5 reasons your brand doesn’t look professional enough
Do you have this feeling that your brand is not showing up to it’s full potential, or doesn’t look professional enough?
Possibly, it’s come to a time where you’ve evolved, but your brand hasn’t, and there’s a misalignment that’s now bothering you.
Maybe you’ve built your website, or done your brand yourself when you started your business. Or purchased a pre-made design and currently isn’t showing or reflecting your essence.
Maybe you want to humanise your brand, and bring more of you so that you can show up authentically and confidently.
Regardless of the reasons, we’re going to talk about 5 things that affect the way people perceive a brand. Don’t settle for a brand that is not doing its “job”—to attract your ideal audience, connect authentically and provide the experience they need and to create a positive impact in the world!
1 — You have website Shame
Website shame is a reality many business owners hide.
In conversations, you try to justify by stating that “oh, I’m in the process of updating the site” or “Don’t check my site, just email me directly”
Probably, your website looks exactly like many others, with generic messaging, vague and with no differentiator. Maybe you’ve treated your website like your CV, listing all your achievements and showcasing your best work. Although this is possibly important, there are strategic ways to do this, avoiding becoming just one more website in the sea of sameness.
But, in an age of digital presence, you’re missing a huge opportunity out and actually make your website the best-selling member of staff!
When you meet someone and they tell you they have a business, the first thing you do is “google” their business, and the website will be one of the first places you look. Imagine your disappointment when their website doesn’t look up to scratch – it doesn’t make you feel confident in their offering and removes some of that trusting feel.
And you may be thinking, but Aitzi, I’m quite on top of my game in social media. I have a decent following and I show up regularly.
Then, this will be a reminder that you don’t own the followers on your social media. If the algorithm changes or you get kicked out from the platform then you’ll lose absolutely all.
This actually happened to us when we were hacked on Instagram… it took us several months to get back the control… and it cost us sooo much time and stress! Anyway, our biggest advice is to start collecting a list of followers outside social media, and a website is the perfect medium to do so.
You may feel in a circle of: you don’t tell people about your website, so your website isn’t marketing your brand, so you don’t feel the need to invest time and money, and so the circle continues…
Your website has a job or two to do.
It’s a powerful marketing tool.
It’s a real extension of your brand that builds trust. A place to connect and build lasting relationships with your visitors and eventually … convert them into buyers! Cos that’s what we want right?!
The impact of website shame is real:
- You don’t feel professional enough and are embarrassed to show it.
- Your site isn’t converting; in fact, it possibly scares visitors away.
- Your brand feels messy, communicating mixed vibes.
- Your growth is stagnant because no one is looking at you.
Time to break free from website shame!
Understand the role your website plays in your customer’s journey. Nowadays, this journey isn’t linear, so when your site is aligned with the different stages of your buyer’s journey this will help:
- Become a brand that stands out
- Be ahead of your competition
- Your confidence will rise
- Conversions will skyrocket
- And your brand’s Inner Fire will be like a magnet
Don’t get lost again. Get your game plan back and overcome your website shame!
2 — You have no brand consistency
Do you find yourself tweaking your brand constantly? Let’s face it, your brand is a bit of a mess- it might not have started out this way but as time has gone on, you couldn’t resist …
You don’t have a consistent system, and everything you’ve tried fails to reflect the brand you feel is right for you.
You amended the look of the documents and presentations, changing colours, fonts, and graphics all the time—maybe trying to match the brand of the clients you’re working with instead of leading with your own?
Or maybe you feel that your visual identity is scattered, and you try to collage together those loose elements that you’ve gathered, but it’s not working?
You’ve spent time checking others, on Pinterest, Etsy and PowerPoint templates to find inspiration. Although you’ve found awesome designs, you’re now not sure if that’s the look you should go with or even if your clients will like it. Or maybe you feel you need to tone down, make it neutral so it’s more likable by everyone… How do you even choose?
These are classic examples of questions a business will have without a clear brand strategy, even if you’ve worked with a designer before.
Without a clear strategy, your visuals lack coherence, depth, and essence and feel superficial. Consistency isn’t just about looking good—it’s about creating trust and recognition.
It’s not about the flawless visuals. It’s all about having a visual identity that’s aligned with your customers—that’s part of your brand strategy.
You can read more about brand strategy in this post Brand strategy for conscious businesses in 5 steps.
Success is now measured by engagement, authenticity, and the ability to vibe with your audience. It’s about having a consistent brand that supports you in your growth journey.
An impactful brand based on strategy will:
- Make you feel confident, allowing you to show up authentically without the need to tweak anything—you won’t get ‘bored’ because you’ll know why it looks that way!
- Help you make good first impression
- Become aligned with your customers on an emotional level
- Help you build the like and trust factor that you need to sell your services
- Help you improve your brand reputation by having a consistent customer experience
Stop following the “shiny object” by constantly tweaking your brand and start having a clear strategy!
3 — You’re not clear on who you’re talking to
This one can be controversial … the thought of choosing one ideal client… so many people get nervous about this, right?
You might be thinking, “Wow I’ve got so much experience and knowledge that I can actually solve a set of problems, so I’m just going to be open to all kinds of opportunities.”
Or, in reality, thinking “my services can be for anyone, and as I don’t have any customers at the moment—if I offer all my services to anyone, then someone will choose me!”
This scenario at the beginning of your business can be a good starting point to start figuring our who do you enjoy working with, and what projects you enjoy and want more of. However, by staying this way, you can become so generic and wishy-washy with your messaging and branding that it won’t give you the professional stance you want. This is why you’re reading this post anyway!
Becoming clear about who you want to talk to will help you niche and specialise, and filter out all those red-flags clients. These two components will be crucial for being the top specialist working on projects you love and charging a premium.
Once you know who you’re talking to, you’ll be able to take on other people or projects that fall outside this boundary, but this will be your choice! You will not miss out! Trust me.
If you try to reach everyone, you will loose or jeopardise your progress. At the end of the day, trying to reach all these people is a really hard task! It’s already hard to do so when you are niche and have a specialised branding and website.
So even if you already know who you are talking to… go deep … go inside their heads and get to know their feelings. Go beyond demographic traits like age, gender etc… and create a customer avatar. Put all that data together as a profile. And don’t forget to name this avatar! Here’s some questions you can answer (these are starting questions, don’t limit yourself)
Questions to work out your ideal customer:
- Who do you enjoy working with?
- What projects do you enjoy working on?
- Who can afford your services?
Questions to dig deeper into your ideal audience:
- Basic demographic details: age, gender, income, location, status, job…
- Find common qualities (for example 6-figure biz owners, new to biz, service-based biz, positive impact, want to become a B-corp, B2B, ESG…)
- Where do they spend time online? How do they like to consume content online? read, video, podcast…
- What are they first looking for when they are searching? And often what your ideal client is searching for now and what they really need is different. Do you know this difference? In our case most of our clients search for a new logo—however we know that they need more than just a logo for a strong brand—or more than just a website to be successful!
- What’s their biggest challenge before buying your service? How do they feel when they’ve purchased your service? And how do their lives look after they’ve purchased your service? TIP: This is a great opportunity to craft your service based on this.
- What’s their hopes and goals? Go deep into their emotions.
- What’s their version of success regarding their problem?
And there’s so many other questions you can ask—be really inquisitive!
A little advice, it’s OK to check what your competition is doing—who they’re targeting and what services they offer—but truly focus on you and your own journey. You don’t know what strategies they are following, and you don’t know whether that strategy is working for them!
The more details you’re able to gather, the better connection you’ll be able to build with your customers.
All this digging and crafting into your ideal avatar will help you not be salesy, as the branding and messaging will be on point, and the services you offer will have them in mind! And this will position you as the top professional, the only choice for them.
Your customers will feel understood, and you’ll gain those big trust points!
It’s a win-win.
4 — Or even clear on who you want to become as a brand
If you’ve identified with any of the above points then most likely you’re not clear who you want to become as a brand either.
And this point is also valid for personal brands—as without this piece, this clarity—your brand will hardly work, and your biz will permanently struggle.
And you know what? Running a biz is already difficult! At least from my experience, so let’s make sure we have a good shot at success!
Honestly, this will be most likely one of the biggest culprits for not looking professional enough—not updating who you are, and not evolving your brand with you.
This is why we are so passionate about this point that we put this at the center of all our work. This is exactly what we do for all our customers—even those we’ve worked with previously!
This is the big Step 1 in our process. To clearly know where you are, where you’ve been and where you want to go, so that we can identify your “Inner Fire” and brand opportunities.
A brand is more than a pretty logo and nice colours.
A brand is a living entity. So let’s make sure we’ve humanised it!
You can use tools like brand archetypes to know which personality and voice is the most authentic for you.
Not knowing your Inner Fire will lead to not showing up authentically.
It’s not only about your brand’s personality, by knowing where you want to go gives you the knowledge of how to position yourself to stand out and connect as an obvious choice.
I get you, as a multi-passion person (I’ve pursued 5 different career directions) I’m able to offer various services—and all these services are for different people… so, how do you even choose? Or how do you even stick with just one? This is exactly why thinking about brand strategy early will help you shape all those questions and worries .
5 — You haven’t thought about customer experience and how you deliver on your promise
Not having systems to support a seamless workflow and client communication can lead to undelivered brand promises or messy journeys that will make you feel not professional enough.
Things like a clear welcome pack, workflow, booking systems, and boundaries can prevent breakdowns and messy interactions. But also will position you as an expert, one leading the journey.
However, I’ll not focus on this at the beginning, when you start! We (at Toartle), made this exact mistake. We felt that we needed to have it all nicely tied up— and our perfectionisms made us be “busy” putting all these systems together. However now looking back I can admit our time would have been invested better if we worked on reaching out to people and getting those first clients sooner.
You can continue working on your systems as you continue working with your clients, to start anticipating questions, worries etc and crafting your unique method. And ideally productising your service away from hourly rates. This will make you stand out as an authority in your field!
If you’re at a point wondering whether to employ people and grow a team, systems and processes are crucial to ensure smooth service delivery. It’s not uncommon for small solopreneurs to build personal reputation (the clients are hiring you personally), and so without the systems and processes in place the client may not be happy when you bring in extra help.
✺ Conclusion
Addressing these five key areas—overcoming website shame, maintaining brand consistency, being clear on who you’re talking to, your identity and who you want to become as a brand, and crafting a thoughtful customer experience—will shift your brand from not professional enough to an impactful authentic brand.
Break Free from Website Shame and Elevate Your Brand
If you’re ready to overcome these challenges and transform your brand, it’s time to take action. Start with our BrandImpact™ Game Plan to uncover your brand’s inner fire and make a lasting impression.
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