People decide what your business is worth before they ever talk to you.
I help owners close the gap between the business they've built and how it reads from the outside. Ideally a couple of years before there's a price on it.
Doug Belding, Chief Brand Officer. DLB Creative, Nashville, since 2010.
This usually comes up at one of four moments.
Somewhere along the way, someone outside the business is about to take a hard look at it.
Growth has outrun the story
You do a lot more than people realize. The website still describes the company you were five years ago.
Before a raise
People with money are about to look you up. What do they find?
Before a sale
You've got two or three years. That's enough time to do something about how the business looks to a buyer.
After an acquisition
Two stories need to become one. Or the new owner needs the company to look like what they paid for.
Two kinds of people call me.
Pick the one that sounds like you.
Most companies I meet are tired of lighting money on fire.
They spend on marketing. It doesn't convert. They get mad at the marketing. It's usually not the marketing. I think of brand as the house, and marketing as the party you throw in the backyard.
If people have to walk through a half-built house to get to a black tie dinner, they don't trust the dinner.
See the whole thingChoice Health Centre.
A clinic in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I built the brand from the mark up. Then it went to market.
"I shared it with our marketing committee and we're going to make some of the adjustments Enid recommended. Really helpful!"
"You have a very calming and even keeled demeanor in good times and in bad. And that... matters when you're partnering and collaborating with somebody." Marni Taradash, Client Experience Strategies
Starting is small on purpose.
Three steps, and you'll know where you stand. No pitch deck. No 40-page report.
You'll be talking to me the whole way. Not a sales team.
We talk.
20 minutesTell me where the business is headed and what's bugging you. I'll tell you what I'd look at first. If it's not a fit, I'll say so.
I take a first look.
Done by me, with EnidA snapshot of where you are today, read the way a buyer would. Think of a car inspection, but for how your business shows up.
We sit down together.
In person or on a callI walk you through what I found. What's worth fixing, what can wait, what's fine as it is. You leave with a short list in plain words.
Big names and companies your size. The work is the same.
CVS Health, Estée Lauder and Capgemini: enterprise work. Nashville CARES, Copacino + Fujikado and CORE: companies closer to your size.
One senior person. That's the point.
I started in art school and animation. I've run DLB since 2010. For seven of those years I led creative at SweetRush, with a team of 30 and work for companies like Google, Hilton and Capgemini.
Now I do this for owners. Good people get brought in when the work needs them. But you're talking to me, start to finish.
More about meThe short answers.
What does a Chief Brand Officer do?
Makes sure what the market sees matches what the business is. I look at how a company shows up, find where it's losing trust, and fix it.
Who should I talk to in Nashville about brand before selling my business?
That's what I do. I'm in Nashville and I work with owners and their advisors, usually two to three years ahead of a sale.
Is this marketing?
No. Marketing is the party. This is the house. If the house is right, the marketing you already pay for starts working.
Start with a 20‑minute call.
You tell me where the business is headed. I'll tell you what I'd look at first. No pitch. No slides.
Book 20 minutes