Top Branding Agencies

What Do Branding Agencies Do?

Branding agencies combine business savvy, behavioral psychology and communication strategy to help clients define their brand values and positioning, as well as maintain, monitor and evolve brands with the changing market conditions.

They include a team of brand strategists, designers, programmers, analysts, content writers and digital marketers to develop and evolve memorable brands.

Their core offerings include:

• Market research and competition analysis: They analyze your target market to get important data on your audience as well as your competitors. They observe the market and industry trends to create brand strategies that are both highly relevant in the now and sustainable in the long-run.
• Defining your brand: These companies help you define your brand’s purpose, mission, vision and values that effectively communicate your brand story.
• Creating brand identity: Branding agencies develop a holistic brand identity (such as creating a name, voice and logo) in tune with your business, target market and industry.
• Working on brand positioning: These experts differentiate your brand from the rest on the market while maximizing its relevance and authenticity.
• Developing an actionable marketing plan for brand promotion: Brand strategy agencies develop strategies that go well beyond running ads. They inspect the different stages of the sales funnel to create tailored branding campaigns to push your leads from awareness to brand loyalty.

What Is A Brand Consultancy?

A brand consultancy is a different approach to branding.

Instead of communicating a brand’s benefits, values and “personality” to potential consumers, brand consultancy experts recommend taking an extended amount of time studying the target audience’s mind.

After you have a strong grasp of your demographic’s mindset – such as the “why” behind their consumer decisions – you can strategically craft your brand and messaging to be planted in the minds of your potential consumers.

Basically, brand consultancy adds a layer of psychology in the research phase and creates more branded content solely for the user.

Those who adhere to the brand consultancy ideology believe that it highlights their brand’s positive features while weakening the competition. This can also be helpful in crafting large-scale brand strategy and brand marketing campaigns.

Be careful not to confuse brand consultancy with a brand consultant. A brand consultant is simply a an expert that can advise your business on various branding initiatives.

How Much Do Branding Companies Charge For Their Services?

The cost of their services largely depends on how much work needs to be done within the project.

For instance, if you need a company name, a new logo and have many platforms that this design needs to be distributed on, a top branding company could cost you anywhere from $23,000 to $250,000 or more.

However, if you just need a new logo, your costs could drop from $3,500 to $150,000.

In general, companies can expect to spend this much for the following services:

• Brand name creation: $10,000 to $75,000
• Website + marketing collateral distribution: $10,000 to $250,000 or more
• Branded advertisements: $10,000 to upwards of $1 million

Some creative branding agencies charge instead by the hour.

Most Eastern European-based companies charge around $35-$75 per hour while agencies in the US cost about $125-$200 per hour.

Why Hire A Branding Agency?

Here are the top benefits of working with a brand strategy agency:

Benefit #1: Generate Brand Recognition

Strategic use of color can increase your brand recognition by as much as 80%. (Reboot Online)

Colors alone can have a significant impact on your audience because they play a role in the subconscious judgments your customers make about your brand within seconds.

However, colors are just one small piece of the branding puzzle. There is so much more to consider when it comes to increasing your brand recognition and improving its credibility.

Creative branding agencies know exactly which elements to associate with your brand to improve brand recall and perception – two important factors that will influence your customer’s purchasing decisions when choosing between you and your competitors.

Benefit #2: Improve Brand Loyalty

It costs businesses five times more to attract a new client than to retain an existing one. (Invesp)

While a brand strategy agency is often focused on reaching new markets, its primary goals are nurturing existing clients, gaining their loyalty and developing long-term relationships.

These specialized companies understand your existing customer base well and they know what keeps them coming back. They serve as a connector between you and your customer and they help increase client retention significantly.

Benefit #3: Boost Sales

43% of shoppers spend more money on brands they are loyal to. (Fundera)

An important factor to consider here is brand equity. Shoppers very often make a purchasing decision based on their perception of a brand. And, the more they are familiar with a brand, the more they trust it.

So, branding does not only impact your brand’s reputation, but it also affects your sales.
A branding agency will help you improve brand profitability by being consistent and keeping your clients engaged with your business and your brand.

How To Choose The Right Branding Company For Your Brand

Here are a few tips to help you choose the right partner to help elevate your business:

• Discover their core area of expertise: Many professional agencies offer similar services when it comes to branding. However, you should make sure that they have experience in developing processes for strategy and positioning as well as bringing brands to life.
• Learn about their prior experience: Look at the agencies' professional portfolios and client lists as well as the possible team members who will be working with your company. This will give you stronger insight into the actual designs that your prospective partners can create, the campaigns that they can execute and the results they can deliver.
• Understand their potential return on investment (ROI): At the end of the day, when you enlist the best creative branding agency, you’re paying for a strong return on investment. Although it may be hard to look past a high upfront cost, take the time to understand the business growth possibilities before you sign a contract. Do your homework, ask in-depth questions, understand the pricing tiers and ensure you have a strong grasp of each employee's expertise and work history.
• Check prices: Although pricing should not be at the forefront of your decision-making process, understanding how much the potential prospective partners charge will help you find a partner that you can afford. Be sure to set a realistic budget - in branding, you will get as much as you will invest.
• Find out if they have well-defined processes: Effective branding or rebranding comes down to strategic processes, proven tactics and evidence-based methodologies - key characteristics that every capable branding company should possess. Partnering with an agency that is able to offer a data-driven and research-based approach can ensure quality work that is on time and on budget.

10 Questions To Ask Branding Experts

The following questions will help you learn about a company’s expertise, previous experience and potential ROI:

1. What do you think of our current brand? What are we doing well and where can we improve?
2. What platforms, mediums, marketing campaigns or designs will be affected by the new branding?
3. How do you plan on ensuring every area has a cohesive new identity? Do you have a discovery and tracking system in place?
4. Do you have a campaign or initiative in place to introduce the new logo design or brand identity?
5. Who will be my point of contact?
6. How will you create a timeline and keep the project on track?
7. How often can we expect meetings, drafts, updates and deliverables?
8. Which team members will be working on our branding project? What is their experience and how much of their time will be dedicated to our project?
9. Do you have extra fees for meetings, additional strategy assistance, more drafts, etc.?
10. How will you determine, measure and report on our goals?

Takeaways On Branding Agencies

Branding companies can help improve your brand and ensure that your brand persona is reflected properly on all platforms.

Their job is to help generate brand recognition, improve customer loyalty and boost sales.

These specialized agencies typically price their projects at hourly rates and may charge between $125-$200 per hour.

To choose the right creative branding agency for your business needs:

• Discover their core area of expertise
• Learn about their prior experience
• Understand their potential return on investment (ROI)
• Check their prices
• Find out if they have well-defined processes

Best of luck!

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