Setting the Foundations: How to Choose a Brand Consultancy Service

Creating a brand is a complicated, and time-consuming process.

In fact, it’s a lot like developing your very own version of Frankenstein’s monster.

You need to sew countless pieces together, from your brand logo, to your integrated marketing efforts, then enrich your creation with a personality that appeals to your customers, cultivating loyalty, rather than sending your clients running for their pitchforks.

Obviously, designing your own living, breathing brand is going to be a lot of hard work. Once you’ve finished putting all the parts together, you still need to make sure that the finished result conveys the right impression, and remains consistent across all channels. The good news, is that you don’t have to go it alone.

A brand consultancy team can provide the impetus that really makes your brand work. These experts not only ensure that you’ve got the right pieces in the right places, they also work with you to improve your awareness strategy, encourage customer engagement, and maintain performance. In other words, they’re both the surgeon that stitches your strategy together, and the electricity that brings it to life.

The problem is, many companies, and some marketers, simply don’t know where to start looking for the consultancy services they need, never mind what kind of features they should be searching for. I’m writing this to help you make the right choice when it comes to choosing the consultant that will enable you to build a sustainable brand.

I’ll get started!

What precisely does a brand consultant do?

Alright, so I’ve given you a (metaphor-enriched) insight into what a brand consultant might do, but let’s dive a little deeper into our definition.

A brand consultancy team is basically a team of creatively and strategically-focused professionals who helps you to create and implement a powerful brand strategy — usually with a creative outcome. Your consultant is the person who helps you to design a blueprint for your brand, and put all the supports in place so that you can continue to grow. Most consultants will:

• Help you to design unique elements for brand recognition (logo, website, messaging).
• Outline your personality, and how you’re going to represent yourself through marketing materials.
• Research your market, the competitors you have in your industry, and who your target audience should be.
• Provide a plan of action for you to reach your awareness, engagement, and recognition goals.
• Help you build your template for future brand components (manifesto, design guidelines, etc).

A brand consultant is the expert that helps you to establish your plan of action when it comes to bringing your brand to life. Without them, you’d likely end up with a disjointed, confusing, and inconsistent brand.

What to expect from a brand consultancy service

A brand consultant can do a lot of different things for your company. They can help you to decide what your tone of voice should sound like when you’re posting online, or whether you should consider changing your name to match the preferences of your target audience. It’s the versatile and essential nature of a brand consultant service that makes these groups so appealing to growing businesses.

While your unique needs will often dictate which key features you look for in a brand consultant, knowing what to expect from their list of initial services could help you to make a more informed decision. Some of the most common services offered by brand consultancy groups include:

1. Website audits

A website audit is basically a comprehensive analysis of your online presence, designed to ensure that you’re having the right impression on your audience. A branding consultant can work with you to ensure that your messaging and user experience is on the right track, as well as helping you to overcome problems with design, loading speeds, navigation, and more. They can also help you to analyse whether you might need a new website design.

2. Market analysis

A market analysis is an essential part of any brand consultant’s job. Your consultant will need to examine your industry, and your market position to help you understand which opportunities might be available to you. They’ll look at your competitors, potential partners, and customers to understand how your brand measures up, examining things like user personas, USPs, social media management, and marketing strategies.

3. Research and guidance

A brand consultant is more than just someone who makes changes to your website at your request. These are people who can work with you to expand the potential of your brand. By examining what’s going on within your existing branding strategy, consultants can help you to achieve better results by telling you where you need to make changes or grow. For instance, they might tell you to consider a new marketing strategy, or help you to determine when a brand refresh is necessary.

4. Content and messaging

Your brand consultant can even help you to start your brand messaging or communication campaigns. Once you’ve figured out what your personality and tone of voice is going to entail, your brand consultant might be able to help you create a content plan that includes everything from offline content, to podcasts and social media marketing. Brand consultants can also help you to build your brand story through your about page, homepage, and website content.

5. Visual identity

With brand consultancy, you can also begin to develop your visual (and verbal) identity, building on your logo and website design. Your brand consultant can help you to determine which shapes and colours are right for you based on your personality and target audience. They can also help you to choose designs that are more likely to represent your business in the right light, whether you’re looking to be “sophisticated” or “trendy” in the eyes of your customers.

Choosing the right brand consultant

Choosing the right brand consultant is an important task when it comes to establishing and growing your business in a sustainable, consistent way. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for branding, so it’s important to choose a team, or an individual who can recognise and build upon the unique elements of your brand.

Finding the right brand consultant can help to set you off on the right track to success when you’re looking to build a brand that’s powerful, consistent, and engaging. However, it’s important to remember that branding isn’t a one-time thing. Rather, it’s something that you’ll need to invest in as your company grows and your industry evolves.

The tips above will help you to choose the right brand consultant, but it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to make the most of that relationship when helping your brand to grow.

If you need a little more help choosing the brand consultant that fits your needs, check out our exclusive guide into brand consultancy. Here, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the benefits of a brand consultant, what they can do for your brand, and which features you should look for when making your decision.

Remember, building a brand is a challenging process — and not something you should do lightly. Choosing the right brand consultant, however, is worth the investment, as they can really bring your business to life.