Business owners are busy people – and thinking about a rebrand is another, potentially time consuming task, but a vital one if they want to connect with their customers and find more.Below, Tom Livingstone, founder of Measured Branding, gives Business Advice readers the lowdown on the questions they should ask agencies before they sign up and what red flags to look out for, to ensure they find the best agency fit.
1. Think about your brand first
Before you approach an agency, think about what you want to achieve with the rebrand. This requires homework, brainstorming, and finding a few examples for inspiration. We often ask clients to find examples of brands they like, regardless of what space they’re in. They don’t even have to be a commercial brand.
Wanting to stand out is important in branding and not just blending in with the space you’re in. But what is also important is a deep understanding of what that space is that you’re in and why you’re trying to do something different. If you don’t understand the category you’re in, and you’re different for the sake of it, you might miss the mark, and you still have customers that have a certain expectation of that space. Then you might end up departing too far and your customers are like, we don’t get it. What are you? So, branding still needs to be rooted in an understanding of that industry and customer.
2. You don’t need a sector specific agency
You can go with a branding agency that has experience with your industry, but that’s not the be all and end all. With branding, if you try to blend in with every other brand within your space, then you’re missing the point of branding. What’s the point in having a brand if it doesn’t help you stand out from your competition? That’s why everyone creates a brand in the first place so their audience has it as a mental shortcut to say, ok, if I need a construction company, I’m going to choose this one rather than the hundreds of others out there. So, if you look and sound like the hundreds of others out there, then you’re losing that game.
3. Understand what a good agency does
When choosing an agency, some business owners might think that getting an agency onboard means you can put your feet up and relax, and they’ll do everything. What some don’t realise is that it’s a collaborative process and that a good agency should ask questions about the brand you are trying to create and its identity. If business owners are expecting to not have to contribute to that, they’re in for a rude awakening. So, start thinking about what kind of brand it is that you’re trying to create before you go to an agency. If you have a strong sense of who you are before you go to an agency, then it’s going to be a lot easier to find an agency that aligns with that.
4. Find your agency through referrals
Looking for an agency can be difficult and overwhelming. We’ve had a lot of business through referrals, which is great and I think that’s a good way of doing it. If you find a company and you love their branding, approach them and ask who did their branding work.
Sometimes companies do it in house, but often they will have worked with an agency and most companies are more than happy to put you in touch. Looking across different industries for inspirational brands that you like and then looking for the branding agency behind that work is a great place to start on both finding branding inspiration and the right agency to do that work for you.
5. Watch what agencies say in early conversations
The number one most important thing for a branding agency is that they have a strategy to understand your customer. The key thing when creating a brand is to really understand the customer. You can try and do something different, but it also has to tie into who the customer is within that category that you’re looking for and what kind of brand they want to see. The agency must make it clear that they have some kind of strategy of how they’re going to understand your customer and how they’re going to build a brand for you around that. Watch out if you’re in a conversation with a branding agency and they don’t seem to be obsessed with whoever your customer is. It’s ok if the branding agency is not an expert in your customer initially, because that’s the nature of agencies. They don’t need to be the same kind of expert in your customers as you are, but they need to clearly show that they’re very quickly going to get an understanding. So, red flags are they’re really keen to jump straight into execution. They start talking immediately about the design of logos or whatever colours they’re going to create for you. Another is if you feel a disconnect, a sense that they don’t know who you are yet or who your customer is. With the best agencies, you will come to them with a brief and immediately they should be questioning that saying; why do you feel like you need a rebrand now? What is the kind of brand you’re trying to create? What do you think you might get out of a new website?Think about the branding assets you’re going to be using daily. Talk to the agency about the kinds of tools you use and how your brand needs to actually exist after this rebranding process is over. A good agency should be open to working with you beyond a theoretical stance. For example, are your new fonts compatible with the tools you use on a daily basis?’
Business owners are busy people – and thinking about a rebrand is another, potentially time consuming task, but a vital one if they want to connect with their customers and find more.
Below, Tom Livingstone, founder of Measured Branding, gives Business Advice readers the lowdown on the questions they should ask agencies before they sign up and what red flags to look out for, to ensure they find the best agency fit.
