Is Your Brand Big Enough for the Business You’re Building?

17 Aug

There’s a question I think more business owners need to ask when they’re thinking about a rebrand.

Is the brand you’re creating for the business you have now — or the business you’re trying to build?

Because those can be two very different things.

When you’ve been in business for a few years, it’s easy to make brand decisions based on what already exists. Your current clients. Your current services. Your current prices. The way people currently perceive you.

But a good rebrand shouldn’t simply make your existing business look better.

It should give you somewhere to go.

Your brand needs to be slightly ahead of you

I often talk about the importance of positioning your business for where you’re going, rather than where you’ve been.

That can feel uncomfortable.

Perhaps you want to work with bigger organisations, but most of your clients so far have been small businesses.
Perhaps you want to move from being seen as someone who does the work to someone clients come to for your expertise and thinking.
Perhaps you want to charge considerably more.
Perhaps you want to become known as one of the leading people in your field.

You might not feel entirely ready to claim that position yet.

But if you wait until you’re already there before your brand starts communicating it, you make getting there much harder.

Your brand should create a little bit of positive tension between where the business is today and where you intend it to be.

It should make you think: I need to live up to this.

We have a habit of playing ourselves down

Particularly in Ireland, there’s a discomfort around appearing too confident about what we do. We don't want to look like we're showing off. So we soften things.

We describe ourselves as passionate or experienced rather than saying what we're exceptionally good at. We list everything we can do rather than claiming a particular area of expertise. We use the same language as everyone else in our industry because making a stronger claim feels risky.

And then we wonder why potential clients don't immediately understand why they should choose us.

Modesty might be an admirable quality in a person.

It isn't always a useful positioning strategy.

There’s a difference between bragging and clearly communicating your value.

If you have twenty years of expertise, say so.

If you have a particular way of solving a problem that makes you different, explain it.

If clients consistently come to you for something you're exceptionally good at, own it.

You aren't asking people to admire you. You're helping them make a decision.

What does your bigger business actually look like?

Before you start choosing colours, fonts or looking at website inspiration, step away from the design for a moment.

Imagine your business three years from now and things have gone brilliantly.

Who are you working with?
What kind of projects are you doing?
What aren't you doing anymore?
What are you charging?
How big is the business?
What are you known for?
What do people say when they recommend you?
And where do you sit in your market?

Don't immediately edit your answers according to what feels achievable.

This isn't a forecast. It's direction.

Because once you know where you're trying to go, you can ask a much more useful question about your brand.

Does your current brand make that future easier or harder?

Imagine your ideal future client lands on your website today.

Would they see a business operating at the level they expect?
Would they immediately understand your expertise?
Would your positioning make sense to them?
Would your visual identity feel credible alongside the businesses they're used to working with?
Would your messaging make your value clear?
Or would you have to explain on the sales call that you're actually much more experienced than your website makes you look?

That gap matters.

I've seen excellent businesses whose brands make them look smaller, less established or more generalist than they really are.

The expertise is there. The reputation is there. The results are there.

But the brand hasn't caught up.

And every time somebody encounters that brand, they're forming an impression of the business before they've ever spoken to the person behind it.

A rebrand isn't just about looking different

This is why I don't think a rebrand should begin with the question:

What do we want it to look like?

It should begin with:

What does this brand need to help the business become?

Maybe it needs to establish greater authority.
Maybe it needs to make a specialist positioning much clearer.
Maybe it needs to attract a more sophisticated buyer.
Maybe it needs to support higher pricing.
Maybe it needs to make a small business feel established without pretending to be something it isn't.

Once you know that, the design decisions become much easier.

Because you're no longer choosing things simply because you like them.

You're building a brand with a job to do.

So if you're considering a rebrand, give yourself permission to think a little bigger than feels comfortable.

Don't create a brand that fits you perfectly today. Create one with enough room for the business you're becoming.