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When Your Brand Connects, Your Business Grows.

When people can feel who you are, they choose you. We help small businesses and start-ups get clear on who they are and share it in a way that connects, through brand strategy, change communications and fractional marketing leadership.

Summer Hagens, founder of Authentically 23, smiling in a plum blazer
Summer Hagens, Founder

People Connect With People First.

And the research confirms it: the businesses that grow are the ones people feel connected to, inside and out.

76%

of consumers will choose a brand they feel connected to over a competitor.

Sprout Social

57%

of consumers will increase their spending with brands they feel connected to.

Sprout Social

23%

higher profit in businesses whose teams are highly engaged.

Gallup, 2024
Summer Hagens smiling on a downtown sidewalk
Meet Summer

Strategy with heart, from someone who's been there.

Summer Hagens has spent 20 years leading brand, communications and marketing for everyone from start-ups to multi-site companies. She has rebuilt brands, built marketing teams from scratch and guided companies through major change. Now she works alongside you to turn who you are into why people choose you, starting with your team.

16 acquisitions: Guided brand and culture integration from start to finish, keeping 90% of employees and 100% of clients.

750% more inbound leads: Led a B2B rebrand that now brings in 60% of new business through inbound.

Built from the ground up: Created marketing functions twice, including one that scaled across 20+ locations.

Read Summer's Story

What Makes You Unique Is What Makes You Unforgettable.

 

Just as 23 pairs of chromosomes make every person one of a kind, your business has a combination of purpose, values and lived experience no competitor can copy. That's the idea behind Authentically 23. We don't hand you a new identity. We help you decode the one you already have, and build everything on it.

 

The gap between who you truly are and how the world sees you? That's our favorite place to work.

From Unclear to Unmistakable, Every Step of the Way.

Start wherever you are, and grow from there.

See All Services
DecodeBrand Diagnostic

Know exactly where your brand stands, and what will make the biggest difference first.

DefineBrand Foundation

Get crystal clear on who you are, who you're for, and what makes you the obvious choice.

ExpressIdentity & Launch

Look, sound and feel like the brand your people are proud to recommend.

ActivateGo-to-Market Kit

Step into the market with a brand that makes people feel something, and do something.

EvolveFractional Head of Brand & Marketing

Have a senior marketing leader in your corner, without the cost of a full-time hire.

When Your Business Changes · Change & Transition Communications

Growing Through Change? Keep Your People With You.

Mergers, acquisitions, new leadership and big transitions are personal. We help your team and your customers understand what's changing, why it matters, and where they belong in what comes next, so you keep the people who make your business work.

Learn About Change Support
Before the announcementEveryone hears the news the right way, from the right people.
The first 100 daysQuestions get answered before rumors fill the gaps.
Bringing it togetherTwo cultures become one team with one story.

What Changes When Everything Aligns.

You know exactly why you do what you do. You just haven't found the words to share it yet. When your strategy, culture and brand pull in the same direction, something shifts for you, your team and your customers.

For you

Decisions Get Clearer.

When everyone knows what you stand for, choices get easier. Your team moves with confidence, and you're no longer the only one who can tell your story.

For your team

The Right People Show Up, and Stay.

Great people find you, believe in what you're building, and stay, even through growth and change. Less time on friction, more time on the work you love.

For your customers

They Choose You for Who You Are.

Not because you're the cheapest, but because you're exactly right for them. That's how first-time buyers become lifelong advocates.

What It Looks Like in Real Life.

See More Work
Decisions get clearer Acquired. Relocated. Renamed.

A B2B safety labeling manufacturer changed owners, states and names all at once. We built its purpose, mission and values with the team, so everyone went to market telling the same clear story.

Read the story
The right people stay 90% employee retention.

A growing healthcare services company brought 16 acquisitions together under one brand. Its people stayed, every client renewed, and some markets beat their sales targets by 50%.

Read the story
Customers choose you 750% more inbound leads.

After a rebrand that started with its own team, a B2B professional services firm now brings in 60% of its new business through inbound.

Read the story
Brand Alignment Scorecard

Not Sure Where to Start?

Fifteen questions across the five things every growing brand needs. Find out where your brand is losing connection, and what to do about it. About 3 minutes.

Take the Scorecard

When You Touch the Heart, You Move the Mind.

Your story deserves to be heard. Let's talk about where you are, what you're building, and how your brand can start doing justice to the heart you've put into it.

No pressure, no pitch. Just an honest conversation about what's possible.