Branding

Niching Down and Rebranding: Lessons from the Trimble Group Project for Solopreneurs

What a video production company's move into animal health taught me about niching down, strategy-led design and customer experience, rewritten for solopreneurs in 2026.

Jamie Windell

Nov 11, 2026

12 min read

A lot of businesses treat design and customer experience as nice extras. In my experience, they are often the things that set a business apart. I talked about this with Toby Trimble, founder of Trimble Group, on an episode of his podcast, The Future View. The conversation was first summarised on the KHULA blog in Jamie Talks Design and Rebranding on the Future View Podcast.

The short answer, if you are a solopreneur wondering whether to niche down or rebrand: get clear on your strategy first. Decide exactly who you serve, what makes you the better choice for them and whether your name still fits where the business is heading. Only then change the visuals and the website, and design both around the journey your ideal client takes. A rebrand that skips strategy changes how you look without changing who you attract.

This post revisits that project and that conversation with fresh eyes. I have rewritten it for 2026 and for solopreneurs, because the decisions Toby faced are the same ones I see one-person businesses wrestle with every week. Should I niche down? Is my brand holding me back? What does a rebrand actually involve?

What a niche rebrand can teach a one-person business

Below I walk through the project in stages and pull out the lessons that apply to solopreneurs, whether you are a coach, a consultant, a designer or a service provider of any kind.

How the project started

Toby and I first met in a breakout room on a coaching program. We had both started our businesses at around the same time, KHULA and what was then Trimble Productions, so we hit it off quickly.

Toby ran a video production company and wanted to transform it into a specialist communications brand for the animal health sector. He knew he needed to niche down and build stronger engagement with a very specific audience. The question was how.

The lesson: some of your best business relationships will come from rooms where you are both learning. Coaching programs, masterminds and peer groups are not just for education. They are where many solopreneurs find collaborators, clients and referral partners.

Why niching down is worth considering

When you are a solopreneur, it can feel risky to narrow your focus. You worry you will turn away work. In practice, a clear niche usually makes marketing easier and sales faster, because the right people instantly recognise that you are for them.

Toby’s situation showed this clearly. Trimble’s ideal clients included large pharmaceutical companies in animal health. The old brand looked and sounded like a general video production company. That mismatch made it harder for the right buyers to trust that Trimble understood their world.

Signs that your own brand may need a narrower focus:

You describe what you do differently depending on who asks.
Your website talks about services but not about who they are for.
Prospects ask lots of basic questions that your site should have answered.
You win work you do not enjoy and lose work you would love.

If those sound familiar, positioning comes before any new logo or website.

Starting with strategy, not visuals

The first thing we focused on was strategy-led design. That meant unpacking Trimble’s positioning to find its North Star: how it needed to show up, its values, what made it different, its tone of voice and its ideal customers.

It also included a naming exercise with Toby’s team. Trimble Productions became Trimble Group, a broader name that captured where the business was heading rather than where it had started.

The lesson for solopreneurs: before you change your colours, fonts or website, answer the strategic questions in writing.

Who is your ideal client, specifically?
What do they care about most?
What makes you a better fit for them than the alternatives?
How should your brand sound when it speaks to them?
Does your name still fit the business you are building?

If you skip this step, a rebrand becomes a costume change. The business looks different but still attracts the wrong people.

Learning the client’s world

At KHULA we work across many industries. For this project, the challenge was to understand the veterinary and animal health landscape, as well as how Trimble operated and who it served. That understanding set the creative team on the right path.

The early mood boards and concepts were tested internally to make sure the symbol and wordmark suited the audience. The goal was a mark that built trust and still felt connected to the veterinary world.

The lesson: whatever you sell, you are judged by how well you understand your client’s industry. As a solopreneur, show that understanding everywhere. Use their language on your website, reference the problems they actually have, and share examples that feel familiar to them.

Designing the website around the user journey

The web design started with wireframes, the basic structure of each page. The UX designer mapped out the pages, the flow from one to the next, the user journey and the navigation. Then the team moved to the visual interface, bringing Toby in to collaborate so he could see the real look and feel before anything was built.

For a solopreneur, the same approach works at a smaller scale. Before you design anything, sketch the path a visitor takes:

What do they need to understand in the first few seconds?
What proof do they need before they trust you?
What is the one action you want them to take?

Usability principles such as the ten usability heuristics from Nielsen Norman Group are a good checklist here. Things like clear navigation, consistency and plain language matter more than clever animations.

Showing the work instead of describing it

One thing made this website special. Trimble’s core product is high-quality video, so we wanted the site to show that visually rather than just talk about it. As I said at the time: “What makes this website really special is showcasing the work that Trimble Group does.”

The design used video throughout. Hovering on cards triggered video, background videos played in hero sections, and pop-up videos appeared over certain facts. A clear storytelling flow made the site easy to read and navigate.

The lesson: whatever your product is, let people experience it on your website. A photographer should lead with photos. A copywriter should let the copy itself do the selling. A consultant might lead with a short framework or a real before-and-after. Proof beats promises.

Recognition is nice, confidence is better

The response to the new design was positive, and Trimble Group’s website received an honourable mention from Awwwards, a site where a panel of designers, developers and agencies reviews web design work. Both teams were proud of that.

But the bigger outcome was harder to measure. The new brand helped Trimble Group show up as it really was. It gave the team confidence in who they were and what they did.

That is what I want for every solopreneur I work with. When your brand matches the quality of your work, you stop apologising for your website and start sending people to it.

Where customer experience comes in

One of the most interesting things Toby shared after the project was how it changed his view of customer experience. In his words: “What I hadn’t realized was how deeply ingrained the customer experience, the customer journey, is in every touchpoint.”

A brand is not only a logo and a website. It is how it feels to enquire, to get a proposal, to work with you and to finish a project. For a solopreneur, you are every touchpoint, which is both a challenge and a huge advantage. You can make the whole experience feel personal in a way bigger companies struggle to match.

A quick way to start: list every step a client goes through with you, from first hearing your name to their final invoice. For each step, ask what they feel and what one small change would make it better. I cover this in more depth in my post on systems, business systems for solopreneurs.

How I approach this kind of work as a solopreneur myself

At the time of this project, I described myself as a solopreneur who wears many hats. KHULA ran as a boutique studio, with me as the single point of contact for clients and a team of specialist contractors behind the scenes: brand strategists, UX and UI designers, copywriters and SEO specialists. My job was to be the glue, keeping projects high quality, on time and on budget.

That model still works well for solopreneurs in 2026. You do not need to hire a full team to deliver a big outcome. You need a clear process, a few trusted specialists and the discipline to manage the client relationship yourself. If you want senior strategic input without hiring, a fractional consultant can play that role for a season. I wrote more about juggling those roles in what it really takes to run a one-person creative business, and about my own path in Self-Taught Designer to Studio Founder.

Is it time for you to niche down or rebrand?

Here is a simple way to decide.

Refine, don’t rebrand, if: your audience is right, your offer is right and your clients understand you, but your visuals or website feel dated.

Reposition first, if: you are attracting the wrong clients, struggling to explain what you do or competing mainly on price.

Rename, if: your current name ties you to a service, location or audience you are moving away from, as Trimble Productions did.

Whichever applies, start with strategy, then design. If you need an affordable starting point for the website, ProjectOne offers productised website design on a monthly payment. For established companies and organisations that need a full strategic web design partner, KHULA is the studio I founded for exactly that.

A practical rebrand checklist for solopreneurs

If you have decided a change is due, this is the order I would work in. It mirrors the Trimble project, scaled down for a one-person business.

Audit what you have. Collect your website, social profiles, proposal templates, email signature and any printed material. Look at them side by side and note where they feel inconsistent or out of date.
Talk to a few clients. Ask your best clients why they chose you, what nearly stopped them and how they would describe you to a friend. Their words are often better than anything you would write yourself.
Write your positioning. One or two sentences on who you serve, what you help them achieve and why you are different. Keep it plain.
Decide on the name. Keep it, adjust it or replace it. Check that the domain and social handles are available before you fall in love with anything.
Design the identity. Logo, colours, type and a few simple rules for how they are used. You do not need a huge brand book. You need consistency.
Rebuild the website around the journey. Lead with who you help and the result, show proof early and make the next step obvious.
Update every touchpoint. Proposals, invoices, onboarding emails and your LinkedIn profile all need to match.
Tell people. A rebrand is a reason to reconnect with past clients and your network. Share the story of why you changed.

Common mistakes I see

Starting with the logo. The logo is the last expression of a strategy, not the first step.

Copying a competitor. If you look like everyone else in your niche, you make it harder for people to choose you.

Changing everything at once without a plan. A rebrand done in pieces over months, with old and new mixed together, can confuse clients more than the old brand did.

Forgetting search. If you change your name or your web addresses, set up redirects from the old URLs to the new ones and update your Google Business Profile so you do not lose the visibility you have already built. Google’s guide to moving a site with URL changes walks through the redirect side step by step.

Leaving the old story behind without explanation. Past clients and referral partners may be confused if your name or focus changes overnight. A short note explaining what changed and why keeps the goodwill you have built.

Final thoughts

The small businesses are often the ones that go unseen. Many start with a do-it-yourself approach, and that is fine at the beginning. But there comes a point when your brand needs to catch up with the quality of your work. When it does, you will notice the difference in who reaches out, how they talk to you and how confidently you talk about yourself.

If you are not sure whether you need a refresh, a repositioning or a full rebrand, you can start a free Brand and Website Audit or see what I help solopreneurs and founders with.

Frequently asked questions

What does niching down mean for a solopreneur?

Niching down means choosing a specific audience, industry or problem to focus on, rather than offering your services to everyone. For a solopreneur, it usually makes your marketing clearer and your sales conversations shorter, because the right people can quickly see that you understand their world. It does not always mean refusing other work. It means your brand, website and messaging speak directly to the clients you most want to attract.

Will niching down cost me clients?

It can mean saying no to some enquiries, but a clear niche often brings in better-fit clients who value your expertise. When you speak directly to one group, you can reference their real problems and language, which builds trust faster. Many solopreneurs find that a focused brand makes referrals easier too, because people know exactly who to send your way.

How do I know if I need a rebrand or just a refresh?

If your audience and offer are right and clients understand what you do, a visual refresh of your logo, colours and website may be enough. If you are attracting the wrong clients, struggling to explain your offer or competing mainly on price, you likely need to reposition before changing anything visual. If your name ties you to something you are moving away from, a rename may be part of the change.

Should I change my business name when I niche down?

Only if the current name holds you back. Trimble Productions became Trimble Group because the old name tied the business to video production while it was moving into a broader communications role. If your name still fits where you are heading, keep it and build on the recognition you already have. If you do rename, check domain and social handle availability early and plan your redirects.

Where should a solopreneur start with a rebrand?

Start with strategy, not visuals. Write down who your ideal client is, what they care about, why you are a better fit than the alternatives and how your brand should sound. Then audit your current touchpoints, talk to a few clients about why they chose you, and only then move on to the identity and website. Working in that order keeps the design focused on the people you want to reach.

How does customer experience relate to branding?

Your brand is the sum of every interaction a client has with you, not just your logo and website. How you respond to enquiries, how your proposals look, how onboarding feels and how a project wraps up all shape what people think of you. For a solopreneur, you control every one of those touchpoints, which makes it possible to create a consistent, personal experience that larger companies find hard to match.