending a little money on trademark searches if you have a company or product name that you are planning to keep. It costs much more to undo later.

What about branding? Branding goes beyond names and logos, and it’s never too early to think about your corporate brand. In fact, this should go hand in hand with business planning, as you begin to define your vision for your company, the value your company will bring to your customers and other constituencies and how you want to conduct business. Sitting down with the stakeholders, if possible with a brand consultant, to articulate and map out your vision for your corporate brand will pay dividends many times over—but only if you do this when you feel you are ready and if you and your management team are willing to commit to following this road map. All of this will lay the foundation for developing the corporate identity system when the time comes.

What about press releases? Before sending out the first press release, take the time to think through a public relations plan. If you cannot afford the time or the resources to plan properly, it might be wise to wait. You don’t necessarily need a big and elaborate plan, but you do need to answer some simple questions (e.g., what do we want to accomplish with these press releases, who is our target audience) and some more elaborate ones (e.g., what are our key messages and what do we have to support and substantiate these messages). You’ll also need to have the basic elements in place—a media list, a press kit, internal FAQs for fielding questions, internal and external spokespeople and their respective roles, etc. Don’t shoot from the hip!

How much should we spend? How much to allocate to communications is a business decision. The important thing is to align budget with goals and expectations. Do a few things well if your budget is limited. If your budget does not allow you to hire professionals to do the job, at least recruit professionals to give you counsel and guidance. Correcting misperceptions is far more expensive than getting it done properly the first time.

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