Insights
What Is a Branding Agency, and What Do They Do?
We’ve given you our Ultimate Guide to Digital Branding, and we’ve even given you 5 great tips on how to develop a brand strategy, but it’s time to dive a little deeper into just why we have this knowledge in the first place. (Hint: It’s because we are a branding agency).
What is a Branding Agency?
Branding agencies, like Iperdesign, help businesses build, grow, improve, and in some cases, overhaul their brands. Branding agencies look at all the channels your business intends to advertise in, the market you’re looking to reach, and any research you’ve already done, and create an identity that customers can connect with. This process isn’t just creative, it’s also strategic and technical. Branding agencies are pairing great design and content with a flawless user experience and user interface. This pairing is essential because the most beautiful brands in the world won’t keep customers if they find their websites or shopping experience clunky and difficult.
It’s important to note that branding agencies help you build an entire business strategy, too. They’ll look at your goals, objectives, and target market and help you hone a brand that fulfills your purpose and your customer’s needs. You don’t necessarily hire a branding agency just to help you knock out your next big campaign. You can, however, hire an agency like Iperdesign that does branding and marketing, allowing you to build both a brand identity and the campaigns to support it.
What Does a Branding Agency Do?
Branding agencies dive deep into your business, develop an identity that resonates with your customers, and strategize how to connect with those customers both creatively and technically. Then, a branding agency measures just how effective the brand is, and depending on the results, will adjust accordingly overtime to ensure that you’re capturing as much of the market as your brand can.
Most branding agencies do their own research too, rather than just relying on your research (depending on how comprehensive that research is). They will evaluate your market, your own research, and your competitors, to figure out the best ways you can match or exceed what’s already being offered in your industry. Then, the agency brings all of that together in the form of logos, brand identity, brand strategy, style guides, and more.
Generally speaking, most branding agencies offer these services to their customers:
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Market and competitive research
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Analytics
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Brand identity
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Brand positioning
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Brand naming
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Brand design (including logo, style guide for print and digita)
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Monitoring and reporting
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Internal branding and communications
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Re-branding of existing businesses
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Package design
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Photography
You can also find branding agencies that specialize in individual facets of branding, as well. In general, though, most branding agencies offer expertise in multiple services to offer a comprehensive package to their customers.
Why Hire a Branding Agency?
The number one reason to hire a branding agency is that they specialize in building the perfect brand. Business owners see opportunity and capitalize on it in a market, but they aren’t necessarily experts in how to translate that opportunity into a brand. That’s where branding agencies come in. You wouldn’t hire an accountant to build a creative campaign, and you wouldn’t hire a graphic designer to do your taxes. So why wouldn’t you hire experts in branding to help you reach your market and your customers? It just makes sense. You want your brand to be able to compete in the market and take your fair share of that market. To give yourself the best chance at doing that, you want to hire a branding agency.
That said, it’s important to vet your branding agency options. Don’t just go with the first agency you find on Google (they’re just paying for that spot, anyway). Instead, ask your prospective branding agency a few important questions like:
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Who are your previous clients and what did you do for them? (With any luck, they already have case studies listed on their site, but ask questions they don’t answer in those examples like what were the biggest challenges? What are you most and least proud of?)
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What is your process?
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How will you communicate?
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What can you accomplish within the established budget?
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What does your revision process look like? (Because there will definitely be revisions)