How to Define Your Business Identity (Before You Spend Another Dollar on Marketing)
Key takeaways
Your business identity is the why, vision, mission and values behind what you sell. Your logo, messaging and offer all come from it.
If you're a solo personal brand, your identity is you. Once you have a team, the business needs its own brand persona.
Values work best written as verbs, because a verb tells people how you'll actually behave.
Competitors aren't proof you're too late. They're proof there's a market. Your job is to find the gap they've left.
Clarity takes time. Kate spent about a year floundering before her own business identity clicked.
Picture your business walking into a bar. What kind of bar is it? Where does it sit? Who does it talk to? And what do people say about it once it's gone?
If your business walked into a bar, how would they behave in that bar? — Sam Morris
It sounds like a party game, but it's one of the most useful exercises we know for working out how to define your business identity. We've run it in workshops for years. Sometimes it's light and fun. Sometimes people get emotional, because for the first time they hear how others really see their business.
This post is from Episode 2 of our season on the Thriving Business Wheel. It's the first episode in the Earn quadrant, and we start with identity on purpose. Everything else you do to bring money in sits on top of it.
What is business identity, and why does it come before marketing?
The soul of the business, and the reason your marketing either lands or doesn't.
Business identity is why your business exists, where it's heading, how it gets there and what it stands for along the way. Without it, your marketing is guesswork.
It's why marketing fails when the business doesn't know its own soul. — Dr Kate De Jong
When you skip this step, you end up generic. You sound like every other bookkeeper, coach or tradie in town, and the only thing left to compete on is price. When you're clear, your branding, your words and your offer all pull in the same direction, and people start to recognise you.
We use a simple frame for it. Your why is the backstory. Your vision is where you're headed. Your mission is how you'll get there. Your values are the moral compass you use on the way.
Is your business identity the same as your personal brand?
Only if it's just you. Once there's a team, the business needs its own personality.
If you're a solo operator and people buy you, your identity and the business's identity are largely the same thing. Once you have a team, or plan to sell one day, the business needs its own brand persona: its own voice, values and personality that everyone can carry.
This is also where a lot of owners get stuck on taste. They pick the colours they like, or a logo that means something to them, and wonder why it doesn't connect. In the episode we used the example of a whale logo. It makes sense for a whale-watching business. On a bookkeeper's website, it just confuses people, unless there's a real story behind it.
It's not about our personal preferences as much as reaching and resonating with the people that we want to reach. — Dr Kate De Jong
Marketing researcher Jennifer Aaker showed back in 1997 that people really do describe brands the way they describe people. Her study, Dimensions of Brand Personality, grouped those traits into five clusters: sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. That's the thinking behind giving your business a persona that's separate from you.
How do you define your business identity?
Start with why, then build the vision, mission and values on top of it.
Start by writing down why the business exists and what you believe. Then use that belief to shape your vision, mission, values and messaging.
We lean on Simon Sinek here. In his 2009 TED talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, and his book Start With Why (2009), he describes the Golden Circle: why in the middle, then how, then what. Most businesses talk from the outside in. They lead with what they sell. The ones people feel loyal to lead with what they believe.
There's a well-known piece of research that shows how much a reason matters. In a 1978 study, psychologist Ellen Langer and her colleagues asked people at a library photocopier if they could jump the queue. With no reason, 60% of people let them in. With a real reason, 94% did. With a meaningless one ("because I have to make copies"), 93% still said yes. The word "because" did most of the work. Your why is the "because" behind your business.
Kate shared her own why in the episode.
Why I do what I do is because I believe small business owners and entrepreneurs change the world for the better. — Dr Kate De Jong
That one sentence does two jobs. It draws in the people who believe the same thing. And it quietly tells the wrong-fit clients that this probably isn't for them. Both save you time.
How do you turn values into something people can see?
Write them as things you do, not words on a wall.
Turn each value into a verb, so it describes a behaviour someone could actually notice. A value written as a verb is much easier to market, hire for and hold yourself to.
Values should always be verbs. — Sam Morris
This idea comes from Sinek too. In Start With Why he writes that values have to be verbs to be effective. Kate gave a simple example.
If I say that my values are integrity, honesty, professionalism, integrity as a verb would be walk your talk. — Dr Kate De Jong
"Integrity" is something every business claims. "Walk your talk" is something your clients can check. We go deeper on this in our post on how to write business values that actually drive decisions.
How does market research sharpen your business identity?
Competitors aren't a reason to quit. They're a map.
Use market research to find what competitors aren't doing well, then build your identity around that gap. Seeing other people in your space means there's demand.
A lot of owners do their research, see someone who's years ahead and quietly lose heart. We'd flip that.
If other people are doing it, that means there is definitely a market for it. — Sam Morris
Sam uses AI prompts to list competitors and map their strengths and weaknesses, then looks for the gaps. If you haven't set up your AI tools yet, our AI Setup Workbook walks you through it.
Another trick from the episode: check Meta's Ad Library. It shows the ads a business is running right now. It won't show you their results, but if an ad has been running for months, it's a fair bet it's working for them. That's the one to study.
Why does being specific win more clients?
If you're for everyone, nobody can tell you're for them.
Being specific makes it easy for the right person to recognise themselves and say "that's me". Broad, safe positioning gives them nothing to grab onto.
Kate described a moment most of us have sat through at a networking event: someone stands up, waffles for three minutes, and at the end of their elevator pitch you still don't know what they do. That's what a fuzzy identity sounds like out loud.
The fix is your identity work. Once you know the problem you solve, who you solve it for and how, you can boil it down to one clear offer. That's what we cover in Episode 3, on crafting an irresistible offer.
What's the brand bar exercise?
A quick, slightly silly way to see your business the way others do.
You imagine your business walking into a bar and describe what happens. It shows you the personality you're projecting, and whether it matches the one you want.
Close your eyes and work through three questions:
What kind of bar is it? A Western saloon, a chic hotel bar or the local country pub?
How does your business behave in there? Is it the quiet observer in the corner or the life of the party?
When it leaves, what do people say about it? And what do you want them to say?
In workshops we'd ask other people to write down how they saw each business. That's where it got powerful.
Sometimes people would tear up because they hadn't realised how they're being perceived in a good way. — Dr Kate De Jong
If you can, do this one with someone who knows your business. You'll often find strengths you didn't know you were showing.
How long does it take to get clear on your business identity?
Longer than you'd like, and it keeps changing as you grow.
Expect weeks or months, not an afternoon. And expect it to keep evolving as the business matures.
I was floundering for about a year trying to figure out who I was — Dr Kate De Jong
That's from someone who now helps other owners do exactly this. So if you're not there yet, you're not behind. AI can help you draft messaging, but on its own it tends to stay surface level. The depth comes from you doing the thinking first.
It applies to every kind of business, too. Think about why you choose one tradie over another, or one car brand over the next. Those reasons are exactly what your own customers want to hear from you.
We're Dr Kate De Jong, a PhD engineer turned business strategist, and Sam Morris, a Navy veteran who's spent 20 years in business working out what makes businesses tick and what makes them stall.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between business identity and branding?
Business identity is your why, vision, mission and values. Branding is how that identity shows up visually and in your words. Get the identity clear first, and your branding has something real to express.
Do I need a brand persona if I'm a sole trader?
Usually not, if people are buying you. Your personal brand and your business identity are close to the same. Once you build a team, or want the business to run without you, it needs its own persona.
Why should business values be written as verbs?
Because a verb describes behaviour people can see. "Integrity" is a claim. "Walk your talk" is something clients can hold you to, and it helps the right clients find you.
Should I worry if lots of competitors already do what I do?
No. Competitors show there's demand. Study what they do well and where they fall short, then build your identity around the gap they've left.
What can you do this week?
Three small steps to get clearer on who your business is.
Pick one and give it 30 minutes.
Write your why in one sentence. Start it with "I believe…" and see who it draws in and who it puts off.
Rewrite your values as verbs. For each one, ask: what would a client actually see us doing?
Take your business to the bar. Answer the three brand bar questions, then ask a client or colleague to answer them too. Compare notes.
So people need to be kind to themselves when they're trying to identify what their brand is all about. — Sam Morris
Further Reading
Simon Sinek, How Great Leaders Inspire Action (TEDxPuget Sound, 2009).
Simon Sinek, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Portfolio, 2009).
Ellen Langer, Arthur Blank and Benzion Chanowitz, The Mindlessness of Ostensibly Thoughtful Action, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(6), 635–642 (1978).
Jennifer L. Aaker, Dimensions of Brand Personality, Journal of Marketing Research, 34, 347–356 (1997).
Meta, Ad Library.
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