7 Branding & Marketing Rules I am Officially Done Following (& maybe you should be too)

The branding world loves rules. Stay consistent. Keep it simple. Look polished. And honestly? A lot of those rules made sense at one point. But the way people discover, connect with, and buy from brands has fundamentally shifted — and some of the "best practices" we've been handed down are actively holding brands back. Here are the rules I think we should be breaking as often as possible…

1. Your brand needs an extremely limited color palette.

The two-color brand was built for a world of print constraints and limited screen real estate. Today, some of the most recognizable brands are using rich, expansive palettes — think bold gradients, seasonal color shifts, and contextual color systems that feel alive rather than locked down. A limited palette isn't inherently bad, but reaching for it out of habit rather than intention is. Color is one of the fastest ways to communicate personality, and artificially restricting it is leaving brand equity on the table (& potentially limiting some major creative potential).

2. You only need 1–2 versions of your logo.

One primary logo. Maybe a horizontal lockup. Done. Right? Not anymore. Modern brands live across Instagram profile photos, embroidered hats, website favicons, motion graphics, and packaging — a single logo simply can't perform well in all of those context. A strong brand identity system today includes a full logo suite: primary, secondary, submark, icon, wordmark, and ideally a motion-ready version. More versions doesn't mean inconsistency — it means you've actually thought through where your brand shows up, and intentionally created for those contexts.

3. Brand guidelines should be rigid, exhaustive & limiting.

There's a version of brand guidelines that reads like a legal document — pages of what you can't do, wrong usage examples, and fonts locked so tight no one ever feels empowered to use them creatively. The brands winning right now treat their guidelines as living creative frameworks, not commandments. Spotify's brand system, for example, is intentionally flexible so their visual identity can evolve without losing recognition (don’t ask me about the disco ball though, that’s another conversation altogether). Guidelines should inspire and enable your team and collaborators — not paralyze them.

4. Pick a niche and never stray from it.

Niching down is smart advice for getting started — it helps you stand out, build an audience, and clarify your message. But treating your niche like a cage? That's where it becomes a problem. Brands grow, audiences evolve, and the best brand builders know how to expand their positioning without losing their core. The goal is a brand that's specific enough to be remembered but flexible enough to grow with you. A niche is a launchpad, not a life sentence - and it may be more than a specific type of person or industry. Niche can mean so much more than “I want to work with furniture stores”… it can mean “I specialize in working with family owned businesses” or “I work well with people who are inspired by nature.” Still a hugely important aspect of business, but one that has (rightfully so) evolved as we have evolved.

5. Your brand should appeal to everyone (or at least not alienate anyone).

The safest brand is also the most forgettable one. When you try to speak to everyone, you end up resonating with no one — your messaging becomes beige, your visuals become generic, and your brand blends right into the noise. Having a clear point of view, an aesthetic that's not for everyone, and a voice that polarizes slightly is actually what builds loyalty. The people who love you will really love you. Give them something worth loving.

6. Keep your personal brand completely separate from your business brand.

This one gets pushed a lot, especially for studio owners and service businesses — the idea being that a "real" business shouldn't lean too hard on the founder's personality. But founder-led storytelling is one of the most powerful brand assets in the market right now. People want to know who they're buying from, especially in the creative and service space. Your values, your aesthetic perspective, your story — these are differentiators no competitor can copy. Lean into them.

7. Maintain the same content across all platforms.

Repurposing content is a completely valid strategy, but copy-pasting the same post across Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and your email list? That's not a strategy — it’s unfortunately just a shortcut. Every platform has its own culture, algorithm, and audience behavior, and content that's native to a platform dramatically outperforms content that was obviously made for somewhere else. A concept can travel across platforms, but the execution should be platform-specific. Your Instagram audience and your LinkedIn audience are not the same person.

The Biggest Rule We Should Break: Following Rules Blindly

Every single one of these "rules" came from somewhere real — a constraint, a trend, a best practice that made sense in its moment. The problem isn't that rules exist; it's when we follow them without asking why anymore. The brands that stand out are the ones built with intention, not inherited assumptions. So the next time someone tells you what your brand has to do, ask yourself: does this still serve the brand we're actually building? If the answer is no — break the rule.