“There is no brand until a company has made a connection and demonstrated a value to a specific target market. Successful companies are in business to provide value to the marketplace and not just to make money,” says John W. Bramblett, Principal with Bustin & Company, a Dallas-based business development firm.

What do we mean by need and market? Maybe all my friends and I need to go to Pluto and each of us wants to buy a spaceship from you to get us there. Do we have US$ 30 billion a piece to buy one? If you then built a fleet of spaceships (work with me), because of this “demonstrated market need,” I’ll have some of what you’re drinking.

By not establishing need from market a company can’t build a successful brand. This point is driven home by Gary Thompson, executive vice president of Schwartz Communications, based in Massachusetts, “Failing dot-com companies had no business plans that worked. They were living on borrowed time with other people’s money. There were too many people doing too many things for no clear reason or market.”

Scott Davis, Managing Partner of Prophet, a Chicago-based brand consulting company says, “Start-ups are a jumbling of things. Your brand is about your reason for existing in the marketplace; it is the value of the product or service that you offer to consumers. Your brand is about how your company interacts with the customer.” He also adds, “A brand is the essence of who you are as a company.”

Aside from clearly understanding need from market, start-ups can also mistake naming a company with branding a company. “The name of the company should be the foundation of the brand. The name sets the stage. It is your absolute first impression as a company. As a rule names must be serious, yet be interesting and engaging,” said Burt Alper, Principal and Founder of Catchword, a New York-based naming and branding firm.

Alper explains that companies often make big mistakes when they use the wrong name for their business category. Financial services companies want to sound reliable and trustworthy, not edgy and wild. On the other hand, wild sounding names would be okay for a business that manufactures athletic apparel. In creating a name, businesses must cater to the specific needs, styles and preferences of their targeted business audience. “Dot-com companies thought they had carte blanche to name a company anything they wanted. Those companies got bit in the butt,” added Alper.

There are even more complex issues faced by start-ups that are establishing a global brand. “When launching a global brand, many companies fail or drastically underestimate the effort required to make sure their brand is globally embraced or relevant to target markets throughout the world. Brands are rooted in culture. Effective brands consider cultural differences. This is where brands either take root or die, region-by-region, society by society,” says Rob Frankel author of Revenge of Brand X. He adds, “It’s New York versus Mexico City. Something from the Northeastern United States and its culture and values, may not play well in Mexico. There are different values that resonate in each country.”

Start-ups must also focus on marketing in order to succeed. Marketing must support corporate values externally to current and prospective markets in all their actions and programs. When actions are taken that bring the company in a direction apart from their brand strategy and when inconsistent messaging is given to the public, companies weaken their brand. Human Resources must do the same internally to support and build the attributes of the brand with all employees.

Dave Liss is a freelance writer, public relations consultant and occasional business radio host based in Washington, DC. He would love to hear your thoughts about this article and your ideas for others.