I’m Thom Baker, a brand strategist working with CEOs & Founders to build clarity, connection, and brand resilience

Most business owners don’t think about their brand until something goes wrong. A competitor picks up a contract they should have won. The website gets traffic but no enquiries. A pitch that should have been straightforward turns into a negotiation on price.

By then, the brand has usually been the problem for longer than they realise.

What a brand actually is tends to get muddled. People default to the visual stuff — the logo, the colours, the fonts. Those things matter, but they’re downstream of something more fundamental: how your business is perceived by people who haven’t met you yet, and whether that perception matches the reality of what you do and who you do it for.

When there’s a gap between the two, it costs money. Quietly, and consistently.

A brand consultant’s job is to find that gap and close it. Not by jumping straight to creative work, but by first understanding what the business is actually communicating — and to whom. That means looking at positioning, messaging, and the consistency of how the business shows up across different contexts. The output isn’t a logo. It’s a clearer, more commercially effective version of the business.

Thom Baker works with founders and CEOs at that level. The starting point is always an honest assessment of where the brand currently sits — what it’s saying, who it’s reaching, and whether any of it is working. From there, the work is about building something more coherent: positioning specific enough to mean something, and messaging that holds together whether someone finds you through a referral, a LinkedIn post, or a cold visit to your website.

The measure of it isn’t aesthetic. It’s whether the right clients find it easier to say yes.

Good catch, and noted. Here it is cleaned up:

Most businesses have more brand activity than they have brand clarity. There’s a website, a social presence, some marketing collateral, but no single thread running through all of it. Different messages land in different places. The visual identity drifted somewhere between the last redesign and the current team. Nobody quite agrees on what the business actually stands for.

That’s not unusual. It’s just expensive.

The role of a branding consultant is to bring outside eyes to a problem that’s hard to see from the inside. When you’re close to a business, you stop noticing what it’s actually communicating. You see what you intended it to say, not what a prospective client reads when they land on the website or scroll past a post. A consultant’s job is to close that gap between intention and perception.

In practice, that means looking at how the business is positioned relative to its competitors, where the messaging is muddled or inconsistent, and what the brand needs to say to connect with the right people. It also means making sure the visual and verbal identity are pulling in the same direction, rather than sending mixed signals.

Thom Baker works at that strategic level with founders and CEOs. He’s not there to hand over a brand guidelines document and disappear. The work is about giving a business the clarity and the tools to show up consistently across a pitch deck, a website, a referral conversation, or a piece of content, so that the right clients recognise themselves in what they see and find it straightforward to take the next step.

The role, in short, is to make the brand do more of the commercial work

A branding consultant may work directly with a business or come into an agency to give a more strategic brand specialist point of view to a project. Many brand specialists come from a design background, and then move to a more strategy based role as they develop. What a branding consultant offers a business is an external, unbiased perspective on the best way to shape a business to meet tangible goals. Some agencies have brand strategists embedded within them, if not, you can hire your own to liaise with agencies (most of us have some really good industry contacts that we can recommend some options to you!). A branding agency would look to handle the creative work themselves while a consultant would help you through choosing someone to take on the work.

A brand strategist plays a crucial role in helping businesses define, refine, and strengthen their brand identity. With a deep understanding of market dynamics, consumer behavior, and strategic positioning, a brand strategist works to uncover the unique essence of your brand and develop a roadmap for long-term success.

Rather than simply focusing on design or messaging in isolation, a brand strategist takes a holistic approach—aligning your brand’s vision, values, and positioning to create a compelling and cohesive brand experience. This process often involves in-depth market research, competitive analysis, and audience insights to ensure that your brand not only stands out but also deeply resonates with your target market.

Beyond strategy development, a brand strategist helps businesses implement their branding consistently across all customer touchpoints. From visual identity and storytelling to marketing communications and digital presence, they ensure that every interaction reinforces your brand’s message and builds trust with your audience.

By working with a skilled brand strategist, businesses gain the clarity, confidence, and direction needed to establish a strong market position, drive customer engagement, and achieve sustainable growth.

A brand specialist brings a unique skill set, deeply focused on the key elements that define and strengthen a brand. Also known as a brand strategist, a brand specialist understands the complexities of vision, positioning, visual identity, storytelling, customer touchpoints, value proposition, and more. But beyond just understanding these elements, they translate them into actionable insights that can transform and elevate your brand.

Brand specialists work collaboratively with you and your team to ensure your brand is strategically positioned for long-term success. By aligning your brand’s identity, messaging, and market positioning, they help create a cohesive and compelling brand experience that drives growth and engagement.

Branding is no longer optional. It’s essential for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a start-up, a growing small business, or a large commercial organization, your brand is your most powerful asset. It’s the one thing your competitors can’t replicate, and when done right, it becomes the bridge that connects your business to your customers, building trust, loyalty, and long-term success.

When I shifted to becoming a branding consultant – I decided to focus on working with sustainable and regenerative businesses, particularly in the construction, energy, and transport industries. These are sectors that are shaping the future of our planet and face unique challenges, from shifting regulations and technological advancements to increasing consumer demand for sustainability and ethical business practices. A strong, well-defined brand helps businesses in these fields stand out, communicate their impact effectively, and position themselves as leaders in the transition to a greener future.

Over the years as a brand specialist, I’ve collaborated with founders, co-founders, and marketing teams to develop brand strategies that do more than just look good—they drive real business growth. By aligning purpose with positioning, I help businesses craft brands that not only resonate with their target audience but also reinforce their commitment to sustainability and innovation.

As a branding consultant, I empower businesses to tell their story in a way that inspires action, builds credibility, and ultimately accelerates their mission. Whether you’re launching a new venture or evolving an established brand, I can help you create a brand that not only stands out but makes a lasting impact on your industry and the world.