While full branding and messaging do take time, a failure to understand and navigate the pitfalls of early-stage branding can stop your company from ever really taking off. Often, you think, “We’ll figure out the branding later—all I need is a landing page,” or “We’re in stealth mode, so I can’t publicly share what we really do,” or the truly dangerous “We can just use a template for now.” The problem with this thinking is that it prevents you from addressing the fundamental questions that define your brand and, more importantly, keeps you from communicating why your early adopters should trust you.

1. Avoid the Common Mistake
of Early-Stage Branding
The Fundamental Questions and New
Digital Framework to Define Your Brand.

2. Kim Donlan
CEO, RedSwan5
KDonlan@RedSwan5.com
Brand Strategist, Creative Director, Idea Launcher,
Messaging Expert, Digital Queen, Speaker, Workshop
Leader, Media Psychologist and Professor

3. Perception
of infancy, early stage and stealth mode entrepreneurs.

4. – entrepreneur who thinks a form leads directly to sales
“We’ll figure out the branding later—all I need is
a landing page.”

5. – entrepreneur who doesn’t realize you need to intrigue prospective
customers
“We’re in stealth mode, so I can’t publicly share
what we really do”

6. – entrepreneur who thinks they can stand out by blending in
“We can just use a template for now.”

7. A digital presence—even a seemingly
simple landing page—that fails to
address the foundational questions of
branding and messaging can
negatively impact early adopters’ trust.

8. FACE
the tough discovery questions that EVERY early
adopter has about you and your idea

9. These early-stage brand discovery
questions are vital to your digital
presence and, in fact, the identity of your
brand. Your answers shape the content
and structure of your preliminary digital
engagement plan.

10. Early-Stage Brand Discovery Questions
• What is the impetus of your idea?
• Who are you?
• Can you succinctly describe your products or services?
• What kind of organization or business model are you?
• Where you are in the marketplace, and where you would like to go?
• How do you currently market your products and services?
• What is your competitive advantage?
• Are there any trends or changes that are affecting your industry?
• Are there any potential barriers to success for your product or service?
• Where do you want to be in three years?
• If you could communicate one single message about your company, what would it be?

11. Your answers define your brand and
help you communicate why your early
adopters should trust you.

12. (Potential Buyers) (Customers) End Users
People
Who
Chose
You
People
Who Work
with
Your Product
People
Who Have
the Problem
You Address
Adapted from Forrester Research
Lots of People Need to Trust You and Your Brand

13. EXAMINE
your answers more closely—what is your idea, how
does it fit in the market and where are you going with it.

14. It does not matter whether you have a
single landing page, a small site, a
predominantly social approach, or just
a sign-up form—it must reflect the
answers to the discovery questions.

15. Traverse
answers to discovery questions to digital presence.

16. Answers to Discovery Questions
• Reframe them from your perspective to early adopter’s
perspective
• Do the words, images, colors…
• validate you?
• support your pilot effort?
• present the big fundable idea?
• build trust?

17. As you move towards the Early-Stage
Digital Branding Framework, you need
to think about how your answers can
be framed from the customer's
perspective.

18. The Customer is
Thinking….
They Are Seeking…
Homepage What do you do? Your value proposition.
Products/Features
How is what you do unique and
different?
Your unique competitive
advantage.
Testimonials Have you helped people like me?
Your ability to deliver on your
brand promise.
About Us | Bios
Are you someone I can trust?
Your passion, values, and
credibility.
Client List Who has used you before and
how good are you at your work?
Your market positioning.
Blog | Social Channels
How can I get to know you
better?
Your ‘why.’
Contact Us
Can I get to know you on my
terms?
Your customer engagement
strategy.
Early-Stage Digital Branding Framework
© 2019 Kim Donlan, RedSwan5. All rights reserved.

19. What makes the framework hard is the
pressure to create a digital presence
that supports your current goals and
vision while still giving you room to
evolve.

20. Survive
the early-stage branding and messaging pitfalls so you
and you’ll live to update it as you grow.

21. – Kim Donlan, CEO RedSwan5
“The Early-Stage Digital
Branding Framework ensures
your idea connects with
those who’ll love you most.”

22. getting people and brands
to see what they want to be.
RedSwan5.com