Afraid of being too 'salesy' in your business? Don't let these 3 common brand strategy misconceptions hold you back any longer.
PSA: I’m now officially booking design and copy spots for Oct, Nov, & Dec ‘26! If a beautiful & effective Squarespace website is on your pre-Christmas to-do-list, let’s chat! Book a coffee chat here, and I’ll look forward to connecting with you soon. 😎😎😎
Before we dive into the 3 common brand strategy misconceptions, l first want to take you back in time to 2016, right back to when I was starting my first business (or trying to!) as an online life coach.
I had ZERO business acumen and my only ‘strategy’ for attracting clients was throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what managed to stick, if anything! I did a little bit of blogging, a little bit of Facebook, a little bit of Instagram, a little bit of Pinterest, and I had an ugly a basic Wordpress website that I built myself.
In fact, the big, bad ‘B’ word made my stomach churn. So did the idea of ‘marketing’ in general - I didn’t want to be that icky, slimy salesperson just trying to make a buck by pedalling bullshit. (Ew.)
But after a whole year of trying to sell my coaching services without actually learning anything about marketing, I was (unsurprisingly) not getting ANY traction whatsoever and it made me want to pull my fucking hair out; I was working 24/7 but my results were...nowhere to be seen.
Did I want to give up? You betcha!
Fortunately, I didn’t. Instead, I decided to dig deep and take a big risk which looked like me spending the last $1000 to my name and enrolling in a 10 day branding & website building bootcamp.
To say this decision was a game-changer, would be an understatement. Just 10 days later, I had a beautiful new Squarespace website, that I had built myself from scratch and had created all the copy and content for. It was A LOT at times but it was a super empowering and fun ride - I had an absolute blast!
The BEST part however, was actually learning about and going through the branding process and gaining the brand clarity (and confidence in myself) that I didn’t have before.
Prior to working through this process, I was just kind of wafting around out there in the wild, shouting into the void, trying to be seen and heard but…no one was listening; all I got back in return was crickets and tumbleweeds rolling through the dust. And the more I tried to shout into the void, the more of a failure I felt which then affected the way I was showing up - if I did at all. Maybe that sounds familiar?
But then something crazy happened.
After only ONE WEEK of putting my new brand strategy into action on socials and launching my shiny Squarespace website into the world, I landed my first paying coaching client with an ease I hadn’t expected or experienced before.
It was WILD and totally blew my mind.
This was THE moment when I truly understood the power of an aligned brand strategy, and it was also the start of me actually becoming obsessed with and really enjoying the topic of marketing. Who would have thunk it?! (Definitely not me ha).
All of a sudden, I had a tool in my business that was actually doing the hard selling work for me, even when I was sleeping! Of course, I still had to keep showing up on socials and creating the content that would drive more traffic to my website, but I wasn’t spinning my wheels or throwing even more spaghetti at the wall in flailing hope any longer. I had built myself a real asset that was going to help me grow my business in a sustainable way. It felt so so good!
I then found myself wondering, why on earth did it take me so long to get here? I realised that if I had been more willing to let go of my fears and misconceptions I had previously held onto so tightly about branding & marketing, I would have likely created success a lot faster.
Here are 3 common misconceptions about creating a brand strategy that once held me back from business success VS what I now believe to be the real truth from my own learned experience, over the past 10 years:
MISCONCEPTION #1: Like marketing, branding is just a form of capitalist manipulation with the only purpose of hooking people’s attention & getting them to buy stuff they don’t need.
REFRAME: Yes, branding is definitely a tool that can help you to get visible, grab people’s attention and sell your services. However, it doesn’t need to be done in a weird, sleazy, manipulative way.
In fact, the more I learn about the brand strategy process, the more I realise that it is more about unearthing your authentic, unapologetic TRUTH and bringing that to the forefront of your business. It is about showing up more as the REAL you, the fully expressed version of you, the you that has a lot of shit to say, and isn’t going to quieten down and shrink herself any longer.
I don’t buy into this idea that branding is a form of manipulation but rather, I choose to see it and use it as a way to invite the RIGHT people into my work so I can serve them. I don’t want to sell my services to just anybody just because they have money, and neither should you.
The real purpose of branding is actually the opposite of that - to turn the people who are not for you away, and to magnetise those that are a perfect match and who are the exact people you want to work with and help.
In this sense, branding is simply a tool that I can use to amplify my message, to educate my people, and create a ripple effect of positive change in the world which by the way is this: more good-hearted women doing meaningful work in the world that is of service to others, and the vehicle I offer this transformation through, happens to be web design & copy.
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MISCONCEPTION #2: Branding is just a company’s logo, fonts, and colours.
REFRAME: This isn’t altogether incorrect because yes, these elements are indeed a big part of an effective brand. However, creating an effective brand strategy is so much more than that.
I like to think of brand strategy like an iceberg:
The tip of the berg that sits above the surface is the ‘external’ branding elements like the logo, fonts and colours etc that your people/audience see out in the wild. Your visual brand style in particular is what is going to help you to stop the scroll and get people’s attention - hello visibility! However, in order for people to stick around and actually take action (A.K.A buy your stuff) you have to make people FEEL something which is key to making sales and converting your website viewers into paying clients.
In order for you to create content that emotionally resonates with your people you need to invest your time and energy into the largest section of the berg, which lives beneath the surface. This is the deeper, ‘internal’ brand strategy work that we need to do in order to gain clarity about who we are as entrepreneurs and business owners (& who we are not), what we stand for (& what we don’t), who we are speaking to (& whom we want to repel), and why our work actually matters.
This is root work and (annoyingly) it isn’t a ‘one-and-done’ process but rather it is something that will shift and evolve as we do. It is without a doubt, the most important work that you’ll do in your business because this is the stuff that your people will FEEL when they interact with you, and any aspect of your business & content. And emotions are what ultimately get people to MOVE - to engage, to buy things, and to make positive change which is the ultimate goal right?
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MISCONCEPTION #3: Branding is something only big massive companies (like Nike) need to use in order to sell to a mass audience.
REFRAME: I believe that having a clear and resonant brand strategy is even more important for solo entrepreneurs and small businesses. Why? Because… TRUST.
The smaller your business and your team, the less trust you have from the get go and the more skeptical people will be of you. It’s not personal - it’s just how it is. To them, you’re just another rando talking about shit they probably don’t need to care about.
Sounds harsh, but honestly - no one will care until you make them, and before you can do that, you need them to see you as someone they can trust - someone LEGIT.
So branding isn’t just about stopping the scroll and getting someone’s attention, it is also about cultivating a much needed sense of TRUST with your audience/potential clients which is created via clarity and consistency in your messaging & visual brand elements.
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To summarise, in the game of online business, the winner will always be the one who is able to communicate the most effectively.
And creating an effective brand strategy is the foundational vehicle that will help you hit that target.
Branding is really about you getting super duper DELIBERATE about the conversation you are having with your people and the way you are presenting yourself and your biz to the world, so that you can magnetise the right people (your ideal DREAM clients) into your world.
SO, is it finally time for you to ditch those unhelpful, limiting beliefs about branding and marketing that are holding you back in your business?
Yeah, thought so!
Instead, give yourself permission to flip the script in your brain and view these strategies as helpful communication tools that you can use to SERVE and make a positive difference in the world.
Before you go - I’m curious: do you have any different limiting beliefs about branding and marketing than the 3 covered above? I’d love for you to let me know what they are in the comments!
PS: I’m now officially booking design and copy spots for Oct, Nov, & Dec ‘26! If a beautiful & effective Squarespace website is on your pre-Christmas to-do-list, let’s chat! Book a coffee chat here, and I’ll look forward to connecting with you soon. 😎😎😎
