Design-Led Brands: How to Scale Without Losing Your Identity

A niche-driven brand, or one that caters to the needs of a niche group, can be a great way to differentiate yourself from other businesses in your field. However, staying fashionable and innovative isn't enough today—you need to scale quickly to survive. So how do you manage that? What is the most effective way to scale without losing your identity? In this article, we explore these questions and more in order to show how design-led brands can scale without losing their identity, as well as provide strategic insight into what other design-led brands can do to scale.

Define your key metrics.

It’s important to define your key metric early on in order to know whether you are growing and scaling fast enough. What is most important for your brand? It’s important not only for you but also, more importantly, for every single person who is involved in building your company to know where exactly you stand in terms of performance at any given point in time. Defining metrics will be helpful if there is a change in management or if someone new joins your team. For example, Uber has defined its key metric as the number of trips per day, week, month etc. For an e-commerce company like Zappos, it could be the number of products sold per day, week, month, etc. For an online community like Quora, it could be a number of questions asked per day, week, month etc. So what is your key metric? Why do you think it matters? Why should people care about it? And how can you track progress against that goal over time? Is there anything else you want to share about your key metric that would help readers understand why they should care about it and how they can benefit from defining their own key metric too?

Map out where you want to be

Before you can find your way, you need to know where you’re headed. Assess where your company is now in terms of brand and market positioning, then create a plan for how you want your company to look five years from now. When setting out on a journey, it’s critical that every traveller knows where they are going; as such, you need a clear vision of what success looks like before you start working toward it. A great place to start when creating your map is with a SWOT analysis—an analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Once you have an idea of where you stand now and where you want to be, set goals accordingly (for example, we will have achieved our goal if we are able to reach 10 million customers by 2023). Then work backwards from there—setting milestones along the way—to determine what steps must be taken each year between now and 2023. This exercise may seem daunting at first, but remember that all progress begins with a single step. The most important thing is to get started! As Nike says, Just do it.

During execution, learn to recognize pivots early and fast: As mentioned above, executing a strategy requires some degree of flexibility. For example, many companies struggle when expanding internationally because they fail to realize just how different cultures can influence their business strategies. Just because something worked well in one country doesn’t mean it will work well everywhere else; different markets demand unique strategies based on factors such as culture, language, and economic conditions. If you want your company to succeed globally, you need to be willing to adapt your vision accordingly. If you find yourself struggling with any aspect of your strategy, ask yourself these questions: Is there an alternative way I could achieve my goal? Is there another market I could explore? What would happen if I changed my approach slightly? There is no right or wrong answer here—just answers that might lead you down a path toward success.

Align everyone.

Unifying your business with your brand can be a challenge when you’re scaling fast. But creating a strategic identity, like solid messaging and consistent design, can help you bring everyone together. Make sure everyone—from social media managers to new hires—understands your brand so they can work toward keeping it true as your company grows. One way to do that is by hiring people who already have experience working on similar brands. If you don’t have any in-house, reach out to freelance designers who understand what makes luxury brands unique. They can help guide your efforts while helping keep your brand consistent at scale. To stand out, scale strategically: Luxury brands are known for their elegance and high standards. As you grow, it’s important to stay true to those values even as you scale quickly. Don’t just try to grow bigger—try growing better instead.

Reevaluate often

As a growing brand, you might be tempted to rest on your laurels and grow at an even pace, but that’s not always possible. More often than not, in order to scale quickly while keeping your brand identity intact, you’ll need to look into different strategies. As such, reevaluate your methods frequently and strategize ways that will help you scale fast without losing yourself in haste. For example, luxury brands are known for taking their time when it comes to expansion. However, there are exceptions—some of which were able to expand faster by looking into strategic partnerships with other brands. This is a move they can make because they have proven themselves as luxury brands first and foremost; thus they can attract partnerships with other luxury brands who have similar goals of expansion. However, if you’re still relatively new to the market, finding strategic partners may prove difficult, as brands won’t want to risk tarnishing their own reputation by partnering with another new brand. In such cases, it might be best to take your time and focus on building up your reputation before expanding further. As far as how much you should reevaluate, it really depends on how much your industry changes. If most of your competitors change their methods every few years or so, then perhaps once every year or two would suffice. But if things tend to stay more or less constant, then perhaps once every five years would work better for you (provided there isn’t some sort of major shakeup). The key here is flexibility and strategy; never be afraid to try something new!

Use data when scaling.

Data can also help you scale your business in a strategic way. Look for data that will aid in your product and marketing decisions. Often, you’ll find some of that information simply by doing routine market research—customer interviews and focus groups help generate feedback on products or services and on how customers are responding to marketing messages. Remember, customer feedback is king! Although qualitative and quantitative data may seem like two different things, keep in mind that both are necessary for a well-rounded analysis. Qualitative data helps you interpret what quantitative data is telling you. For example, if 50% of your survey respondents said they’d be interested in purchasing an upgraded version of one of your products, but only 10% actually bought it when offered during a sales promotion, there might be something missing from your product offering (or marketing message). That missing piece could be revealed through more qualitative research. Or maybe not; maybe people just don’t want to spend money on upgrades. Either way, having both types of data at your disposal will make scaling easier. The bottom line is that while growth isn’t always linear, understanding where you stand at any given point in time can help you identify trends and adjust accordingly.

Know how much time you need.

Whether it’s hours, days, or weeks, you must know how much time you need in order to scale your brand while still maintaining your identity. If you don’t plan out when and how you will do things with care and detail, your company could lose its identity. You need a strategic way of thinking about growth. It is essential that you have a vision for what needs to be done in order for your brand to succeed—while also maintaining its originality. For example, scaling a design-led brand can require a lot of money spent on marketing, but some might not agree with spending so much money on marketing if they think their product speaks for itself. Knowing how to balance spending money and staying true to your core values is key when growing from a start-up to a success story. There are many factors that play into whether or not scaling goes well—but understanding all these factors from day one can help lead you down the right path before making any mistakes.

Make sure you have the team for it

To avoid becoming too bloated and slow-moving, it’s important to figure out your end goal before you even begin. Make sure you can see yourself doing that in three or five years, says Sarah Tanner, former CEO of retail design company Storefront. Hire people with similar goals. If scaling isn’t in your future plans, don’t hire for that purpose. Also, make sure you have a team around you who believe in what you do and why. They need to be on board with your vision because they are going to be part of it for a long time. A lot of times, we bring on new employees because we feel like we need more bodies. It’s okay to say no if someone doesn’t fit into your culture and core values. You will not regret it. In fact, you will save yourself a lot of headaches down the road. You want people who will add value and truly want to work with you; hiring quickly is much better than hiring slowly. But remember: Don’t scale until you know what your brand stands for, its mission, and its core competencies—or you might lose sight of them along the way. That said, don’t rush growth just because everyone else is doing it; being a pioneer can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage, depending on how prepared you are for all aspects of growth.

Have a purpose beyond profits.

When scaling a design or innovation-led business, it is important that you keep your focus on your purpose and vision. Make sure you stay true to yourself while expanding beyond your core markets. The key here is not just getting bigger, but making sure that you don’t lose sight of who you are in order to reach those new heights. In other words, try to find ways to scale strategically rather than simply growing for growth’s sake. One way to do so is by keeping your eye on what others are doing around you and learning from their mistakes. For example, if one competitor has found success with a particular marketing strategy or product feature, think about how you can apply that same concept—or tweak it slightly—to make something even better for your customers. This type of thinking will help ensure that you continue to deliver quality products and services while also improving your bottom line. It all comes down to knowing your identity and staying true to it as you grow.

Evaluate internal processes.

It’s important to evaluate internal processes and make sure they align with your brand identity. For example, if you’re a smaller brand that prides itself on using natural materials, it might not be wise to outsource production entirely—instead of working with different factories overseas, look for manufacturers who are willing to work with natural fabrics like organic cotton or hemp. On another level, do you have processes in place that sabotage your own values? If so, make an effort to weed them out! This is where a solid business plan can come in handy. Look at each step of your operation and ask yourself if every aspect fits into your overarching vision. As you go through these steps, make note of any potential conflicts between what you want to accomplish as a company and how things are currently being done. Take action by adjusting processes accordingly or finding ways to remove these elements from your operation altogether. For example, many retailers find that focusing more on their products than their packaging can help reduce waste; others will opt for compostable alternatives instead of plastic whenever possible. These small changes can add up to major reductions in your environmental footprint over time.

Build a strong foundation.

Start by building a strong foundation for your business, which will be the backbone of your team’s efforts. If you want an organization that is agile and responsive, then it’s important that everyone in your company understands and buys into your values. The best way to make sure that happens is by defining your values early on in your company’s history, as well as reminding employees of those values throughout their tenure at work. This could take several forms—from putting them up on posters around your office to holding weekly meetings where leadership discusses how each value impacts day-to-day operations. By doing so, you’ll create a strong culture within your business that will help your team grow stronger together over time. And if they ever forget why they do what they do, they can always look back to these core values.

Don’t just copy others: Another key piece of advice we have for entrepreneurs who are looking to scale their businesses is not to simply copy what other companies are doing. While there’s nothing wrong with following a successful blueprint if it works, don’t feel pressured into copying everything you see out there.

Conclusions

The formula for scale, whether it’s for a product or service, is pretty simple. First and foremost, you have to make something people want. It doesn’t matter how good your team is, how great your idea is or how well executed it is—if customers don’t want what you are offering, then there’s no way you can get very far. Then, once you have that nailed down, it’s about execution. If you can deliver a product or service in an efficient manner at a fair price point, then you will be able to reach more people and grow your business. Finally, if scaling up seems like an impossible task because of all of these factors (and more), remember that even some of today’s most successful brands had humble beginnings. In fact, many companies were born out of necessity. So go out there and find a need to fill; as long as you do so with integrity and respect for your consumers, success should follow soon after.