Stop Designing. Start Deciding.
I’ve been skateboarding since I was 12. There’s little else that has shaped my worldview more than riding a plank with four wheels with friends, seeking new spots, filming each other.
I wasn’t naturally talented, but I loved it wholeheartedly. 90% of that love stems from the progressive nature of the sport—there’s no end to the tricks you can learn.
But after almost 30 years, there’s one thing I regret. One thing that limited my enjoyment and stunted my growth and progress: commitment.
I would spend a loooong time getting a trick. Hours sometimes, and often with repeated return visits to the spot to try again for hours.
It was frustrating and more often than not painful.
Yet it really had little to do with whether I could actually do the trick I was trying, or any circumstances surrounding the attempts.
What I realize with years of hindsight is that my lack of commitment stifled everything—my enjoyment, my progression, my growth.
And lately, I’ve come to recognize that many businesses are suffering from the same problem with their brands.
“There’s an app for that.”
This phrase was synonymous with the Apple App Store boom of the 2000s. And it still holds weight today. AI can generate logos in seconds. Canva produces your next social post or web advert in minutes. ChatGPT writes your brand strategy in the time it takes to drink your morning espresso.
The tools have never been more accessible. The barriers have never been lower.
And yet, 68% of companies say brand consistency adds 10–20% to revenue growth. Strong B2B brands see a 74% higher brand marketing ROI and 46% higher market share than weaker B2B brands.
So what’s the difference?
The committed brands know what they’re trying to say. And unlike the majority of my skateboarding, they’re enjoying the returns and progress that others can’t seem to capture.
So what separates the committed from the confused? In my experience, it comes down to two critical failures:
Trying to appeal to everyone.
Trust me, I get it—new projects are exciting. There’s nothing like a blank canvas and the rush to start creating. But time and time again if there’s been no definitive decision on who we’re talking to, and what we’re actually trying to make them feel, we’re just building faster toward the wrong destination.
Carl Sewell, who built one of America’s most successful car dealerships, puts it this way in his book Customers For Life:
“Why would you ever want to give somebody a reason—even a subconscious reason—to question doing business with you?”
That’s the problem with half-committed brands. Every inconsistency, every hedged message, every “we’re for everyone” positioning gives people a subconscious reason to question you.
A client told us recently he wasn’t used to so much thought being put into the brand before building the website.
That’s because in 2026, where everyone has access to the same tools, your competitors can generate the same content, the same layouts, the same campaigns. Anyone can get it done fast.
What they so often fail to get is clarity about who they are and what they stand for.
Do you know what happens when you try to appeal to everyone?
- “Maybe we’re for enterprise and startups.”
- “Let’s not be too specific—we might miss opportunities.”
- “We should soften that message so we don’t alienate anyone.”
You end up with a brand that says everything and means nothing.
We see this constantly. A SaaS company positions as “enterprise-ready for teams of all sizes”—which tells investors nothing, confuses buyers, and makes every marketing decision a negotiation.
In our experience—substantiated by research—strong brands can command a price premium of up to 13% compared to weaker competitors. Not because they have fancier websites. Because they committed to who they are, and the right people recognize it immediately.
The wrong people move on. Which is exactly what you want.
Under-valuing of an impression.
Research shows that 55% of a brand’s first impression comes from visuals alone. And Sewell understood this instinctively. I love that he—a total non-creative “suit” in my skateboarder brain—obsessed over bathroom tiles and the font on his signs. He understood something most business owners miss:
“Signs, in a subtle way, tell the world what your values are and what kind of business you are running.”
A sign can be extrapolated up to your logo, typeface and color choice. If you have brand elements “screaming at you from all different angles” you’re not communicating credibility—you’re communicating chaos.
“If somebody lands on your website, do they understand in two seconds who you are and what you’re about? The colors, the typography, the photography, that headline at the very top—do they convey what it’s like to be on a call with you, to partner with you, to work with you?”
Most companies can’t answer that. Because they haven’t decided yet. And commitment is all about decisions.
If you’re positioning as premium but your visual identity screams budget, people feel the disconnect immediately. Not consciously. Subconsciously. Which is worse, because they can’t tell you why they don’t trust you.
My final insight from Sewell, “Even though the interactions will be brief, make sure everything you do is consistent with the overall image you are trying to present.”
That’s not about being fancy. It’s about being clear and making a decision to commit to consistency.
Any robot can push pixels. It takes a human to tell you what your visual language is making your customers feel.
Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
As I reflect on what I missed out on through my lack of commitment in skateboarding, I want to make sure that both we as Snapmarket and the partners we engage with don’t miss out on all the joy, satisfaction, and return that a cohesive brand can bring through simple commitment.
And honestly? We’re learning this alongside everyone else. We ask ourselves these same hard questions about our own brand. Some days we nail it. Other days we catch ourselves hedging or trying to appeal to too many people (it happened recently with our new website). The work isn’t in being perfect—it’s in recognizing when you’re hesitating, and making the choice to commit.
There are a few key questions that we need to always be asking ourselves:
Are we clear on who this is for?
Not “small to medium businesses” or “people who need our services” or “everyone.” Actual humans with actual problems that can be named.
Are we clear on what we stand for?
Not just what we do, but why it matters and what makes us different.
Is every element consistent with that position?
Colors, typography, photography, messaging—do they all say the same thing?
If we can’t answer those questions clearly, no amount of design polish is going to save us.
Once the decision is made to commit—once you know exactly who you are for and what you’re trying to make them feel—everything else becomes easier.
- The website practically designs itself.
- The campaigns have a clear voice.
- The right clients recognize you immediately.
Commitment is a controllable variable. In skateboarding and in branding, it’s the one thing you can always control—albeit difficult.
You don’t need more tools. You don’t need more content. You need to decide who you’re for, what you stand for, and commit fully.
Stop designing. Start deciding.
