“Think of your brand like a bouncer”, I said on LinkedIn this week.
Its job is to protect and help you from letting in those you don’t want in your club. And to protect the club (your business) from being so confusing that no one knows what you stand for, so they dither and eventually don’t bother coming in.
That’s what it does for those coming in from the outside.
But it will also begin to change things from the inside, too. It’s not only prospects and new clients, hovering about at the doorway, who are getting wind of the changes: it’s your internal team members, too. Your systems. The apps you use. They’ll pick up on change, too. And some of it may not be entirely comfortable.
There are fun things connected to rebrand – like getting the office walls painted and having actual values on your website and getting a team photoshoot. It’s exciting to have new colours, and create a manifesto, and redesign your website and marketing materials.
There are also some tough questions and decisions.
Because a new brand doesn’t simply mean picking new colours: those colours represent something. They indicate a certain perspective. A type of client you work with, or a result you deliver for them. The approach your business takes which is different from others. Your name, logo, even things like typography reflect this, too. Your new brand seems so simple (in a good way)…and yet there are complex things behind it. Deep reasoning to who you are.
After all a brand is also aspirational. Yes, it reflects who you are: it also reflects who you want to be. Who you’re becoming. Your new brand needs to have some room for you to grow into. You’ll start to think, how well are the team actually living out these values? How much have I shared what that means? Is it possible there are team members who aren’t a fit anymore?
This might lead you to reconsidering your hiring process. Then the actual roles you have. Then you start wondering about the services you offer. Are they right? Are they priced correctly?
You think about where this business is going – are you going to sell it? Sell off a portion of it, perhaps a portfolio of smaller companies or individual work which doesn’t fit the new brand? Your new brand is forcing you to decide what kind of work stays in the firm, and what kind needs to go.
You wonder, do you need two brands? Maybe even three? To cover all these different approaches, different services.
And what’s happening is that your brand is challenging you to PICK ONE.
Pick an audience. Pick a service you offer. Pick the most important qualities for your team members.
Good marketing, after all, divides.
Good branding divides.
Sometimes the division is hard. It literally feels like it’s pulling you apart, because it is. This is going to make you better. Like any clean-up job, it can feel a little worse before it gets to the ‘better’ part. You start cleaning a room, or spring cleaning the house, and at one point you look around with your hands on your hips and go, This is an utter disaster. Why did I even begin?? It’s worse now than it ever was.
That’s often the point you’re nearly there. You’re figuring out what to keep, and what to throw away. What to pass on to someone else. What to sell. What’s broken and can be mended, and what’s beyond repair.
This is what your new brand is doing for you – can do for you. Make sure you listen, and let it do its job. You may not always feel 100% comfortable about it during the process, but when you pay attention to what it’s pushing you to consider, you will absolutely love the outcome.
Your new brand isn’t going to let you get away with the old ways.
And to be honest, you don’t really want it to.
