Yesterday an article that I wrote on branding was submitted to HN. It was commented on as "misguided." The article states that the only strategy a startup should pursue is a master branding strategy where the product/service is the same as the company name. The other option is to use a sub-brand strategy where the company name is not reflected in the product name.<p>Which of these strategies are you using for your startup?
It's hard enough to build one brand. As a startup, if you're trying to build product sub-brands while still promoting the company brand, you're frakking crazy.
Well I can tell you with our startup that we made a mistake--should have gone with the Master strategy around our product name. Should have renamed the company to be that product name actually. It's a cool name, precisely describes our offering, and I actually had people emailing me and asking if they could buy the domain.
Being extremely consistent with applying your brand is half the battle won. So many startups, particularly the web2.0 variety pollute their brand.<p>Also, your brand isn't just your logo - it's your entire look and feel.<p>Those facebook business cards demonstrate that quite well.