How to start a DTC brand with a limited budget.
If you want to start a DTC company, you're either going to spend a lot to have things done for you or do a lot of it yourself.
This is how to do it yourself.
Unlike a digital product which you can theoretically create for free, creating a physical product requires inventory. So, at the very least, you will have to spend something to develop or buy a product you can sell.
But before we get to that, a DTC company is two things. A brand and a product.
The brand is how you communicate. And the product is what people buy.
It doesn't matter whether you start with a product or a brand. If you start with a product, you can create a brand around it. Or, if you have an idea for a great brand, you could then develop a product for it. All that matters is that you have at least one of these before you get started.
Before we get into it, parts of this guide may seem incredibly simple. And it's meant to be. But it's these simple things that are often overlooked in the beginning because they don't seem necessary. Skipping them, though, can make your life much harder and may determine whether or not your business has a chance of being successful.
And, so you know this isn't just theory, I will use Liip, the lip balm brand we started, as an example throughout.
Ready? Here's how to start a DTC company when you're doing a lot of it yourself.
Creating your DTC branding.
Developing a brand is challenging because it's so subjective. It's easy to get hung up trying to decide because you don't know the right answer. And, what you like might not be what everyone else likes.
This is why the best thing to do is to simplify.
Don't try and do too much in the beginning. Obviously, when you look at established brands, you'll see all they're doing and want it too. But you have to remember those brands didn't start with everything. Brands are built over time. And really, that's what a brand is—the result of many small things working together to create something bigger than its parts.
So, yes, you need something, but don't worry too much about the brand in the beginning.
All you need is a name, logo, typography, and brand colors. And that's pretty much it. Maybe some photos or illustrations if they help communicate what you and your product are all about. But not much else.
Simply, do everything you can not to overcomplicate this.
Coming up with your brand name.
It needs to be memorable. So it can either be unique or literal. I tend to go towards literal as it can help communicate what the brand and product are about.
For example, Liip is perfect. It's short, easy to say, and immediately gives people an idea of what products the company probably sells.
Liip wasn't our first idea, though. We started out wanting a Scandinavian name so we could have a cool letter modifier like ø, ä, or something like that. And, when we found out the Norwegian word for lip is Läpp, we thought it was great. But as much as we tried to make it work, we couldn't get away from saying "lap" even though Läpp is pronounced "lip" in Norweigan. We also realized if we couldn't stop ourselves from saying it incorrectly, we definitely didn't want to be correcting everyone else we wanted to buy our product.
So, knowing we wanted to keep the same sentiment in the name, we simplified it and stylized the spelling we are used to with an extra "i" to make it Liip. This got us the double dots, formally called an umlaut, and an easy-to-pronounce brand name that isn't confusing at all.
It also made the logo easy to create.
Designing your first logo.
When you’re starting out you are of course going to think you need an iconic logo like Apple or Nike. Something dynamic that adapts to whatever context it’s in and holds its own against the brands everyone knows and loves.
But really, all you need is a wordmark, a stylized version of your brand name.
A wordmark accomplishes two of the most important things a logo needs to do. First, it communicates who your company is. And second, it makes it memorable. When no one knows who you are, those two things are all you need to worry about.
Then, as your brand grows and you need more assets, you can expand your branding to include other variations that can be more contextually relevant. Until then, though, don't do more than you absolutely need to.
For Liip, the logo was easy. Since we had a Scandinavian-influenced name, it was obvious that the design aesthetic would make its way into the logo. The double dots of the "i" were going to carry the weight of our logo design, and it was simply a matter of stylizing it in a way that helped it stand out.
To do that, we focused on typography.
Choosing typography for your brand.
If your logo communicates your name, the typography communicates the character of your brand.
This is because it's easy to manipulate to communicate different things. Unlike your logo, which you won't want to change, you can change how people perceive your words with the design of the typography. Something in italics means something different than if it were bold.
And the size of typography makes a difference too. Big, and it's more intense or lively. Small, and it's more serious and considered. You get to make these decisions as you build out your typography stack to influence how people perceive your brand.
Since there are so many more variables, you should choose no more than two different fonts—one for headers and one for body copy. But, ideally, if you can, I think it's best only to choose one.
That's what we did for Liip. We found Source Sans Pro worked perfectly for the logo. And instead of trying to find another font to complement it, we decided to use it for everything. Then, all we had to do was set different weights and sizes to create a hierarchy between the headers and body copy.
To find a font, you can use Google Fonts for free, or if you have a Creative Cloud subscription, you can use Adobe Fonts. These have hundreds of fonts to search through, so you'll more than likely find something. And, it's so helpful to use their intuitive filters to narrow things down to what you like.
Also, I know some designers won't agree with my advice of using a standard font for a logo, but a custom logo isn't the point of this article, and it shouldn't be a priority for anyone starting a DTC brand.
The next thing that can give your brand personality is color.
Choosing colors for your brand.
Every color means something different.
Red is intense and energetic. Orange is youthful and enthusiastic. Yellow is lively and spontaneous. Green is for growth and stability. Blue is calm and intelligent. Purple is for luxury and mystery. Pink is playful and approachable. Brown is honest and friendly. Black is elegant and powerful. White is minimalistic and clean. And, gray is formal and professional.
This is why it's a big deal to choose a color to represent your brand. Whatever you pick changes the way people think of it. So if you want to use color, I think you should use black and white as your base and then pick one accent color to highlight and emphasize different things in your design.
Liip is a hydrating lip balm, so it made sense to use blue as our accent color, given water is associated with blue.
If you need help, coolors.co is a great app to see how different colors work together and create your brand color palette.
Then lastly, imagery helps set the tone of the brand.
Picking images for your brand.
You'll need two types of images—product photography and lifestyle photography.
eCommerce Product photography.
Since we're selling a physical product, at a minimum, you're going to need ecommerce product photography. And, as the name implies, these are images of your product.
These are usually products shot against a white or single-color background for eCommerce sites.
For product photography, I would use Soona Studios. They have a great portfolio, have worked with brands you've probably heard of, and are affordable.
Brand lifestyle photography.
Then, for brand lifestyle photography, unless you're a photographer and can take the photos you want, start by finding free images with Unsplash. Lifestyle images show off places or activities that relate to the people you want to attract to your brand. They can help people see your company as "a brand for them."
Lifestyle images are less important initially, so if you can get something 80% right, that's good enough. You don't need lifestyle images with your product in them yet, either. It is just something that helps convey the tone of your brand and get people to relate to it.
Professional photography is expensive and is something you can do later once you know things are working.
Lean DTC branding.
Ok, I hope you can tell by now the point of this is to help you get started as quickly as possible and not get caught up worrying about things that don't matter just yet. Since you don't yet know what works and what doesn't, it's best to do as little as possible without looking like you're cutting corners. Then, once people interact with your brand, you'll quickly understand how people react to it and make informed decisions on what to do next.
Here's a recap of what the lean DTC branding package looks like:
One brand name
One wordmark logo
One headline font
One body font
One brand color
Product photography
Free lifestyle images
Next, let's go through product considerations so you can launch your brand and start getting sales.
DTC Product.
Answering these questions will be easy if you already know what you're selling, as the product will dictate the answers. But, if you don't yet know what you want to sell, they will help you find a product that fits your strategy.
These are the questions we asked ourselves that led us to the idea of creating a lip balm brand. There were certain things we knew we wanted, and lip balm happened to be one of the product ideas we thought we had a unique perspective on. So, while this section is shorter, you must spend more time on it as it's critical to get your product right.
Unlike your brand, which you can change and adapt as needed, you have to commit to your product. Or, at least to the category, because if you completely change your product, you're essentially changing your brand along with it. So, if you don't want to run the risk of having to start over, it'll be best to think through and answer these questions before you get started.
These considerations fall into a few groups: Product category, Production & DTC Fulfillment, Product marketing, Financial considerations, and Unique knowledge.
Product category.
Am I entering an established category or creating a new one?
Do people need to be educated on the category, or do they already understand it?
Are people loyal to another brand, or are they willing to try new products?
Production & DTC fulfillment.
Can I make this product myself, or do I need to find a supplier?
Are there any restrictions, guidelines, or compliance requirements I need to follow?
Does the product need to be stored, and where will I keep it?
Can I get the product or raw materials from more than one supplier?
Is the product easy to ship, or will I need to figure out a unique solution?
Can I handle fulfillment, or do I need a 3PL?
Product marketing.
What is my unique selling point, and how is my product different?
What is my primary marketing channel?
Who is my target market?
Are there any restrictions or guidelines for marketing products like mine?
Financial considerations.
Do people buy this product once, or is it a repeat purchase?
Does the product have a high or low margin?
What is the average price of similar products?
Am I going to price my product as premium, standard, or budget?
Is the product cheap to produce or acquire?
What are my sales channels – e-commerce, wholesale, retail?
Unique knowledge.
Do I have experience with this product and category?
Do I have relationships and connections which can help me?
Am I interested in this product and category?
What skills do I have that will give me an advantage?
Am I excited about building this brand?
Launching your brand.
There are obviously many more things to consider when starting a DTC brand, but you'll know you're on your way if you can answer these. And as I said earlier, if you don't yet know what product you want to sell, using these questions to narrow down your options will help you make an informed decision so you understand what you're getting into.
What this approach does is help guide us to work on things that matter now without getting caught up in something we don't have to worry about just yet. This is why we start with a simple branding package and straightforward product considerations so we can go from thinking about an idea to selling a product as quickly as possible.
This guide is just to get us started in the right direction. Launching the business is an entirely other thing and requires its own article.
But then, once we have a business to work on, we can look at testing our ideas and optimizing our product and brand. Because without both of these things first, a brand and a product, you can't start a DTC company.
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