Businesses have long been aware that their success depends much more than their product or service quality. It’s equally important to create a brand image that fits the company’s philosophy, addresses its target group, and reflects its position in the market. Here are some tips on how to select a branding agency by choosing the best one.
There’s no precise recipe for how to make the most out of your branding efforts. One size doesn’t fit all in this case. Which road you should take depends on your long-term plans and ideas about your particular business.
Tips While Choosing a Branding Agency
Knowing how to select a branding agency and turning to professionals for help is often a good move. Building an entire brand identity from scratch is very difficult for a layman. This job involves a great load of creativity and out-of-box thinking, thorough market knowledge, advertising industry experience, and a data-driven strategic approach.
Define the Basics Yourself
Knowing what you want is the first and most important requirement for creating and maintaining an ideal brand image. This requirement may sound too obvious, but sometimes companies forget about it. If you have no idea what kind of brand image you want to create, the entire project will fail miserably.
Of course, choosing a good branding agency will help you clear up all the complicated questions. Still, it would be best to understand your core values, brand mission, and the general direction of the image you want to project. You probably won’t get it if you can’t define what you want and communicate it to the agency.
Once you have that settled, the search can start. It’s ok, to begin with, simple Google searches and a cruise around social media. Check the reviews and ratings and ask for recommendations, especially from company owners and executives who have already been through this process. Then, list competent, credible, and reputable agencies and prepare for further filtering.
Check their Portfolio
The natural next step in how to select a branding agency is to analyze their work history thoroughly. Every serious branding agency will openly display their detailed portfolio and some case studies, awards, and concrete results they have achieved in their most noteworthy campaigns.
Most agencies you come across will claim they’re dedicated, detail-oriented, and result-driven. But it’s not the best idea to take their word for it. Look at what they’ve worked on and accomplished in the past, and decide if you’ll trust them.
Cross-channel Competence
While still in their portfolios, you should pay attention to another little thing. Namely, branding is a holistic and comprehensive process that includes all sorts of promotion, advertising, and PR tricks. That means that a high-quality branding agency should be able to handle branding and promotional activities across many different channels. For successful branding, versatility is critical, and an agency has to understand the uniqueness of each medium they’ll use.
But there’s more. Behind all these activities on different platforms, there must be a sound and consistent identity. If an agency has succeeded in providing this to its former clients, it indicates a careful, strategic, and integral approach. It’s a definite plus for them.
Experience in Your Branch
In tips for choosing a branding agency, you should consider whether an agency has experience in your industry. They don’t have to have it, but it can be helpful in certain circumstances. They will likely possess crucial knowledge of your market if they have already worked with companies from a related niche.
They’ll also have a good understanding of the vital pain points of your target group. This enables them to implement different emotion-driven branding tactics that can bring good things to your business.
On the other hand, there are reasons to avoid agencies that have already worked with your competition, especially if they seem to be specialized in your branch. There’s a danger that they will routinely handle the tasks with pre-made templates and ideas they’ve already used to some extent.
Of course, this is not the right way to go. Every brand is unique and should be treated as such. Sometimes, branding agencies that have worked with too many businesses similar to each other fail to understand this, so hiring one with experience in your industry can be a kind of a two-edged sword.
However, if the agency has respected the uniqueness of different brands in their previous campaigns, there’s a good chance they won’t make this mistake.
Size of the Branding Agency
You’ll also need to make sure that the size of the agency fits your needs. There are multiple pros and cons to both small and big agencies. Big ones are usually more experienced and credible but have many clients. This means that you’re probably not their top priority, and there’s a chance that they won’t be fully dedicated to your campaigns. Also, big and widely acclaimed agencies tend to be quite pricey.
However, small agencies will more often lack reliability. Moreover, if your business is too large, the agency might not be able to handle the amount of work needed for branding efforts to be successful. Hence, you’ll have to be careful when making this decision. Whichever way you go, ensure the agency is reputable and can fulfill all your needs.
See How They Brand Themselves
Apart from peering at their portfolio, you should also check the agencies’ websites, social media, and other channels they use to promote themselves. A fast and carefully designed website, regular and well-written content, and an appealing visual identity across multiple channels are signs of good work ethics and dedication.
Furthermore, if they have a company blog, it can bear witness to their expertise and competence. Besides, this often means that they’re not just knowledgeable. But they are also ready to spread this knowledge, which might indicate their passion and enthusiasm.
The Fitting Mentality For Choosing the Branding Agency
Finally, choosing the right branding agency doesn’t come down to finding the most skillful and successful one. It’s also essential that you have mutually fitting mentalities. For instance, some agencies are more spontaneous and inclined to improvise occasionally. In contrast, others have rigid rules and timetables. Some agencies are slow and methodical, while others rely on speed and intuition.
Finding an agency with suitable character and philosophy is more important than it might seem. Namely, branding a business is a long-term project and entails a long-term relationship. It’s not supposed to be a one-off job but a stable partnership.
Finding an agency is the best way to get the most out of your branding efforts. It perfectly understands the way your company works and what it stands for. And who will understand it better if not an agency with a similar mentality and their employees? A corresponding state of mind?
To get to know the agency you’ll be working with. Meeting them face to face-on several occasions is crucial. Only then you’ll be able to tell whether there’s a special bond between you. That can turn into a successful long-term partnership.
Choosing a Branding Agency Final thoughts
In conclusion, hiring a good branding agency is essential for your business. Therefore, you must be careful, take the time, and do your homework. A first-class brand can differentiate between a moderately successful company and a household name. Don’t miss the opportunity to capitalize on this fact. We hope that this article, with some tips on how to select a branding agency choosing the best one for you, will help you.