Microscope, Binoculars, and Telescope: 3 stages of branding your business over time.
Wondering how to approach branding or rebranding for the stage of business you’re in right now?
The function of a strong brand - to communicate your work to the world in a way that embodies your values, vision and purpose, and differentiates you from others in the market - is important in every stage of business building.
But how you approach branding, and how your brand shows up in the world, can and should change as your work gains experience, specificity and character over the years - and as the culture changes around you.
Branding when you are first starting your business looks really different than the more "official" branding process you might take a few years in, or when your business grows and scales significantly.
Let's look at three stages of branding your business over time:
Stage 1: The Microscope
Revealing Your Tiny but Mighty Brand
You are starting a business from scratch, and are taking those crucial actions to bring in your first influx of revenue. You may not have a lot of money to invest yet.
The opportunities:
This is your business at its most flexible. You are in research and development - which means you can enjoy beginner's mind and experiment creatively. This is the time to start creative habits that will allow your work to grow into a standout, original, unmistakeable brand as your business finds its voice and character.
In this phase you are gathering info: about the kind of life and business you want, about your strengths and zone of genius. About your potential clients and customers. About your market, and the wider culture you are working in. You are constructing a bridge where your purpose meets the world - and you are learning what happens when those things meet in this new way.
As a burgeoning creative director (which we all are, as business builders and brand makers), you have an opportunity here to be nimble and flexible, and try brave and bold ideas for your business and brand with little consequence. Do it. Your big breaks will come from this kind of risk taking.
the pitfalls
At this stage, you might feel a boatload of imposter complex (that's really true in every stage) but it might make you think you can't move forward until you get yourself looking more polished. This could tempt you to sink a bunch of money into hiring designers and branding specialists.
Stop! You do NOT need to drop 10k to attain brand clarity and gorgeous aesthetics yet. You can still share who you are and why your work matters at this stage, in a way that’s flexible and real, and gets you off the ground.
That imposter complex beast will also tempt you to use popular pre-made web site and social media templates that get you looking like everyone else. This might reassure the part of you that wants to know you are "legitimate" and "professional" but from a branding perspective this is the kiss of death. People won't be able to distinguish you from the average.
So what to do?
Focus on the basics. Invest your time clarifying what your product or service is, who your clients and customers are, what problem your offer solves or what desire it meets, and what your vision and values are for the work - right at this moment. Any of these answers may change in 6 months, but commit to what you do know now. Communicate this as directly, succinctly, and authentically as you can, and let your low overhead help you keep it simple.
Build creative habits. This means set up some simple creative prompts and actions that you will take weekly to keep your creative taps turned on for your work. Brand creativity as intentional practice will serve you for life, in and outside of business.
Invest in educating yourself. Learn the skills of good branding and marketing, so that you can launch an effective starter brand now -- and later on, when you are ready to invest in specialists or embark on a bigger branding project on your own, you will be grounded in your vision and know who to hire and how to keep them on track.
Stage 2: The Binoculars
business builder, don't outsource your vision
In this stage, you have put the basic building blacks in place, you are bringing in consistent (ish) income and you are in the groove with your work - if a little overwhelmed. You are aware that the level of labor you are pouring into your business isn't sustainable, so you are thinking about building a team, scaling your offerings, or otherwise leveraging the good work you have done for more income, more impact and less overwork.
The Opportunities
You've gained some confidence from doing the work for a while; you more fully understand the power of your work with each passing week. You understand who your clients and customers are, and have narrowed your focus to just those people you are here to serve best - or you are ready for that clarity. Branding efforts at this time can be an incredibly powerful time of integration, inspiration and growth that affects all areas of your business - especially audience growth, marketing and sales.
The Pitfalls
You might be tempted to cut corners here, because you are probably really busy and facing capacity issues at this stage of business. You might think you can hire a cheap designer now, to take whatever you have and make it pretty - the "set it and forget it" method.
This approach will set you up for more work later - and more importantly, it will rob you of the huge practical, financial and creative benefits of an introspective, thorough branding process now. Worst of all, your visibility and uniqueness in your market will nose dive.
What to do?
This is a good moment to carve out time in your schedule do the analysis, reflection and creative play that results in brand clarity and creative vision for your next stage in business. Whether you hire a designer or branding agency to take the final steps of implementation for you, or take charge of implementing your branding yourself or in your team, don't skip this part - you want your brand elements, including the naming, taglines, visual stories, content marketing themes - to work together beautifully to deliver your work's unique genius and potential to the people who need it most.
A pivotal long-term investment of your money at this stage is to invest in yourself as the creative director of your business so you can craft the vision of your brand. Creative direction skills impact all areas of business: they are the communication skills that allow you to generate great ideas on demand, and put them out into the world in ways that support your core business message, stand out in your market and attract your perfect collaborators and community around you.
When you've got this piece handled, you can hire designers as you need them or create designs and images in your own. Outsource labor and find creative collaborators - but never outsource the claiming of your vision.
Stage 3: The Telescope
influencing the big picture
This stage can look a lot of different ways, but what is common is that the business has grown and scaled, and is facing new plateaus and opportunities. Perhaps as the founder you are ready to become a more influential public figure or leader. Perhaps the business is ready for a big shift in business model to impact more people. Or its’ poised to make important changes in the market.
The Opportunities
You've got experience, a team, and financial resources available to hire the collaborative wizards you need to make brand moves that extend beyond what your own skills and labor allow. It's possible now to invest in branded content and creative actions that have a wider reach and can make a real difference in your market and the world.
The Pitfalls
Have I mentioned creative confidence blocks and imposter complex yet? A major pitfall of this time is feeling so bound to the way things have been done in the past in your work, that you feel constrained from being the experimental risk taker that you were when you started out. You've got the stability to defy branding and marketing "shoulds," trends, and genres - so do it. This is the moment you have been waiting for.
What to do?
Find a thought partner, preferably outside your team, who is great at thinking outside of the norms of your industry and charting new paths forward. An artist, coach, design thinker - someone who "gets" your work and is unattached to the "shoulds," and can get you back to the playful, inventive roots you started with, with an eye on the special opportunities of the current moment.
Keep investing in your creative director skills by sticking to, and updating, your creative habits - if you have been sticking to your creative habits since the beginning you are an ideation machine now. Build some flexibility in to your schedule and roles so you can be doing the aspects of the work that keep you in your strengths.
As with all stages, this is a good time to ask again where your brand is positioned - not just in your market and industry, but in the larger movements and conversations your work is relevant to.
Microscopers and Binoculars: come build your brilliant brand/rebrand while honing your creative director skills.
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