Juicy branding secrets to make your first 6 figures for ambitious entrepreneurs

The ever-elusive six-figure business.

For some of us, our business plan involves hitting this number within a matter of months. For others, this milestone feels like a far-off dream.

However, the truth is that at some point, we’re all going from 0 to 6 figures in our businesses.

Instead of offering practical branding advice for small businesses and mid-size businesses depending on how long they’ve been operating, I find it most helpful to discuss best practices for branding depending on the scale of the business.

No matter if you’re starting out as a strappy mom-and-pop shop or your business is backed by venture capitalists, the basics of branding will still be similar for any new business before you hit specific milestones.

So if you’re ready to hit your first $100,000 in revenue—whether you plan to hit that in six months or six years from now—here’s the juicy branding secrets that’ll help you make those first 6 figures.

1. The secret to calculating how much to invest in branding

Having a solid business plan in mind is an essential part of your brand.

Most potential clients seem surprised when, on our initial call, I ask about their business plan and how hard they need their brand to work for them—instead of asking about their design preferences, favorite colors, or other design-related questions that they might be expecting.

The way you approach branding before your first $100,000 in revenue will differ depending on how hard you need your brand to work for you.

Is your business just a hobby you’re trying to get off the ground? Or is your startup brand backed by investors with plans to scale the business quickly in the new few years?

A brand with bigger ambitions—and a need to scale quickly—will need a more thorough brand strategy to get you there. 

I often use the analogy of a cross-country road trip when talking with new clients: are you just looking for a small scooter to get you around town, or are you looking for the custom sprinter van that will take you across the country in comfort and style?

Or another way of putting it, are you building a comfortable starter home, your mid-size family home, or your dream home?

The answer should depend on how far you want to grow your brand, and how quickly.

Let’s be clear: there’s no wrong answer here. I often recommend to small business startups that they budget wisely and focus their efforts on more foundational brand efforts (see points #2 and #3 below) before investing in a mid 4- to 5-figure brand strategy and visual brand identity design.

However, if your startup enterprise is looking at expanding nationally or hitting 6 to 7 figures in the next 3–5 years, you’ll need to invest in a brand that will get you there by setting a strong foundation for your growth.

So, before you earn your first $100,000, get clear about how hard you need your brand to work for you; how far you want it to take you (remember the scooter or house analogies); and plan to invest accordingly. The rate at which you earn your first $100,000 will be dependent on it!

2. The secret to powerfully simple branding

While branding is a complicated subject—most entrepreneurs aren’t clear about what branding is and what it isn’t—it really boils down to three things:

What you do;

Who you do it for; and

Why it matters to them.

Both small-town boutiques and international entreprises need to be able to clearly articulate these three W’s of branding in order to make a clear impression on their audience—which is what branding is all about.

Branding isn’t the colors you use, the fonts you choose, or even the taglines you write. It’s the impression your business makes on your customers and the way they relate to you.

And in order to ensure you’re making the right connection with them, you need to clearly let them know what exactly you have to offer them; whether you’re the right brand for them; and the important role your brand plays in solving their specific problems.

If you can articulate all three of these W’s clearly to your audience, you’ll be well on your way to growing a successful brand that will reach your first $100,000.

But if you can’t—your audience won’t know, either and will move onto a brand that they know is the right business for them.

What you do

Surprisingly, many small business owners I meet actually aren’t terribly clear on this. They’ll respond with, “I encourage and inspire women to reach their full potential.”

Okay...so...what do you do?

Your startup business needs to be offering a specific, tangible product or service and articulating what exactly your customers will receive for their money.

If you’re not clear on what exactly you offer, your customers won’t know either.

Most investor-backed startups do have a clear answer to this question, but they can often trip up their potential customers by using industry lingo or overly-salesy terminology that most audiences won’t spend the mental energy to try to understand.

An effective brand needs to communicate what it does in simple terms that anyone can understand and immediately know whether this is the right brand for their needs.

Who you do it for

So maybe you’ve got the first W nailed down. No problems there. But can you clearly articulate who your business serves?

Can you describe an individual in your target audience? Do you have a specific niche your small business is serving?

“Everyone” isn’t a target audience.

Every brand is serving a specific someone, whether they realize it or not. Certainly, you’ll attract customers or clients who don’t fit your ideal model; but it’s better to mean something to a few people than to mean nothing to anyone.

Get clear, crystal clear, on your target audience. Consider niching down to a particular type of person; perhaps someone with a particular interest, passion, need, or desire.

Whether your bakery is the hangout spot for quirky cat lovers or your tech startup offers optimizations for software developers, be clear on letting your people know you’re the right brand for them.

Why it matters to them

Following on the heels of the point above, more importantly than being able to describe your target audience is being able to articulate why your offerings matter to your audience.

Your brand is serving some deeper meaning to your audience, whether you realize it or not.

You’re helping them save money. You’re giving them time back to spend with their kids. You’re bringing a sense of travel and adventure to their home. You’re enabling them to cherish moments with loved ones and pass down memories.

One of the most important roles I play as a brand strategist is getting to the heart of what a brand means to its customers. What external or internal problems does it solve, or how does it help someone express their identity, find community, or simply live a better life?

This is arguably the most critical of the three W’s to get right, yet it’s also the hardest to understand, and usually requires an outside branding expert to help get to the heart of things.

3. The secret to standing out in a crowded market

If you can only get one thing right about your brand, it’s this:

Your brand positioning.

Brand positioning is the unique place your business will take in the market. It follows the third W from above—why your brand matters to your audience—and determines what exactly your audience should feel, think, and say about your small business.

It’s what will make your brand stand out in a crowded market by showing your customers what makes you different and positioning your business as an irreplaceable solution to a need they have.

Therefore, your brand positioning is really the external application of the deeper meaning your business plays in the lives of your customers.

What makes your small business unique from any other? How do you want your potential clients or customers to perceive your business? What role will you play in their lives? Are you the trusted expert, or the encouraging helper? How should they feel about your business?

Once you’ve nailed your brand positioning, you can craft your brand messaging, marketing strategy, customer journey, and so much more. 

Really, as a brand strategist, if I have to help a client with just one aspect of their branding, it’s going to be their brand positioning; because once you get that right, the rest of your branding process will be much easier and you’ll have the basics you need in order to grow your business to your first $100,000.

So whether you’re starting a small business or launching a startup enterprise, the branding basics you’ll need in place to hit your first $100,000 will be similar: setting a solid foundation for your growth with a clearly-defined brand.

Whether you invest five figures into your brand strategy or you decide to bootstrap it will depend on how quickly you want to hit that first financial milestone, and how far your business will grow beyond that.

So here’s to your first 6 figures—and beyond!