Workshop: BRANDING CHALLENGES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Hosted by IITMIC  

Date: Thursday, 29th January between 3 - 5 pm 

Venue: Hall # 5, IIT Madras Research Park

About the Speakers: Varadharajan R works at the Chennai office of Brand Capital and focuses on building long term relationships with leaders in emerging B2C categories. He has more than a decade of experience in financial services having worked across investment banking and corporate banking and has worked with more than 10 start-ups in more than $ 100 MM of M & A/Private placements. He is an alumnus of IIT, Madras and is passionate about helping entrepreneurs scale up to the next level. 

Balaji K works at the Chennai office of Brand Capital and has extensive relationships with the start-up eco system in Chennai - with incubators, investees and with private equity funds/VC funds. Prior to this, he was involved in investment banking where he helped SME’s raise debt/equity and help structure synergistic alliances. 

* Things we need to consider when building a brand from the start.

* Foremost challenges faced by the entrepreneurs before the success of the brand.

* Money handling in building a brand.

* Channels of communication.

Key points highlighted:

* Brands are cohesive story told to the world and when done well, can be a differentiator.

* Formalization of a viable and lasting brand begins with the clear understanding of the customer and well-defined business.

* Build a product that is a necessity to a customer. Consequently this will reduce the marketing cost. The more unique the product is the lesser one requires branding.

* Follow the 3 Ds –

> Build a strong Differentiating brand from the competitors.

> Disrupt the whole system of the opponents and the new entrants.

> Dominate

* Keep the customers engaged for a long time.

Tips for start-ups:

* Keep notes on the customers views on the brand. Jot down their adjectives.

* Seek help from branding experts.