For a young brand, less is always more. I know we have said this before and certain we will continue to stand by this in the future. We have learnt this from our own mistakes and we have learnt this from the success of other young brands.

A young brand starting out with limited resources needs to tell one strong story to the interested customer segment. If the customer experience is positive the story is validated and connect with the brand begins.

So the key question here is , what’s the strongest story I can tell about my brand to the most likely buyer.

And in this question, the two variables are:

1. the brand’s own story, and
2. the most likely customer who could be interested in this story.

Often, we think we have answers to both questions as we start our journey as entrepreneurs. And often these are not very precise answers.

While we are sure of the brand story we believe in, it takes a very detached mind to ascertain if that is really what the customer is looking for.

And in our hurry to get more “sales”, our definition of the potential customer tends to be very broad. For example:

• Women between the age of 25 and 45.
• Or men who have beards.
• OR working women in urban areas.

Too broad to actually make your limited marketing spend work. And there are so many different working women in urban india: Call centre ? White collar in offices? Consultant? Doctors? Domestic help?

So brands need to tighten this definition more. Women doctors in urban India working in private hospitals and in the age group of 25-45.

Now lets look at the brand promise itself:

Healthy snack is one brand promise we have seen.

Well, why is it health? Organic healthy? Low fat healthy? Low sugar healthy?

Is it healthy with taste? Is there a compromise on taste?

What is the brand promising?

Lets try: We are a brand of organic vegetables, delivered fresh to your house within 12 hours of harvest.

Broad brand promises and broad customer definitions prevent your marketing budget from working for you. Your understanding of customers gets diffused. And your brand’s own journey slows down as you start to hear too many different points of view on your brand from too many people.

Think of a crowded room of 100 random people. Define your brand to serve not more than 2 of those people. How narrowly can you define your TG in order to eliminate 98% of people in that room. That’s a start.

Think of 40 product competitors. How precisely can you define your product such that you simply cannot be mistaken for the other 40 competitors. Its not so easy, but its worth a try.

Or if you are the first brand in your category, create a story that already makes it difficult for any other brand to make the same promise as you. That’s competitive advantage.

Lets spend more time on this. Drop in to GroCurv. Lets share our mistakes with you, lets share our successes with you and lets help you grow!