Strategy Note 11: A Logo Is Not a Strategy
A logo is not a brand strategy.
I say this knowing it sounds obvious. And yet I watch businesses invest thousands in visual identity while skipping entirely the foundational work of knowing who they are, who they serve, and what they believe.
The sequence matters.
Design cannot create clarity. It can only express clarity that already exists. A beautiful logo on a confused foundation creates a beautiful confusion.
When you develop visual identity before you have answered the fundamental questions—who is this for, what do we stand for, why do we exist, what makes us different—you are decorating a house that has no rooms. The decoration might be lovely. The house is still unlivable.
I see this pattern constantly. A founder decides to "take branding seriously" and hires a designer. Together they explore colors and typography and imagery. They create something visually appealing. They launch it into the world.
And nothing changes.
The messaging is still unclear. The positioning is still muddled. The audience is still confused about what this business actually does and why they should care. The new logo looks better, but it does not solve any of the problems that were actually holding the business back.
Because the problems were never visual. They were strategic.
Visual identity is the expression of strategy, not the strategy itself. The logo represents something. The colors evoke something. The typography communicates something. But they can only represent, evoke, and communicate what already exists.
If you do not know what your brand stands for, your logo cannot stand for it either.
The proper sequence is strategy first, identity (visual AND verbal) second, marketing third.
Strategy: Who are we? Who are we for? What do we believe? What makes us different? What transformation do we create?
Identity: Given those answers, how should we look, sound, and feel? What visual and verbal choices express who we are?
Marketing: Given that strategy and identity, how do we reach the people we are for? What channels, what messages, what tactics?
This order matters more than any individual element.
When businesses struggle, they often reach for the wrong solution. They think they need better marketing when they actually need clearer strategy. They think they need a new logo when they actually need to answer questions they have been avoiding.
A rebrand that is just a visual refresh without strategic work underneath will produce the same results as the old brand—because the same confusion is driving it.
If your brand is not working, do not start with what it looks like. Start with what it means. The visual expression comes later, after you have something worth expressing.
Stay Curious,
