More than just a logo or marketing collateral, effective branding is about shaping how consumers remember you. It’s the distinct and lasting impression your business leaves in their minds, which ultimately builds trust and loyalty.
How do I brand my company?
To build a successful brand, you need a combination of uniqueness and authenticity.
A new logo and a flash marketing campaign won’t build your brand in the long term. Discovering the authenticity at the heart of your business and then expressing this through everything you do makes you unique. What do you strongly believe in? What do you want to be famous for? What can you promise to people who encounter your brand? Imagine the type of employees and customers you’d attract to your business when you can honestly say this is who we are and what we believe in. Once you understand where you’re going, it’s a never-ending brand-building journey to conduct business in a way that delivers on your promise, resulting in a better “brand”.
What is the purpose of brand management?
It’s a question of consistency; knowing what a brand stands for makes it easier to understand. Managing the tangible and intangible aspects of your brand’s look, feel, tone, and behaviour gives a consistent recall point. You may see your brand every day, but it builds brand equity for the casual observer or future client who may encounter it weeks or even months apart. “I know those guys!” It’s the common-sense way to grow, strengthen & create loyalty for your brand.
What happens if I don’t like what you come up with?
Here lies the beauty of our process. We work towards the solution together as we progress; there is no big reveal at the end, resulting in 10% of the stakeholders not really “getting it”. It’s the exact reason we get all stakeholders involved earlier, from board members and CEOs downwards throughout the company.
Decisions that feel like they’ve come from a “wacky” marketing department don’t work and do little to build a brand internally. It’s the reason our process listens first and gathers input early. We look for the solutions that, when presented, seem “obvious” but if presented alone might never see the light of day.
How long would it take to align my brand?
30 to 90 days is a comfortable allowance to align a brand, but we’ve been known to do it in as little as 3 weeks. The client team’s availability and decision-making process are typically the biggest influencers on how long the brand alignment process takes.
This process will align your entire brand for life, so we believe it’s worth doing right. Nobody likes change, and we prefer to be more considerate of our approach rather than charging in all guns blazing, making assumptions, and having to correct things down the track. We also partner with you to introduce the new brand internally before rolling on to the external activation.
Do you produce a style guide for others to follow?
When we align any brand, we produce a guidelines document called a Brand book. These illustrate to other designers, staff and communications professionals the importance of maintaining a consistent image for your company through careful use of the logo, language, type, colour and placement of elements on a page.
Our Brand books also cover dos and don’ts and serve as a valuable resource for maintaining your brand. It also demonstrates professionalism within your company and externally that your brand is an asset you preserve and protect. We periodically revisit brand books to introduce new learnings to each revision.
How much does a brand cost?
70% of our projects range from $9,000 to $29,000. The biggest variables affecting that price are the scope of the research, the size of the brand audit, and the stakeholders involved. Our Brand Packages are a great starting point to see what’s required and included.
We phase every project so you know exactly where you are in the process. This allows input as we progress and prevents surprises at the finish line. All estimates are agreed upon upfront, and all projects are tracked via our cloud-based time-tracking system.
The bottom line is that brand alignment must be viewed as an investment because your brand is the absolute foundation of your company. We believe it’s worth the time and effort to check and reinforce the foundations before building your brand for a lifetime.
We just want a new logo, can you help?
Honestly, probably not. Even if you comprehensively understand what makes you stand out from the crowd, we always re-check your findings from an outsider’s perspective (measure twice, cut once).
This always returns brand gold and often realigns the brand’s direction into undiscovered territory.
We often get asked to jump straight into the design phase without a strategy, but it’s probably the most frustrating and least gratifying way to work for both our clients and us. In fact, nobody wins because, in the end, we’ll start going through the whole process anyway (but with a slightly heavier heart).
We know our process works; it’s been refined over two decades to ensure we deliver the quality and consistency of authentic brands we’re known for.
Who actually owns the work you do for the client?
Unlike traditional agencies, we don’t charge high release fees for our brands. Once your brand alignment is complete and the final payment is received, we grant a perpetual and exclusive licence to use all brand toolkit materials for the life of the brand.
However, we do reserve the right to feature your brand in self-promotional material (as we’re proud of what we produce). Also, if our work is featured elsewhere (for example, awards), we would like to be credited.
We don’t really have a budget, what’s the best way to proceed?
If you don’t have enough budget to develop your brand, you probably won’t have enough to implement it properly.
Let’s talk and we’ll help you plan your budget and timing for brand success (often this is at a minimal cost and often free).
How do we start?
Schedule a call (it’s free) and let’s talk about your brand to see if we can help. Let’s start from the beginning and see where your company is and where you want to be. From here, we’ll prescribe an approach to your brand and move forward from there.