When is the right time in your business to start thinking about branding? Is it right when you’re starting out? Is it after you hit a certain milestone or income level? If you’ve been in business a while, is it too late? These are questions I hear all the time. And whether you’re at the very beginning of a brand new business or you’ve been growing your biz for years–there’s a good chance your branding needs some attention. Here are 3 signs it’s time for a rebrand (or to create a brand identity for the first time!)

1. You’re holding back from sharing your business with the world.

Do you still call your business your “side project” or refer to it as “a little etsy shop?” Do you avoid networking events because you don’t have business cards to hand out? Are you embarrassed to send people to your website because it looks like a hot mess? (Or even just because it doesn’t look as good as you know it could!)

If you’re shying away from sharing your business, there’s a good chance your branding isn’t up to snuff. You might use excuses like “I don’t want to be pushy or salesy” or “My friends don’t want to hear about my business,” but let’s be honest. If you downplay all the hard work you’ve been doing to get a business up and running, it’s because you’re embarrassed about something. And more often than not, it’s that you feel like your shit doesn’t look legit.

Taking some time to get super clear about who you are, what you’re about, and what it’s going to be like for people to work with you–and then learning how to represent that visually in your brand identity–is key to having the confidence you need to share your business with the world.

2. You’re not resonating or connecting with your audience

So this is a hard one to diagnose because there are so many possible reasons for a lack of audience engagement (I’m looking at you, Facebook algorithms!) But if you’re not getting many likes and comments on social media, your unsubscribe rate on your newsletter is higher than 1%, and you get traffic to your website, but it’s not converting to sales… it’s probably not that everybody hates you. It’s that people aren’t really sure who you are.

When people aren’t sure about who you are and what you’re about–it’s really hard for them to know if you (and your product or service) are the right fit for them. And when people feel uncertain, they don’t buy.

“How can I be any more clear?! It says what I do right there on my website!” But resonating isn’t about what you offer. It’s about how you make someone feel. It’s about making sure every single thing you put out there–the words you use, the photos you use, your colors, your fonts, your website, your business cards, your Instagram posts, everything–is so authentically you, people can’t help but feel like they’ve known you for years.

Your brand identity is just a visual way to represent who you are and what you’re all about. So if you look through your social media profiles, your website, and your print material and they look generic or scattered or just not like you–then it’s time to give your branding some attention!

3. It takes you way too long to create an image for social media

If you’re sitting at the computer for hours, spinning your wheels, trying to design social media images–it my seem like it’s a design skills issue. But more often than not, it’s actually a clarity issue. If you have to decide what colors to use, what fonts to use, and what photos to use every single time you create an image… that takes a ton of mental energy. When you have a clear visual brand identity, it takes this decision-making process out of the game and designing goes much, much faster.

You’ll also see this pop up in other parts of your business. If you’re constantly tweaking your website colors or trying out new themes; if you’re always pinning new brand inspiration ideas on pinterest; if you change your Facebook cover photo more often than you change your sheets–it usually boils down to a lack of brand clarity.

When you’re clear about who you are, what you’re about, and how you want people to perceive you–and when you’ve pinned down how you want to represent that visually–you don’t have to keep tweaking little things to see what sticks. You can make decisions and feel confident that they’re so true to you and your business that the right people will connect with what you’re putting out there.

Is it time for you to work on your brand design?

So what about you? Is it time for a rebrand? Or to really give your brand some attention for the first time? That might feel really big and overwhelming–but it doesn’t have to be. I’m here to hold your hand and walk you through the whole process. And we start by looking within and defining our unique brand style.

Join me for Unlock Your Brand Style–a free, 5-day challenge to get to the heart of what makes you YOU and express your unique flavor visually. Sign up here: 

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