Why to Hire a Branding Agency, Not Just a Designer and Copywriter

Hot take: Your company has a brand even if you didn’t intentionally create it. A brand is the perception of your company, product, or service in the mind of the customer. Whether you choose to define your brand message or not, you have one. In order to control this perception, many companies will hire a graphic designer, a copywriter, or both. However, without holistic brand oversight, without a specific person in control or a guide keeping things together, a brand can look like a mess in the mind of your customer. Lack of cohesion is bad for business! So how do you avoid it?

(Hold on, hold on - what’s branding again? If you’re a little confused, click here for our blog post about the difference between branding and marketing.)

“Strategy should inform design, not the other way around. “

Start with strategy. Creating packaging or a logo for your brand is one of the most fun and sexy parts of starting a business, so most folks get their design work done first thing. Creating a great visual brand is important and impactful, but a gorgeous aesthetic paired with inconsistent messaging or a price point that isn’t aligned with the visuals can make public perception of your brand muddy, confused, or skeptical. Before you finalize a visual identity, get clear on your brand values, goals, target demographics, and unique selling proposition to be sure that your brand expression matches its purpose and identity. Strategy should inform design, not the other way around. 

Likewise, a brand should have its own voice, tone, and manner of speaking, designed for longevity with the customer in mind. If you don't have a clear understanding of who your brand is talking to or what it should say, proceeding could mean spending a lot of money later trying to fix that oversight. Even the most talented copywriters will miss the mark if they can’t see it. 

“You’ve got to practice what you preach, but first, you have to figure out what that is, not just what it looks like.”

Not only do you need a full brand - visual, verbal, experiential, and co-branding guidelines that fit your brand strategy, you also need brand implementation and protection in order to make it work. There should be consistency and cohesion across all consumer touch points as well as internal branding - and that takes work. Does your HR department convey your brand promise when interviewing potential employees? Is your social media telling a different story than your sales team? Do your company policies clash with the volunteer work you do? All of these can affect your brand, and therefore, your business. You’ve got to practice what you preach, but first, you have to figure out what that is, not just what it looks like.

One of our driving philosophies at Fried Hustle is that design and copy alone do not make a brand. Many clients ask us to do design work without first establishing foundational branding elements and themes, and we've found that these projects generally result in less brand cohesion and lower ROI. We want folks who have a consistent and cohesive brand identity and message, or folks that will let us create that for them!

Let’s be real, most of us small business owners can’t afford a Chief Branding Officer to corral all the elements of brand strategy and messaging, and some don’t have it in the budget to have a small branding/marketing/communications team. We can help with that too! Fried Hustle not only offers branding, brand strategy, and content creation, but we offer ongoing brand implementation services for less than the price of hiring a marketing assistant. Interested? Reach out for a free consultation today! Fries not included.