Unlike your favourite T-shirt, brands work better inside out.

Most branding starts with the market.

Who we want to attract.
What they care about.
How we need to sound to win attention.

It feels logical. But it often produces brands that are carefully constructed and strangely hollow.

Because when you build from the outside in, you’re reacting rather than defining. You’re shaping yourself around perceived expectations rather than defining who you actually are.

And that rarely leads to something distinctive.

The outside-in trap

Outside-in branding tends to follow a familiar path.

Research the audience.
Analyse competitors.
Craft positioning designed to stand out

The language becomes polished. The values become universal. Integrity. Innovation. Excellence. Words that sound right but belong to almost everyone.

The result is safe. Professional. Interchangeable.

It might tick the boxes, but it rarely builds belief internally. And without internal belief, external messaging never quite lands.

Start with who you are

Inside-out branding flips the process.

It starts by asking harder questions:

How are decisions really made here?
What behaviours are rewarded?
What frustrates the team?
What do we genuinely believe that others don’t?

Every business already has a culture. It shows up in how people speak to clients, how leaders handle pressure, how problems get solved.

That is your starting point.

Not because the market doesn’t matter, but because clarity about who you are should shape how you show up within it.

Why this works

When brand reflects reality, several things change.

Your messaging becomes simpler because it is anchored in truth.
Your tone becomes more natural because it mirrors how people already speak.
Your visual identity feels intentional rather than decorative.

Most importantly, your team recognises themselves in it.

That recognition creates consistency. And consistency builds trust.

Customers can sense when a brand is performed rather than lived. Inside-out brands feel different because they are different.

This is not self-indulgence

Starting inside does not mean ignoring your audience. You still need commercial focus. You still need to solve real problems.

But the strongest brands do not try to appeal to everyone. They are clear about what they stand for and let the right customers lean in.

That clarity makes decisions easier. What to pursue. What to decline. How to grow without diluting what makes you valuable.

A simple test

If you replaced your logo with a competitor’s, would your messaging still read the same?

If your values could sit comfortably on any other website in your sector, they are probably too generic.

Inside out branding is less about sounding impressive and more about being precise and consistent.

Turn the brand around. Look at what is already there. The clarity you’re searching for externally is often closer to home than you think.