Brand Communication Management of Startups in Portugal

In this article, we briefly present the outlines of a research project on the challenges of managing communication among startups in Portugal. The exploratory study was based on the combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and sought to analyze how crucial it is for startups to invest in branding and activate their brands through a planned communication strategy. It is universally recognized that the brand represents the most valuable intangible asset for the organization (Aaker, 1996; Kotler et al, 2012; Huseynli, 2022), currently having all the potential of technology to discover patterns of behavior and communication, but without ever compromising the humanization of the brand, despite the fascination with the digital lifestyle (Kotler et al., 2021). In 2014 a brand management methodology for agile companies emerged, Lean Branding (Busche, 2014) that teaches 21st century entrepreneurs the "way to create, communicate and sell a brand, constantly measuring its performance" (Busche, 2014). Startups cannot neglect this methodology. The big challenge is precisely the crossing of this business area, which is in affirmation, between the branding, since the literature review has shown that we are facing a little explored theme. Also, understanding how Portuguese entrepreneurs deal with the challenges of brand communication in such a competitive ecosystem, even with more modest budgets, and bringing more knowledge about branding applied to Startups, are the major contributions of this study.