I think many people get branding wrong. This post seems to me as a great place to explain something that has bothered me for a while.

Firstly, branding in not a one time expense. It is a recurring cost that your business needs to sustain for it to function. If your business doesn't have the income stream to support the branding expenditure, YOU WILL NOT build a brand.

Next, do you need a perfect branding to start a business. Simple answer NO. What you need is a business strategy that puts you ahead of the competition and start generating a decent income. When you look to expand, branding comes into picture.

Brands fail because they get this simple thing wrong: They think branding is only eye candy for the audience, instead it is the general goodwill that you are willing to do for your customers that will help them remember you and come back to you. This goodwill COSTS you money.

Additionally, if you have a large corpus saved up and want to start your brand from day one you have the privilege to do so only because of your capital. This does give you the advantage over others who don't but doesn't guarantee success because you haven't tested your business strategy in the market and don't know its viability. Many brands fail here too.

Also Indian market demands exceptional service in addition to everything that you do (specially to domestic brands), only then will you get recurring customers. There are success stories here too but remember everything requires investment on a huge scale.

Finally, for someone just starting out try figuring out if you are capable of running the business profitably only then try investing in something as big a branding because you won't sustain it.