Establishing a strong brand for your organisation is a long term investment that has the potential to unlock huge benefits to your company – simply put – a brand consultant is someone who helps get you there!
I’ve talked previously about how branding is not just a logo – brand strategy is a way of bringing your business strategy to life and make it appealing within your organisation – so your teams can pull in the same direction (culture), and create a long term plan for connecting to your customers. Branding gives your marketing a clear overall direction, improving it’s effectiveness (and lowering its cost!).
What a brand consultant does is – to come into your organisation with an objective perspective to guide you through tried and tested processes, bring brand strategy tools (each may have their own approach but should tailor it to your needs), apply their unique skills and experience and work with you to create a brand strategy that get’s the most out of your organisation. The important thing here is brand strategy is not something a consultant should do to you – it is very much a participatory, collaborative journey – there are times when I act more like a coach than a consultant!
So what are the main things that happen while you work with a brand consultant? Hopefully – some fun. I’m a firm believer it should be an enjoyable process where we find new and unexpected things that can launch your organisation to another level. Aside from that there are these three main areas:
Brand Analysis and Research
The initial phases of a brand strategy consultation will look at where you are – audits of current branding, research into audiences and potential markets – interviews with customers and staff. Here we build the best picture we can of your company, and any issues it phases that you need to overcome. I’ve always said when clients tell me “we need a new logo because of X problem” – a logo doesn’t solve problems, but a brand strategy should.
Brand Strategy Development
Here’s where we get stuck in. Here we have a bit of mapping, forecasting, predicting, and – without sounding too fluffy – imagining. We find the potential futures for your organisation. We identify the preferable direction and create a brand strategy that crystallises who we are, what we do, how we do it and why it matters to our customers – and helps get us there.
Implementation and Monitoring
This is that part most people think about when they think of branding – it’s where there might be logo changes – although, they’re not always necessary. But that is just part of it. Here we work on aligning the culture of your organisation to the brand strategy – so everyone lives and breathes it and gives it life. We work on tone of voice and how you are presenting yourself in marketing – ensuring every touch point exudes your brand so that customers can connect with it. And we measure – we check it’s doing what we hoped it would, we keep track of our course to make sure we are heading in the direction of our preferred future and adjust accordingly.
Do you need to hire a brand consultant?
Obviously – I think you should, but objectively speaking – there are reasons why it is prudent to bring in a brand consultant in rather than try to do things solely internally. A brand consultant brings specialized skills, fresh perspectives, and a strategic approach to building and maintaining a strong brand that you may not have within your organisation already. Developing a brand strategy in-house can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. A brand consultant can streamline the process, allowing your team to focus on core business activities. While I may be biased in whether you need a brand consultant – unbiased and objectivity is exactly what a brand consultant can bring into your business. A fresh point of view who is able to see the bigger picture because – they’re not in it.
Most importantly – there are quite a few brand consultants out there, and more adding brand strategy to their services (I’d be wary of anyone focussing on “making you look good”). The importance is – finding one that fits with you. Have a chat – get to know them. Which leads me nicely on to…
