The Importance of Trusting Experts and Detaching from Personal Preferences in Branding
As business owners, we are deeply passionate about what we do. This passion often drives us to create something uniquely ours—a brand that reflects our personal taste, experiences, and style. But in the quest to build something that speaks to us, it’s easy to forget that branding is not about us; it’s about our audience. This realization is why, when it comes to crafting an effective brand strategy, it’s crucial to hire experts—and, more importantly, to trust them.
The Challenge of Personal Preference in Branding
Recently, I had the experience of working with a client who was in the process of launching her first conference. We worked together for months, defining her messaging and crafting a brand identity that would resonate with her target audience—women aged 35 to 55. Despite our consistent sessions and the clear strategy we developed, she found herself second-guessing everything. She wanted a 60s-inspired, psychedelic design because it resonated with her personally, even though we had determined that this theme wouldn’t align with her audience.
The truth is, many business owners fall into this trap. We hold onto the things we love, like certain colors or styles, because they’re a reflection of us. But effective branding isn’t about personal preference; it’s about creating a visual identity that connects with your audience, evokes the right emotions, and leads them to trust and engage with your brand. Just because a design resonates with us doesn’t mean it will resonate with the people we’re trying to reach.
Why Branding Matters: Resonance Over Preference
The purpose of branding goes beyond just looking pretty or professional—it’s about creating a consistent, cohesive identity that tells your audience exactly who you are, what you stand for, and why they should care. Your brand becomes the first impression, the thing that lingers in their mind long after they’ve interacted with your content. When your visuals, messaging, and identity are cohesive, your brand becomes instantly recognizable, making it easier for your audience to connect with and trust you.
This brings me to the importance of aligning your brand with your audience’s needs, not your personal preferences. As an example, a 60s psychedelic design might have nostalgic value for someone who grew up in that era, but it’s unlikely to connect with a modern audience of women in their 30s to 50s who value elegance, professionalism, and a polished look. In fact, such a disconnect could alienate your audience, leaving them confused about whether your brand is relevant to them.
The Role of Experts: Guiding You to Your Audience
This is where hiring a branding expert or coach comes in. When you hire an expert, you’re not just paying for graphic design or content creation; you’re investing in someone with the experience and insight to see your brand from an outsider’s perspective—an objective, strategic point of view that you may not have as the business owner.
As business owners, we’re often too close to our ideas to see the bigger picture. We become attached to colors, fonts, themes, and visuals that might not serve the purpose of connecting with our audience. An expert’s job is to help us step back and look at the brand from the outside, with the audience’s perspective in mind.
This is what I did for my client. I redesigned her poster and created a complete branding package for her event—one that would create brand recall, establish awareness, and communicate a clear message. The design was cohesive, polished, and aligned with the professional image we knew her audience needed. But ultimately, she rejected the entire package because it didn’t align with her personal taste.
Learning to Let Go: The Power of Detaching from Design
While it’s understandable that business owners want to have a personal connection to their brand, we must learn to detach ourselves from the design process. The ultimate goal is not to create something that pleases us, but something that resonates with the people we’re serving. Our audience is the key to our success, and everything about our brand—from the visuals to the messaging—needs to be crafted with them in mind.
This means letting go of ideas or design elements that we may personally love but that don’t serve the brand. For example, I’ve worked with clients who loved bold neon colors or wild cheetah prints, but whose audiences were professionals in more conservative industries like finance or education. Those colors and patterns might have made the client happy, but they wouldn’t have conveyed the trustworthiness and expertise that their audience needed to see.
The same goes for anyone who loves bright, bold colors like hot pink, but whose target audience is mature, career-driven women who resonate more with neutral tones or subtle, calming colors. Choosing the wrong design elements can be jarring to your audience and create an emotional disconnect, making it harder for them to relate to or trust your brand.
Trusting the Process: The Value of Listening to Experts
The takeaway here is that experts are hired to help you navigate these tricky waters. We’re here to ensure that your brand not only looks good but that it works. We spend time researching your audience, developing strategies, and making sure that every design element, every piece of messaging, is in line with what will attract and resonate with your ideal clients.
Ignoring the advice of your experts because it doesn’t align with your personal preferences is a disservice to your business. It’s easy to feel protective over something you’ve worked so hard to build, but remember: Your brand is not for you—it’s for your audience. By letting go and trusting the process, you can build something that speaks to your clients, creates lasting connections, and brings you the success you’re working toward.
Conclusion: Branding is About Connection, Not Personal Preference
At the end of the day, the goal of branding is to make a powerful, lasting impression. It’s about creating a consistent visual identity that immediately resonates with your audience, connects them to your message, and inspires them to take action. But that only works when we, as business owners, learn to detach ourselves from personal preferences and listen to the experts we hire to guide us.
If you find yourself in a similar situation—where your personal style doesn’t align with your audience—take a step back and trust the process. Your brand will be stronger for it, and so will your connection with the people who matter most: your audience.