Elizabeth Fernando Elizabeth Fernando

Good Branding is Expensive. Bad Branding Costs More.

Every founder hits the same fork in the road:


Do we invest in branding now, or wait until we’re “big enough”?

Every founder hits the same fork in the road:
Do we invest in branding now, or wait until we’re “big enough”?

The instinct is to save cash. Cut corners. DIY a logo. Run with whatever color palette came with the Canva free trial. After all, customers care about the product, not the packaging… right?

Wrong.

Branding isn’t lipstick on a business. It’s signal. It tells the market who you are, how you think, and why you’re worth paying attention to. A sloppy, inconsistent brand whispers “we’re not serious.” A sharp, intentional one screams “trust us with your money.”

Here’s the uncomfortable math:

  • Good branding is expensive. Strategic design, consistent messaging, and visual identity systems cost time, talent, and money.

  • Bad branding is more expensive. It bleeds customers. It forces you to compete on discounts. It makes marketing 10x harder because you’re constantly re-explaining who you are.

In other words: pay now, or pay more later.

The best brands treat design like infrastructure. Not a paint job, but the foundation. And just like real infrastructure, when you under-invest, cracks show fast—and repairing them later costs exponentially more.

Growth is noisy. Branding is clarity. And clarity compounds.

So yes, good branding is expensive. But if you think good branding is costly, try running your business without it.

💡 Takeaway: Branding isn’t a cost center. It’s the interest rate on your growth.

Brand boldly.

★ Moxieque ★

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Elizabeth Fernando Elizabeth Fernando

The ROI of Good Taste

Every founder hits the same fork in the road:


Do we invest in branding now, or wait until we’re “big enough”?

There’s an uncomfortable truth in business: taste scales faster than tactics.

A founder with average marketing but great taste will outperform a founder with great marketing but no taste. Why? Because design isn’t just decoration—it’s a trust accelerator.

We’re wired for beauty. From polished storefronts to clean interfaces, humans interpret aesthetics as competence. If you look intentional, people assume you are intentional. That shortcut drives ROI long before anyone reads your sales page.

What Good Taste Does for Your Brand:

  • It sells faster. People buy with their eyes before they buy with logic. A beautifully packaged brand lowers friction.

  • It charges more. A tasteful brand signals premium. Same product, higher perceived value.

  • It sticks longer. Taste makes you memorable. Your audience might forget your tagline, but they won’t forget how your brand felt.

And the opposite is true. Bad taste is expensive. It forces you to explain yourself, justify your prices, and constantly compete on discounts.

Taste is leverage. It multiplies the impact of your efforts. Marketing without taste is like pouring champagne into a paper cup—it kills the vibe before the first sip.

So yes, taste costs money. It requires strategy, design, and execution. But the return? Higher trust. Faster growth. Premium positioning.

Because the ROI of good taste is simple: when you look like the best option, you get treated like the best option.

💡 Takeaway: Taste isn’t fluff. It’s your growth multiplier.

Brand boldly.

★ Moxieque ★

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