5 Reasons why your brand isn’t working

You -obviously- panic, and start doubting yourself: Was this a mistake? Should I have never quit my job and started my stay at home jobs? Is what I’m doing not good enough? HOLD IT! Don’t panic! There’s a few things you should be looking at before you go begging your old boss for your job back.

I get ya. It’s terrifying being an entrepreneur. You obviously have the best intentions of all, and do things not really knowing how they will turn out. I’ve been in that same position of launching and imagining that business will explode only to find out that it didn’t quite work that way. There’s a reason for that, you know? Building your business and creating your brand are almost the same thing, but not quite. So, what might be wrong is that, while every aspect of your business is well defined and in place, your brand isn’t.

What is a brand, anyways? I’ve already talked about this before in-depth,. A brand is what people feel think and say about your business and it comes to be in all those encounters that they have with you that then turn into perceptions.

A #brand is what people say, think + feel about your biz, that comes from encounters + turn into perceptions

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Okay, so let’s take a look at why your brand might not be working before you panic. I also cover other things in terms of what you need to fix in your branding + website in order to bring in the RIGHT clients in this free guide I created for you. You can download it right here:

If you hired someone to design your logo, but not really take a look at what your brand is all about, you might be in trouble. You see, a brand is A LOT more than just a logo. It’s all about who you are, and what makes you completely unique. When I work with clients, one of the most important things I like focusing on, beyond designing an awesome logo for them, is really figuring out what their Unique Selling Proposition is. In others words, how do they stand out from everyone else?
Branding is about figuring out your values, your purpose and your direction.

Most of all, I believe that branding is about understanding the REAL thing you’re selling. And no. I’m not talking about your product or service. I’m talking about defining the problem that you’re solving for others. If you don’t have ANY of these things figured out, it’s a great starting point to steering your brand in the right direction.

One of the most common mistakes I see when I talk to clients is when they say that their audience is “anybody that needs their product/service.”
That’s insane. Being so broad in your definition of your audience is something that’s going to hurt you right off the bat. Why? Because if you don’t know EXACTLY who your audience is, how are you going to expect them to listen to you?
Let me break it to you: people don’t buy what you’re selling. People buy solutions to their problems. So, a “problem” could be something really crappy like “I need to make money, now.” Or, a problem could be something simple like “I’m pretty bored.” When someone buys from you, they’re buying because they feel like you are the best option for solving that problem. If you’re business coach, they might feel like you are the best person that will enable them to make more money. If you have a lifestyle blog, they might feel like you will make them laugh and not be bored anymore. Simple, right?
Well, the thing is, that if you don’t know who your audience is, how do you figure out the problems that they have? How do you understand their needs? And, most importantly, how do you know what what you’re selling means to them?
You can find out more about the importance of defining your audience and what you need to know about them in order to make higher conversions for your brand and website right here:

If your logo was designed by you in Microsoft Word or by a cousin who learned Photoshop a few weeks ago, I can bet it’s not something that’s creating a lot of trust. Unless you have an incredible ability towards design, it’s unlikely that your logo is helping you build your credibility.
I get it, sometimes we want to go down what we feel might be the simplest solution. I’ll give you an example from my own experience. A few months ago I decided I wanted to do Facebook Ads for my business. It seemed easy enough. I went into the Facebook Power Editor and created my own ads. And they worked fine I guess, but I let it run and basically forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Honestly, I didn’t have the time to monitor my ads daily and see what was working and what wasn’t. The end result? I ended up spending around $300 and not getting nearly the results I was expecting. I ended up deleting the campaign and hiring someone to do the ads for me. You know, someone that already knows the ins an outs of Facebook ads and what to look out for. Sometimes we think we know, but we don’t.

Back to original point though, you might think your logo looks great, but it’s not building any trust at all. Remember that for people to buy from you, for them to feel like you have the solution to that problem I mentioned, they have to trust that you have the answer. If your logo looks cheap, you risk looking cheap as a brand as well. Here you can read about what makes a logo great and have an idea of whether your logo makes the list. You want to make sure that your logo is working for you, not against you!

A lot of times, people have this mentality of “If you build it, they will come.” You know, thinking that if you have the best offer, a beautifully designed logo and an amazing website; well, that’s enough. I soooo wish that was the truth. It would be so much easier, right? I, too, have made this mistake. Remember how I told you that in 2016 I relaunched my business? I was SURE that there would be lines of people wanting to hire me. What I discovered is that it doesn’t work that way. You have to have a pretty clear and consistent plan moving forward. What steps will you take to market your business? How will you reach your audience? How will you be known?
What might not be working about your brand is that you’re not staying in creative action, setting goals and mechanisms for you to achieve them. Here I mention some of the things you can do in order to grow your business and follow a very clear action plan ahead for your brand.

Finally, one of the main reasons why your brand might not be working is that you lack consistency in every sense of the word.

On one hand, your logo looks differently on each platform, your color palette is undefined and you are using so many fonts, it’s hard to keep up with you. You might also be sounding approachable on Twitter, stuck-up on Instagram and professional on your website.

On the other hand, you post on Facebook once a month, email your list when you remember they exist, and fail to create a great experience for ALL your clients from beginning to end.

See what I mean about consistency? Making sure every single aspect of your brand is coherent and aligned with who you say you are is probably one of the most important things of all.

Don’t forget to download the free guide to help you fix and branding and website mistakes that might be hurting you right here!