If you’re a small business owner, you’ll know that it takes a lot of work to make your business successful. You need to focus on sales, marketing, operations, and administration. But what about your brand?
Many businesses only think about branding years after they’ve started their business. And when they do get started with serious brand-building efforts, they create assets like logos and images and tell stories that aren’t well planned.
Not having a clear branding strategy in place can make your branding ineffective. Or worse, you might send people the wrong message.
It’s essential to think of branding as early as possible and work with experts. In this post, we’ll look at why you should consider working with a branding agency.
What is a branding agency?
Your brand isn’t just a combination of colors, logos, and text. It’s how customers perceive and experience your brand.
And branding agencies are experts in developing and executing branding strategies. This includes creating a brand’s visual identity, developing messages, and telling the brand story. They can also help you to identify your target audience and learn what motivates them.
Such agencies don’t just create a high-level branding plan for your business. They also help create content, execute marketing campaigns, and track results so you can see how well your branding is working.
Benefits of hiring a branding agency
Businesses stand to lose $80 billion in revenue every year because of poorly planned marketing campaigns. At the root of this issue is a lack of a cohesive brand message and goal.
Hiring a branding agency helps you in many ways, one of which is clarifying what your business is all about and its core values.
A branding agency can also drive powerful benefits in other ways.
- They help you create a brand that attracts great talent.
- Your brand will make it easier to sell products and services.
- You’ll connect with customers on an emotional level.
- You’ll work with experts in different areas like design, copywriting, analysis, storytelling, research, and more. And won’t have to hire multiple people in-house to do these things.
Working with a branding agency can be more affordable in the long run. And once you have your brand set up, you’ll rarely have to reshape your core brand identity. Think of Coca-Cola and how it’s managed to stay a top-level brand for a hundred years. It has evolved over time but the iconic logo, colors, and core message of delivering pressure have remained the same.
After working with an agency, you can focus on everyday marketing activities and give your customers the best experience possible when they engage with your business.
What do branding agencies do exactly?
We’ve looked at how a branding agency can help your business from a high-level perspective. Now, here’s a breakdown of the practical tasks that a branding agency will perform:
- Researching and analyzing your industry, competitors, and target market
- Developing a positioning strategy for your business
- Creating a brand identity that reflects your positioning
- Developing marketing materials that communicate your brand effectively, including logos, templates, color palettes, and more
- Create an SEO-optimized website that represents your brand well
- Generate content that will help you attract leads and retain customers
- Crafting social media messages and campaigns that reach your target audience
- Developing promotional and public relations initiatives
- Monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of your branding efforts using Google Analytics, SEO tools, social media management tools, and more
As you can see, there’s a lot of overlap with what a branding agency and a marketing or advertising agency can do for you.
The difference with working with a branding agency is that they will help you create an overarching brand strategy and identity that will be consistent across all of your marketing materials and channels. This can be extremely useful for small businesses that may not have the time or resources to develop a cohesive marketing strategy themselves.
How to find an excellent branding agency to grow your business
Now that you know all about what a branding agency can do for your business, it’s time to find one. But with so many branding agencies out there, how do you pick the right one for you?
Here are some tips:
- Look for an agency that has worked in your industry and target market
- Check to see if they have experience creating branding for businesses in your size category
- See if they have a strong portfolio of work that you can review
- Make sure the agency is willing to do a comprehensive brand audit and strategy development process
- Check out their rates, and make sure they’re within your budget
- Request references from other businesses they’ve worked with
The most important thing is to find an agency that you feel comfortable working with and that shares your vision for your business. Use every meeting you get to discuss what you are looking for and why it matters to you. And then carefully listen to how the agency responds to you.
While a branding agency will have a lot of sound and useful input, it won’t help you if it’s not personalized to meet your needs. Avoid anything that sounds like it comes from a cookie-cutter template.
And don’t be afraid to shop around. Have meetings with multiple branding companies and even get brief mockups and ideas from them.
A branding agency can be an excellent investment when you’re ready to grow your business to the next level. They’ll help you create a powerful brand identity that will resonate with your target market and drive customer engagement.
Conclusion
A branding agency will help your business in many ways, from developing a brand strategy to creating marketing materials. If you’re looking to launch your business to the next level, it’s a good idea to consider hiring a branding agency.
They can help you create a cohesive brand that speaks to your target audience. They can also help you create content that’s on-brand and engaging, which can help you attract leads and retain customers. Additionally, a branding agency can help you develop a website and social media presence that accurately represents your brand.
When it comes time to find a branding agency, be sure to look for one that understands your industry and target market, has experience with businesses of your size, and is willing to do a comprehensive brand audit. Make sure to compare rates and get references from other companies they’ve worked with. And most importantly, be sure that the agency shares your vision for your business. If you can find all that, a branding agency can be a great investment for your small business.
