Reinforce this: Establish your brand's identity prioritizing expenditure on promotional campaigns

In the dynamic world of startups, the importance of a robust brand strategy cannot be overstated, especially before diving into performance marketing. On May 19th, 2025, this topic was highlighted as Tiptop Group embarked on a collaboration with the agency "DD Konzept" to develop their brand strategy before initiating performance marketing activities.

A strong brand strategy answers fundamental questions about the problem being solved, who it is being solved for, and what sets the company apart from competitors. It clarifies the role the company plays in the user's life, why now is the right time for this product, and why people should choose this brand over others.

In a market saturated with clever tech and functional parity, brand creates brand salience and emotional stickiness. According to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, brand salience is one of the most reliable predictors of long-term market growth. A strong brand sells a feeling, a solution to a problem, a way to save time, look smart, feel confident, or stop swearing at broken workflows.

Design plays a significant role in performance, with good creative being conversion infrastructure. A consistent, recognisable voice increases the likelihood of engagement with B2B decision-makers by 71%, according to LinkedIn and Edelman. A strong tone of voice reflects the product's personality and positioning, matches the audience's mindset and emotional state, stays consistent across all touchpoints, and flexes in tone without losing the voice.

A solid visual identity helps build trust, reinforces positioning, and creates a recognisable presence. It includes elements like typography system, colour palette, layout guidance, photography & illustration style, motion principles, and logo system.

A messaging framework provides structure to how a startup talks about its product across audiences, channels, and contexts. It includes a core narrative, value pillars, audience-specific messages, and message laddering. The Brand Pulse Audit tool can help assess a brand's strengths and weaknesses.

Running ads without a brand strategy leads to chaos, with mixed messages in copy, irrelevant traffic on landing pages, creative that doesn't resonate, clicks that don't convert, and endless A/B testing to fix the wrong problem. Performance marketing isn't a replacement for brand strategy but an amplifier of it. When brand and performance work together, they result in lower CPAs, higher retention, faster trust-building, clearer product-market fit signals, and a narrative that can be scaled.

In summary, a solid brand strategy is essential for startups before launching performance marketing campaigns. It provides clarity, consistency, scalable messaging, and the confidence to stick with it for optimization. By focusing on brand strategy, startups can ensure they stand out in a crowded market, engage their audience effectively, and achieve long-term market growth.

Reinforce this: Establish your brand's identity prioritizing expenditure on promotional campaigns