Being forgettable is rarely intentional.

Small businesses don’t neglect their brand because they’re careless. They neglect it because they’re busy.

They’re opening up, locking up, paying suppliers, answering WhatsApps at 10pm, trying to keep staff happy and customers happier. Branding quite reasonably drops down the list. Somewhere below “fix the card machine” and “order more towels”.

I was reminded of this recently in my local barber shop.
They’ve clearly adopted a stock logo. Fair enough. Why reinvent the wheel when you’re cutting hair, not designing identities. Except their booking app still has the words “ADD SLOGAN HERE” sitting proudly beneath the logo.
No slogan. Just the instruction.

It’s harmless. Slightly funny. Most people won’t care. But it does say something.
Quietly, consistently, every time someone opens the app it says: this wasn’t quite finished.

A few days later I walked in holding what I thought was a discount flyer they’d hand delivered through my door. The barber glanced at it, smiled, and told me it was actually for the shop five doors down. Same colours. Same fonts. Same vibe. Same promises. It was an easy mistake (and an understandable one), but I still felt a tad embarrassed. Then came the smart bit, he honoured the discount anyway.

That's good business. Sensible. Human. The sort of decision that builds goodwill far faster than any logo ever could. And it worked, I’ll be back.
But it also quietly proved the point.

 

Barber shops in particular suffer from generic branding. Red and white diagonal poles. Heavy, hot-metal typefaces. Nothing wrong with any of it. But nothing that helps customers tell one from another. It may be why so many men feel one barber is the same as any other. Convenience wins. Proximity wins. Loyalty has to work harder.

None of this makes the barber bad at their job. The haircut was great. The service was generous. The business instincts were spot on. But branding isn’t about taste or trends. It’s about clarity.

When a business looks unfinished, interchangeable or easily confused with the one next door, customers fill in the gaps themselves. Usually with assumptions you didn’t choose.

And while good service can fix that in the moment, clear branding does it before you ever walk through the door.

We’re not here to tell tiny businesses with tiny budgets that they need a full rebrand. Most don’t. Many shouldn’t.

But for businesses that are ready to invest, branding isn’t decoration. It’s the difference between being remembered and being mixed up with someone else.

If your brand still has a few “ADD SLOGAN HERE” moments hiding in plain sight, it might be time for a second look. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because you’re already doing so much right.

If you’re a growing business and you suspect your brand isn’t quite saying what you think it is, We Are Acuity are always happy to take a look. No hard sell. Just clarity.