Is your branding costing you high end clients?

If you’re running a service-based small business - whether you’re a designer, photographer, coach or consultant - I’ll bet you dream of attracting higher value work. But what if your branding is a turn off to those high end clients?

The job of your brand identity id not just to look impressive, but to support your brand positioning - all the more crucial if your goal is to attract the discerning eye of premium clients.

The red flags that your brand is out of alignment

Most of us will be familar with the feeling that something is ‘off’ in our business. Maybe getting clients across the line is suddenly really hard. Maybe you’re having to compete on price, or the only enquiries you’re getting are from clients you’re not that keen on working with?

If any of this resonates, there’s a good chance that your brand is out of alignment with your commercial objectives and needs attention.

Find where your value lies - and what that means for your clients

When we talk about ‘high end’ clients, we’re referencing a client group who are willing to pay an elevated fee in return for a specialist, premium product or service. So, what do they want? No matter what you’re selling, all clients want to feel that you’re delivering value for the print they’ve paid - but premium clients will want more than that. They want to know that your business is perfectly positioned to solve their unique challenges - so the best way to attract their attention is by leading the conversation with whatever their most frustrating problem is. Don’t make the mistake of hitting them with services or features - they just want to know that you’re the best possible option to get them to where they want to be.

I’ll never forget a client telling me that he didn’t buy a brand identity from us - he bought the confidence that the brand identity gave him to approach bigger clients and punch higher. That insight was transformative, and made me realise that I’ve a real passion for working with clients to help them to see their value… something that almost every small business owner struggles with. I’ve a way of building my clients’ confidence, broadening their perspective of their business and setting them up for success. This fundamental shift in their mindset - coupled with a knockout visual identity and carefully considered communications - means that the small businesses we work with can grow faster, attract the right kinds of clients (and employees!), and drive revenue.

What successful branding for high end clients looks like

If you want to be seen differently, you need to look different. A rebrand is one of the fastest ways of adjusting the way your business is perceived, and creating the space for your business to grow - and that’s exactly what we did. In fact, we’ve rebranded our business several times; each time heralding a shift in our ambition. With each rebrand, our visual identity became more refined and our language became more confident and more powerful - and the kind of clients we hoped to attract responded exactly as we wanted.

Dare to really stand out

It’s so unbelievably tempting to follow the crowd and emulate what others in your industry are doing - that’s why you see so many websites with identikit imagery, messages and visuals. We’ve absolutely fallen into this trap; I remember feeling the need to portray Ditto as a tabletennis-playing, beer-fridge-owning, pizza-on-a-friday kind of agency… the truth was nothing of the sort. We’re more likely to be found watching the light fall through the trees or noticing ferns unfurling in the woodland which surrounds the studio than enthusiastically whacking neon post-it notes on a wall. Paint a meaningful, authentic and aspirational picture of what your business delivers, and you’ll see the difference.

Conduct a brand audit

Your brand identity and website are just the start. Your story continues through every single interaction you have with your clients, from your Service Guide to your Proposals, Terms of Business, Reports, Presentations and outward communications such as LinkedIn and Instagram. Gather up every single piece of communication you use and rate it 1-10 in terms of how premium it feels. Anything less than an 8 requires urgent attention - which in the short term, might look like pulling everything in line to look and feel the same, adjusting language or adding new imagery while a full rebrand takes place.

If you’d like my personal support in creating a brand to land high end clients, you’ve only to ask.

Stay excellent out there