Updated October 2026
How do you explain what makes you different, show why your work matters and help the right people understand why they should choose you? Especially when you're juggling all the other things that come with running a business.
Traditionally, working on your brand meant bringing in an agency or creative team to do it for you. For many small businesses, that kind of support wasn't always accessible, so figuring out how to communicate your brand was something you had to work out for yourself.
Brand coaching is a way of working with a Brand Strategist to clarify, define and manage your brand yourself, rather than having somebody do the work for you.
Why I started brand coaching
After a decade working for some big brands, I’d seen how powerful a strong brand can be. Not just in building trust and recognition, but in helping businesses make decisions and grow. So when someone I knew asked for help with their messaging in 2020, it got me thinking about how I could bring the knowledge and expertise I’d learnt over the years to small business owners.
I realised I could coach founders and freelancers to define their own brand, giving them the tools and confidence to talk about what they do and attract the right customers, all while putting their brand into practice themselves.
Brand design vs brand strategy: what's the difference?
Designing someone’s brand and helping them with their strategy are two different things.
Your brand strategist helps you work out what your business stands for, why people would choose you over others, and how to communicate that to the right audience.
Your brand designer is the person who then brings the visual side of your brand to life.
Getting clear on your brand strategy gives you the foundations for putting your business out into the world. It can inform your messaging, marketing and visual identity, so the different parts of your brand work together.
What does brand coaching involve?
Rather than paying someone to develop your brand for you or trying to figure it all out alone, brand coaching enables you to be fully in control of crafting your own brand and positioning with the guidance of an expert along the way.
My role as a brand coach is to make sure that your brand represents you and your business, and my main goal is that you have the confidence to take your brand forward, adapt it and use it for many years to come.
What my brand coaching sessions look like
Brand coaching is actually a mix of coaching and mentoring. Our sessions give you the time and headspace to think about your business, with guidance and tasks to help you make sense of your brand.
I use all the elements that go into a brand strategy as the structure for our sessions, but the sessions are led by your needs. This means we don’t work to a rigid structure, or do anything unnecessary. Whatever you need, we’ll focus on. I’ll give you tasks to work through that get you thinking, and we’ll come back together at the beginning of every session to discuss your ideas and refine them together.
We'll connect all the areas of your business together and figure out exactly what you want to communicate and how you want to communicate it.
Developing your Brand Blueprint
The output of your brand coaching sessions are your own brand strategy - or Brand Blueprint as I call it. In it, we capture your brand vision and brand values, exactly who your ideal customers are, your messaging, and what your brand’s personality is. We’ll also define how to talk about your services, and look at which marketing channels are right for you and your business. It will become your go-to guide for staying focused, and will help you to grow your business knowing exactly where to put your energy.
The benefits of brand coaching for freelancers and founders
You’re probably thinking “that’s great Fliss, but what will it help me to do?” Defining your brand and knowing how to use it to grow and evolve your business helps you to:
Explain what makes you different and show your impact
When you can clearly communicate what you do, who it's for and what makes your approach different, people can understand the value you bring. It helps you attract the right customers, rather than trying to appeal to everyone.
Make clearer decisions about your brand and marketing
When you know what your business stands for and what you're trying to achieve, it's easier to decide where to focus your time and energy. You'll have a clearer idea of what to say, where to show up and which marketing activities make sense for your business.
Build recognition and trust with the right people
When your brand communicates a consistent message and reflects what people can expect from you, you give them reasons to remember you and trust what you do. Over time, that recognition helps people understand what you do, trust what you offer and feel confident getting in touch.
Know how to keep developing and using your brand
Your business won't stand still, and your brand shouldn't have to either. Through brand coaching, you'll know how to use your brand strategy to guide your decisions, adapt your messaging and keep your brand relevant as your business evolves. You'll have your Brand Blueprint to return to, and the tools you learn, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time something changes.
The beauty of coaching is it’s not a one and done job. Once you’ve got the tools to define and use your brand, you’ll be able to use them as your business evolves.
If you want to be in control of defining and developing your brand yourself, Unbox your Brand is how we can do that together. Find out more about how we can do that here.