My recent newsletter about ineffective website re-designs hit home for a lot of subscribers.

It’s no surprise that most business owners avoid “branding” like it’s a bad investment. Because for many of you… it has been.

Email subscriber Mircea D. messaged me explaining this exact situation:

I’ve heard this story too many times. I’ve spoken with hundreds of business owners who’ve wasted countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars chasing design trends instead of solving real problems.

So Mircea asked me the question every business owner should ask before they spend another dollar:

That’s where most branding efforts go wrong. Even top, highly expensive agencies and designers don’t understand this.

They focus completely on aesthetics. Not at all on strategy.

They skip the substance and wonder why their new “pretty” design isn’t converting more.

💬 Here’s the answer to Mircea’s question:

When someone interacts with your brand — website, social post, storefront — they’re subconsciously asking two questions:

1. Is this relevant to me and my problem?
2. Can I trust this business to help me?

That’s why branding is a lot more than visuals. The visuals are simply a tool to convey the following two branding ingredients:

Empathy… showing your audience that you understand their very specific problems.

Authority… demonstrating that you’ve solved their problem before – efficiently and effectively.

If you want to turn your brand into something that actually drives business, then the focus needs to be on these two things. Not just looking good.

🌶️ [EXERCISE] The 2-minute website test…

1: Put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes.

2: Pull up your website. In the first 2 minutes of scanning, ask yourself the following questions:

• would your ideal customer know this is clearly for them?
• would your ideal customer trust that you can solve their problem?

If you have hesitated on one of these questions, it’s a sign that your site may look great, but it’s probably not working.

Let’s start here 👇

Be honest… in which area is your brand falling short? Empathy or authority?

Just reply “empathy” or “authority” – I’ll shoot you one spicy tip to help bring balance back to the plate.

Talk soon,

The Brand Chef