Brand isn't something you sell

Unintuitive truths about building a brand consultancy.

You can sell someone a logo. You can sell them a website. You can even sell them a complete design system. These are things with clear boundaries—deliverables you can point to and say "here's what you're getting."

“Brand” doesn't fit in that box. When someone hires you for brand, they're betting on a future version of their company that doesn't exist yet. They're investing in how people will understand them, trust them, choose them.

Trying to sell brand to someone who doesn't understand it is like trying to sell a Peloton to someone who doesn't think exercise matters. To them, it's just an overpriced stationary bike that takes up space in the living room.

If they don't feel the absence of brand, they won't value the investment. I spent years being that person trying to sell the Peloton.

I used to get this wrong

For the longest time, I thought my job was to win people over. I'd walk into meetings armed with logic, decks full of case studies, and what I thought were brilliant metaphors. I assumed if I just explained it right, they'd finally get it.

But here's what I learned: if they need that much convincing, they're probably not a fit. Trying to convert them wastes your energy and dilutes your soul.

I remember one particular pitch where I could feel the resistance in the room from minute one. The founder kept asking about "deliverables" and "timelines" while I'm talking about positioning and perception. Brand is how you engineer desire, not a checklist you can point to. I spent an hour trying to bridge that gap, explaining why brand strategy comes before visual identity, why we needed to understand their audience before we designed anything.

They went with someone who promised a logo in two weeks.

I was fighting for clients who fundamentally didn't value what I was offering. And that fight was exhausting both of us.

The shift: From convincing to filtering

If you're explaining why brand matters, you've already lost. So I've stopped trying to convert and started writing instead.

My content strategy has become less about marketing and more about attracting the right people. Every post, every article, every weird little cultural reference I make is doing invisible work: helping people self-identify.

The ones who resonate reach out. The ones who don't quietly move on. And that's perfect.

Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, I'm putting up a signal that only the right people can hear.

If they're shopping, you're a commodity

When your brand builds enough clarity and trust, people stop comparing agencies. They don't need to look at five other studios. They just need to feel like you're the one who sees them.

If they're shopping around, you're in the commodity game. Getting quotes from five agencies means you haven't built enough trust to stand alone.

If someone has to ask you "why should I work with you," it's already over. They don't understand your value, and they won't trust you to lead them into the unknown. Brand work demands total belief in outcomes you can't fully predict or measure in the first quarter. If they're starting from skepticism, you'll spend the entire project managing unrealistic expectations instead of creating transformation.

What happened when I stopped trying to sell

The lead flow changed completely. Fewer inquiries, but way more qualified ones.

Projects started feeling better from the beginning. Less time spent explaining why brand matters, more time spent actually doing the work. I stopped having to prove anything—I was working with people who already got it.

These days, people show up already bought in. Last month, someone reached out and said, "We've been following your work for two years. We know we want to work together. When can we start?" Hell yeah.

Need doesn't equal ready

Ironically, the companies that need brand work most are often the ones most skeptical of it. But if they don't understand how it can help, they'll resist it the whole way through. And brand work only works if everyone's bought in.

Which brings me back to where I started.

Not everyone will get your message, but the right people will recognize themselves in it.

Don't waste time convincing. Spend your time creating what resonates with the people who are already looking for what you offer.

Tbh, I'm still figuring this out. But the new approach has led to better clients, better referrals, & better work. Turning down big projects feels strange, but when someone isn't set up for success, it gets expensive for everyone.

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Elan leads Off-Menu, a brand studio that helps ambitious startups clarify who they are, what they stand for, and why anyone should care.