Reframing the Narrative of Your Aesthetic Brand in 2026

With over two decades of experience, our columnist, Katie Hughes-Dawkins is a highly respected figure in the aesthetic industry, known for her technical expertise and strategic leadership. From her beginnings as a dental nurse and aesthetic practitioner, running a chain of skin clinics, to becoming a dynamic sales leader, Katie has consistently driven business growth and elevated brand profiles on a global scale. Leveraging her extensive industry knowledge and global connections, she helps brands and clinics achieve remarkable success. A sought-after industry contributor, Katie brings her deep understanding of skin health, clinic operations, and the latest aesthetic industry trends to the forefront.

A new year in the aesthetics industry inevitably brings change. As with any fast-moving, competitive sector, people move roles, relocate, step into new leadership positions, or begin again after difficult chapters.

For those of us who represent this industry and act as stewards of the brands within it, there are moments when our role goes beyond growth and visibility. Sometimes, it is about restoration. About rebuilding trust, resetting confidence, and guiding a brand through the work required to move forward with credibility intact.

In the aesthetics industry, perception is currency. Not just how good your product is, but how your brand feels, what it stands for, and whether people trust it.

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with many brands at turning points, after periods of high staff turnover, leadership instability, internal unease, launching into a new territory, going direct to market, or after controversy. These are the moments where confidence has dipped, stories have hardened, and the industry has quietly made up its mind.

What I’ve learned is this: brands don’t fail because of one bad chapter, they fail because no one takes responsibility for rewriting the story.

Reputation is not PR. It is proof.

When I choose to work with a brand, it’s never accidental. I will only align myself with businesses that have genuinely exceptional products, technology, or clinical outcomes. That discernment matters, because reputation is transferable.

A reputation can be repaired. A bad product will always be a bad product.

Whether people say it out loud or not, there is always an unspoken industry calculation: “If a credible person is working with them, there must be something there.”

That moment of intrigue matters. It creates pause. It reopens a conversation that may have been closed. And it creates the first shift in perception.

“Reputation doesn’t shout. It signals.”

This is what I call the halo effect, where credibility, trust, and momentum are borrowed at first, then earned properly through consistency and delivery.

You cannot bury the past. You must address it, then outgrow it.

Many leaders step into a role and behave as though history began the day they arrived. They ignore what came before, avoid difficult truths, and focus instead on presenting themselves as the new face of success. This is a mistake.

The industry has a long memory. Clinics talk. Sales teams talk. Distributors talk. You cannot erase the past by pretending it didn’t happen.

You reframe it by outgrowing it.

That means acknowledging reality internally, tightening standards, improving leadership behaviours, rebuilding trust with partners, and letting actions, not statements, do the work. Sometimes this will mean owning mistakes you didn’t make and repairing relationships you didn’t break.

“The industry doesn’t need a rebrand. It needs reassurance.”

Excitement is a strategic tool

One of the most undervalued levers in brand rehabilitation is excitement. Not hype. Not noise. But genuine belief.

I get people excited about brands by anchoring everything back to what actually matters: clinical performance, education, integrity, partnership, and long-term vision.

I amplify the strengths relentlessly, and I quietly remove the weaknesses through structure, clarity, and expectation.

Sometimes that means redefining messaging. Sometimes it means rebuilding teams. Sometimes it means changing how a brand shows up at events, in press, or in conversations behind closed doors.

“Excitement returns when people believe the brand is being taken seriously again.”

Leadership is not a costume you put on

There is a dangerous pattern I’ve observed in our industry: people who receive a title and immediately begin performing leadership rather than practising it.

They centre themselves. They chase visibility. They collect applause. And all the while, the brand, the very thing they are meant to protect, becomes secondary.

True leadership in a turnaround phase is the opposite. It is quiet. It is consistent. It is deeply unglamorous in the short term.

“If your leadership is louder than your brand, you are doing it wrong.”

The brand must come first, always

When a brand is fragile, bruised, or rebuilding, the leader comes last.

You uplift the team first, because demoralised teams leak credibility. You uplift partners and stakeholders, because trust is rebuilt through inclusion. You uplift the brand by making decisions that may never carry your name.

This is where many fail, because it requires ego restraint.

“Leadership is not about being seen. It’s about being felt, long after you leave the room.”

When you do this properly, something remarkable happens. Your success becomes undeniable, not because you demanded recognition, but because the results speak for you.

Credibility is built in the margins

The real work of reframing a brand narrative happens in the margins: in how complaints are handled, in how teams are spoken to when no one is watching, in whether promises are kept quietly, and in whether standards are upheld consistently.

Press, awards, and social visibility only work after this foundation is laid.

“You can’t PR your way out of a credibility problem, but you can lead your way out of one.”

A final thought

Reframing a brand narrative is not about spin. It’s about stewardship.

It’s about taking something with potential, protecting it from further damage, and guiding it back into industry respect with discipline, humility, and vision.

And perhaps most importantly, it’s about understanding this:

“The strongest brands are not built by leaders who solely seek the spotlight, but by those willing to stand firmly behind the brand until it can shine on its own.”

That is where real authority comes from. And that is how reputations are rebuilt, for good.