Struggling to Define Your Brand? Read This!

A brand is such a powerful and pervasive concept. What doesn’t have a brand anymore? It’s synonymous with identity. Even my elementary age children are well aware of brands and know how to spot them on commerials and packaging in every facet of life. So for businesses, and even individuals who are their business, having a well defined brand is critical to success. I agree…to a point. As I was pondering this topic, and how drastically the concept and use of a brand has changed even in my time in the professional world, I realized the high value we assign to brands is contributing to their downfall.

If you’re struggling to harness the power of your brand, or feel like you are falling short of what every new tip and trend for branding is telling you, I have some words of encouragement to offer. Keep reading to learn where you should focus your time and energy when it comes to developing your unique brand.

It’s better to be authentic and accurate than to conform to an ideal.

If you find that you’re overthinking what you want your brand to be, you’re likely trying to manufacture something that isn’t authentically you. Sure, a brand should highlight the best features of your business and even you personally, but it should pull from values and characteristics that already exist within you right now. One of the biggest branding mistakes is creating something that is focused on being an ideal rather than authentic and accurate. It’s okay if it’s quirky, nonconforming, and even unexpected. When people sense that it’s authentic it will resonate far better than something “sterile” which is a complete facade.

If your band is exhausting to maintain, it’s not a good fit.

There is nothing more exhausting than trying to live your life as something you are not. Don’t put your business through this same agony! Be intentional about defining a brand that resonates with the core of who you are, your mission, and what you want to create. If right now you have a brand that feels like a struggle to maintain, it’s time to take a good hard look at why that is. If my years of experience have afforded me any wisdom, it’s that when you have a well-defined brand that is true to who you are, it’s one of the most effortless aspects of your business. It’s organic! Colors, fonts, graphics, and messaging fit like a tailormade velour sweatsuit (because I imagine this is the most comfortable thing one can wear). You don’t have to change your persona or “get into the voice” of your brand because you are your brand – all day every day.

You’re not meant to be everything to everyone.

People will have opinions about your brand, so be careful whose you take. I have navigated through so many painful branding efforts where there are far too many opinions involved and very few should actually have any say about it. This often happens when the sole decision maker, the one person who deserves to make the final call on the brand, is insecure and questions their gut. That’s not to say that branding should not be a team effort. Welcome all the feedback you want! But at the end of the day, be clear about whose opinions carry weight, and even then leave it up to the true decision-maker to choose what they feel is best. You will never create a brand that is likely by and agreed upon by every person. If you did, you would have an utterly undefined uninteresting hodgepodge on your hands.

Your brand is merely a tool.

Your business’s brand is a critically valuable tool. But like any tool, it’s only good when it’s used by a skillful master. Focus more on being a skillful master than chasing after the “perfect” brand. A perfect brand that will never need to evolve simply doesn’t exist. The iteration you create today will be different from the brand you have years from now. But the underlying constant is that you are the one using your brand as a tool. Be sure you are investing as much, if not more time into understanding how to use your brand. Approach it like a true craftsman. They don’t waste time perfecting a tool that is good enough to use right now. They pick it up and get to work! And when it needs revamped or replaced down the road, they take care of it when necessary.

Know your point of diminishing returns.

We now know that your brand should be authentic, it shouldn’t feel exhausting to maintain, it will never be liked by everyone, and it’s merely a tool among many tools to build your business. Therefore, we must be careful how much time and energy we invest into branding and rebranding and rebranding again. I have witnessed so many businesses invest immeasurable amounts of resources into their brand far beyond the point of diminishing returns. This is a concept I’ve written about previously and affirm to this day. We have to know when we’ve tipped the scales and have invested too much into something that won’t move the needle on our bottom line. Stop while you’re ahead! Redesigning your brand may sound like a productive strategy at the moment, but it’s also where businesses time and money on something that isn’t truly impacting the customers’ decision to buy. Be a smart steward of your resources. And invest in your brand only until you reach that pivotal apex.

How do you feel about your brand right now? Hopefully, the advice shared in this article affirms that you no longer have to stress over having the “perfect” brand, because that will never exist. Instead, focus on authenticity, how you use your brand, and investing just enough before you plummet past the point of diminishing returns.

Does this leave you with any questions for me? Join me in the comments and I’ll answer!

If you enjoyed this article, here are some other topics you might like:

How to Make Your Brand Resonate with Your Customer Base

Essential Tips for Building a Strong Brand Identity