It might seem too obvious to say that if it’s not good then it’s probably bad, but trust me the concept behind it isn’t – otherwise we wouldn’t see so many business owners who don’t feel that their brand is well represented visually, but think they have to live with it anyway.

First of all I want to say that this isn’t about perfection at all, but rather about sending the right message about your business and brand’s core values. I believe in starting before you’re ready and even faking it until you make it, that being said miscommunication to your audience is unforgiving. Sooner or later it shows that everything isn’t quite right and you tend to lose in the long run.

What I mean is if you’re aiming to ‘sell’ one thing regarding your values but seem to be pushing for something completely different with your branding, the disconnect will be obvious – think of it as an awkward dinner party with people you don’t really know yet but need to impress. While that isn’t you, you decide to keep making jokes with the intent to tell them that you’re a reserved and serious person. We all know humor is a great way to be personable but (in this example) it’s just not what YOU do and what you wish to convey – you’re sending the wrong message AND trust me nobody is laughing and everybody is uncomfortable. That’s what ‘not good’ branding (aka ‘not you’ branding) does. It might be cool, pretty or following the latest trend but if it isn’t supporting your message, for YOU it’s bad branding. For example if your business is focused on living a frugal life with simplicity and offering solutions to organize and plan for the day to day, you need to skip the gold foil trend.

The matter of fact is people generally have trouble enough giving money to people they trust, imagine how they feel about people they’re confused about? Don’t settle for something that is ‘okay’ or seems ‘meh!’ to you or even worse, that you passionately hate. If it’s not the right message, it’s the wrong message.

In the case that you have been feeling unsure about your branding, I do want to help you figuring out what is going on. Here is a list of five questions to help you evaluate your current brand – if it’s properly representing you:

1. – Take a moment to look through all the elements of your visual brand and consider the way you interact with your clients – do they make you feel confident and proud? Could you brag about them?
2. – Compare the way you feel about your product or service and the way you feel about how they are presented to your potential customer or client. Do you feel confident on making the sale or booking a client?
3. – Imagine standing in front of a crowd not able to say a word with your branding being the only way they could know about who you are and what your brand is all about – would it be painful to stand still or could you relax and feel comfortable to make the sale or book a client?
4. – Put yourself in your target audience shoes, without knowing the quality of your product or service, just arriving on your website or your social media platforms or even just seeing your logo is their interest picked or are they confused about what you sale or do?
5. – If budget or time wasn’t a concern, and you could start from scratch without paying attention to your current brand, what key message would you want conveyed? Is it represented in your current brand?

These should help bring clarity and decide what to do next. Whether you need a little brand refresh of what you already have going on or a complete rebrand.

I do want to end with saying that some things are not supposed to move all of us to tears with passion – you don’t necessarily need to feel butterflies when you think of your logo or your colors for them to be properly serving your brand. Passionate love isn’t meant for everything – unlike what our culture tell us. Don’t live with something you hate for sure but don’t think there’s an issue if you don’t have “all the feels” for illustrations or fonts. Nothing is wrong with you and potentially nothing is wrong with your branding.

REVERIE MINGLES: If you’ve been having (re)branding on your mind, what about your visual brand do you think isn’t matching your brand’s message? What are you not feeling confident about?