Before starting a rebrand read this

Rebranding is an expensive exercise to undertake for any business.

If you are a evolving from the bootstrap phase where you did the logo yourself or just grabbed something generic without a ton of thought into it and now feel you are ready to grow into a real brand this article will be important for you.

It is common for most bootstrapping business owners to just start with an exercise of getting a logo done and maybe some color swatches, but that alone isn't a brand.  A brand is way more than that.  All you are doing is selecting some visual esthetic pieces to go along with your business.

If you turn to an agency (assuming you can afford to have one), you will be bombarded with questions like:

• What does your business do?
• Why does it exist?
• Why should people care?
• What is your unique selling proposition (USP)
• What is your Why?

While all these questions are valid questions it overlooks a step predicating it. It actually makes an assumption which ends up causing a disconnect between you and the agency.

That question is "What is your secret sauce?"

Now this question seems easy doesn't it? The truth is there are a lot of obstacles in the way of this answer. I know, because I have helped many clients articulate their secret sauce in a way they never thought possible.

Now, can agencies do this?  Maybe... not every agency because the exploration of this question requires some work in psychology. An agency may not have the capacity, tools, bandwidth or expertise to help you with that.

How we do one thing is how we do everything.

Our values and beliefs colour our world, actions and habits. More often than not we run on auto pilot.  So a lot of our decisions, the stories we tell ourselves do not even enter our conscious thought.  We layer these thoughts with the need to fit in, to be loved and to have significance.  So we deviate from our true selves into people we aspire to be in the moment we are in.

The problem is we see the grass is greener on the other side. We should however be looking to water the grass we are already on.  But more on that in another article.

With so many complex layers to go through, an agency may not get the true answer that sits inside you because you project an aspiration but are not convinced that it is truly you. You may just see that it was successful for someone and if that was the case, copying it would do the same for you.

Sorry to tell you, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it and last I checked, the number of millionaires in the world hasn't spiked a heck of a lot given that the "template" for success is out there.

So there must be a variable right?

Yes, that variable sits between your ears and it dictates EVERYTHING you do.

So now what?

Do you just go ahead with a logo?

My suggestion is to stop a moment and consider getting some clarity about yourself and your own personal brand.  How your personal brand and your business brand intersect has a lot more to it than you think.

When you are guided to examine the nuances of your core values, where they come from and how they show up in your life you can start to see how your secret sauce shows up.

By understanding yourself better you will improve your communication, the focus and the purpose of your life and business. Communicating to others about what you do and how you are different will become so much clearer.

In my owner personal journey of building multiple businesses, I discovered that while I had an intuitive nature about myself I couldn't quite articulate it properly.  I hired an agency to help to the tune of $10,000 and that didn't work out the way I thought it would.

What I realized is that there was a gap. A gap that an agency is not really set to handle and that an owner doesn't necessarily know exists.

The symptom is that after the rebrand, you don't feel a connection or you don't feel convicted to it.

It's not the agency's fault though. They are asking relevant questions. The gap comes because you the owner struggles with what you want, what you believe others want from you and what you believe the world needs. Instead of being quiet and learning to embrace and love the things that make you unique you look to fill that void with external validation.

Now if you don't know where or how to look for that information or how to distill that down into a marketing statement that really juices you and gets the blood pumping then I would suggest you have a look at doing the Clarity Program Module

The Clarity Program is designed to help you get clear about yourself and how you show up. It helps you improve how to articulate your Why, the values you truly stand for and how to bring that into the light for others to be attracted to.

When you finish the program, you will have all the tools you need to properly start the process with a marketing agency, photographer, videographer, graphics designer, web developer, Google Ads specialist, Chat Bot Specialist etc.

You won't have to feel like constantly rebranding and spending more money on things that are new and shiny but doesn't really impact the revenue and growth of your business.

So if you are starting the rebranding process, that is a new logo, new website, new designs I would suggest you start a bit before that.  Doing the work once and doing it right will save you lots of money down the road and make your relationship with marketing professionals much better and stronger.

I am also in the process of digitizing my Clarity Module so if you are interested in that make sure you sign up for email notifications!