5 Factors To Consider When Hiring A Branding Expert For Your Business

Published on: 30 October 2021 Last Updated on: 12 September 2024

In the last few years, more and more businesses are realizing the importance of branding. As against sales and marketing, businesses know that branding is essential for the long-term vision, sustainability, and growth of an organization.

While many businesses have made the mistake of equating branding with marketing, there is growing awareness that the two are separate in form and function. This is leading many businesses to invest in strategic branding experts that can help them.

In this resource article, we are going to look at five factors that businesses should consider before hiring branding experts, consultants, or strategists. If you are a business owner looking to invest in a long-term branding exercise, this article will guide you in the right direction.

How can a Branding Expert help a Business: What you need to know

Before we get to the list of factors that should be considered, it would be better if we discuss how a branding expert can help a business in the first place.

Business owners are in agreement that branding is important. What they do not know is how they should proceed. Many have the mistaken assumption that branding is only logo designing, social media presence, and marketing!

While this is not entirely false, the above constitutes just about 5% of what branding is all about.

In reality, a branding expert can help a business optimize three main focus areas about the brand-

Tangible Visual Properties- photoshoots, imagery, social media presence, logo designs, color schemas, fonts, website, blog section, and videos.
Tangible Textual Content- brand motto, values, culture, mission statement, blog articles, slogans or taglines, social media copy, and content.
Intangible Brand Promise- credibility, culture, personality, trust, levels and positioning, perception, experiences, customer service, and support.

As you can see from what we have mentioned above, this is a fairly exhaustive list of topics. An experienced and credible branding expert will help you address all the above goals and objectives.

List of 5 Factors to Consider when Hiring a Branding Expert for your Business

1. Creativity-

While technical specializations are an important aspect of the digital age, you want the branding expert/consultant/agency to be creative. Some of the leading brand strategists like Bennet Schwartz have several years of experience as Creative Director. Creativity is an essential factor you should look at as branding is all about good storytelling that captures audiences.

2. Experience-

Being great at branding requires years of experience. This is not something you can get up and get good at. It requires sophistication, expertise, and years of executing marketing and social media strategies. Great branding experts that lead organizations are often Creative Directors with a graphic design or copywriting background. You need to look for at least five years.

3. Past Client Credentials-

If you are lucky enough to get a branding expert that has worked with a business in your niche, you are on the right path. Even if you do not get one, the key is to look at past client portfolios. Ask the agency or expert to take you through the kind of work they did. Focus on both the creative as well as the technical ROIs. Do not hire someone before establishing credentials.

4. Timelines and ROIs on the Project-

Small trick- if the branding expert says that they will get you the moon and stars within six months, they are lying. You should bail immediately. Experts will tell you that branding is a long-term gain where you need to invest for at least two or three years to start seeing results. It is best to get a definite answer in this regard as it will help guide your business expectations.

5. Prices, Payment Structures, and Affordability-

This ultimately depends on what you are asking the branding agency to do. If you want the whole suite of what we mentioned in the earlier sections, you are looking at sizable costs. However, you can always break it up into stages and ensure incremental payments. Make sure to discuss the same with the agency so that there are no problems later on the payment front.

The Final Word

Branding differs from business to business. It is a completely individualized experience that comes with a customized strategy. In other words, what worked for one brand might not necessarily work for someone else. This is something that separates great branding experts from the ones who are just in the market to make some money. If you have any questions, you would like us to address, please let us know in the comments below.

Read Also:

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

How Business Owners Can Better Utilize Freelance Work

Small businesses don’t always have a ton of cash or room to make costly mistakes, so every penny, every asset, every minute, counts. Often, small businesses will turn to freelancers for certain projects where they need expert help, but that can also take a hit on your bank account, so ensuring the freelancer does good work is crucial. Sometimes though, the freelance work falls short, leaving the small business low on funds with a deliverable that is unusable. So how do you avoid that? Let’s talk about a better way of finding freelance workers for your business. Revenue Sharing Model Each freelancer can be paid differently. Some are paid upfront or given equity, others are paid a percentage of the final revenue, and some are paid when the job gets done. Here’s the best thing a small business that is low on upstart funds can do when it comes to hiring a freelancer: Adopt a revenue-sharing model. What that means is the freelancer gets paid when you do. They’ll complete the project, deliver all final assets to the business owner, but they’ll only get paid if and when you start making money. There will be a percentage that is agreed upon by both parties before the project begins, and if your business starts bringing in revenue, you’ll then pay off the percentage owed to the freelancer. If your business never makes money, you do not have to pay the freelancer a dime. Why is this a good idea? First of all, it decreases the risk for the business by waiting to pay the freelancer until there is secure revenue coming in. Second, with this idea in mind, freelancers can do some of their best work. They aren’t just getting paid to finish a job, there’s a higher expectation of their work. They understand that if their work is mediocre, there’s a lower chance of them getting paid. It’s in their best interest to do the best work they can, not only to help you as a business owner but to help themselves as well. Develop a Relationship Far too often, businesses pay freelancers for work only to be unsatisfied with the end product. Many times this is due to a lack of communication on one or both sides. To ensure that you are getting quality service delivered from a freelance worker, it’s important to have an understanding relationship. Here are a few tips on how to accomplish that: Describe Your Communication Style If you’re not sure what your communication style is, it’s not a bad idea to find out or develop a system that works for you. Some people have very blunt ways of communicating while others are timider. Talking about your preferred communication style with the freelancer you hired will help to avoid conflict, assumptions, and hard feelings. Explain Your Needs Don’t be afraid to express where there are gaps in understanding. The freelancer is there to be an expert in an area that you may not be familiar with. It’s okay to say things like, “I’m not sure I understand that, could you explain how that works?” The more you can understand the process, the better you’ll be able to communicate and get an end product you’re happy with. Do Your Part If you feel there are gaps in understanding, take a step back, and see if there is anything you might have left out in communication with the freelancer. Sometimes we get in our own bubble and assume other people understand what we are talking about when in reality we need to explain certain things in more depth. Good Luck! Some of these tips may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often business owners fail to communicate well with the freelancers they hire. If you can adopt these practices into your business model, your freelancers’ work will improve significantly and you won’t have to worry about an unfortunate loss of precious funds. Read also: 5 Office Organization Tips Every New Business Owners Must Know The significance of face-to-face networking for freelancers Five Reasons Why Freelancers Should Use a Coworking Space 5 Most lucrative home-based business opportunities

Growing a business in the agricultural sector

It is a fact that the agricultural sector is of massive importance to the whole U.S. economy. It is thought to be worth over $1 trillion to the country each year and is a major employer. Of course, it also gives us the food we need to survive! As such, agriculture is extremely important to the USA and is a popular sector for entrepreneurs to open a business. Although you may have been successful to date, you might currently be struggling with how to move your business up to the next level. This is an important step as it will stop you from stagnating and allow you to generate more revenue. This is true whether you own a farm or run another kind of agricultural company. The below should help if you are looking for a few tips on how to do this. Erect new buildings to house stock or animals For the agricultural sector or business, sustained growth can only come about by having enough of what customers want to buy. Sometimes though this can be seriously limited by the existing space you have to work with. For example, you will struggle to grow beyond a certain point if you have only limited space to house stock or your harvested crops. Investing in new buildings so you can carry more products to sell and thus increase profits makes good sense. Over time, this investment will pay for itself due to the increased sales it allows. Of course, if you are a farmer then putting up new buildings can give you more space to store machinery or give you somewhere suitable to house more animals. Many businesses will opt to use fiber-reinforced concrete when doing so due to the extra strength and durability this gives any new structure. Network, network, network As with any other sector within a business, networking is a great way to stimulate growth in your agricultural organization. This could be on a B2B level where you attend offline networking events to forge new connections or use online platforms like LinkedIn to do the same. Of course, you can also network on a B2C level at things like agricultural trade shows or public events. By engaging in this kind of activity, you are helping to build your brand and showcase to people what you can offer. This can really help you to generate more leads, more sales, and more revenue in the future. If this is not something you usually like to do, it really is worth giving it your best shot. Set specific goals Many people who own a business in the agricultural sector will fail to grow it due to being overly generic in their aims. Merely saying I would like to have a bigger or more successful business this time next year is not specific enough. You need to set out realistic and achievable goals that will ultimately produce the growth you desire. Whether it is trying to develop one new product to launch, setting up a farm shop or revamping your website to attract more visitors, setting specific goals can really help. Getting a proper plan in place of not only what you want to do but also how you will go about it is crucial. Think about digital marketing Whatever goals you set people to need to know you exist before you can grow. By far the best way for many agricultural businesses to go about this is by using modern digital marketing methods. From farming consultants to machinery manufacturers or feed producers, these ways of getting your brand out there can prove very effective. Top of the list for many is using social media platforms. Free to set up and simple to use, they provide an easy way to reach more people globally and to show what you offer. Methods like email marketing and PPC ad campaigns are also effective when done right. Take action to stimulate growth In many ways, helping your agricultural business to grow is no different than doing so in other business sectors. The key is to maximize what you have to sell and making sure that your marketing efforts bring more people in to buy from you. The agricultural sector is of huge importance to the entire U.S. economy. Planting new crops that could prove popular or bringing new products on-board to sell is also worth considering in order to get to where you want to be. The most important part is to have a clear idea of where you are headed so you can take your first steps toward reaching there. Read Also: Strengthening Your Community In 2018 Green Business Opportunities for Eco-Entrepreneurs

https://imagecompressor.11zon.com/en/image-compressor/compress-jpeg-to-100kb.php

7 Ways To Improve Your Company Culture

As a business or company owner, you know a positive company culture is essential for your employee's motivation, productivity, and well-being. A good workplace culture can enhance morale, heighten job satisfaction, and inspire creativity. However, creating and maintaining a healthy and positive company culture can be challenging. In this blog post, we have gathered seven tips that will help you improve your company culture. So, dive in to learn all the details. Reasons Why Company Culture Is Important The success of a company organization depends on the internal discipline within the organization. They set disciplinary guidelines on different matters within the organization. It can help you attain the growth that you need. In this section, we understand some of the reasons to understand why the company culture is crucial for your organization. Increasing Employee Employment As we mentioned, the company culture is a set of rules that binds all the members. An organizational culture is driven by clear expectations. It, in a way, motivates and inspires the employees to be more engaged in their duties and responsibilities. It motivates the concerned people to deliver for the organization. Decreased Turnover People who think that they do not have value are less likely to leave the organization. This is why the company must set the winning organizational culture to support the vision. Respecting the senior members within the organization, without question, is one of them. Their efforts and integration are crucial to chalk out the success of the company. Elevated Productivity Many business organizations fail due to a lack of productivity. According to the values of the company culture, the company must work consistently to increase the productivity of the organization. Organizational culture has an extremely strong impact on the organization. It binds the people working and motivates them to perform. At the same time, the organization must try its best to support its employees with the resources to increase its productivity. Strengthening Identify Of The Brand The company‘s organizational culture represents the public image and reputation. If a company lacks an organizational culture, it cannot stand strong in keeping its public image. Internal discipline in the organization is a must to strengthen the core values. Improved Recruitment The success of an organization depends on getting talented people on board. One-third of the respondents in a survey opined that they would leave an organization if it did not have a good company culture. Not only this, the best candidates look to be associated with an organization with an extremely strong company culture. This is why the management of the different organizations works persistently to strengthen the company culture. Ways To Improve The Company Culture As discussed above, the company culture is one of the most important tools to eliminate the weakness and sail towards the pathway of development. This section discusses some of the top seven practices to improve your company culture. 1 - Encourage Collaboration Between Departments Team collaboration is an effective strategy for creating a healthy and positive company culture. Encouraging employees to work with colleagues from different departments can promote cross-functional learning and better knowledge sharing. It also shows that the company considers every employee as an essential asset. Online team building activities are interactive, fun, and easy to do. For instance, you can organize a virtual magic show, escape room, virtual trivia, or a company-wide game. There are many options to choose from that can help encourage collaboration between departments. 2 - Introduce A Rewards System To Recognize Employee Achievements When employees feel a sense of acknowledgment, esteem, and appreciation for their efforts, it propels them to excel even further. The implementation of a reward system can serve as a potent tool to elevate the spirit of the workforce and inspire them towards superior performance. These rewards could be monetary incentives, certificates, or non-monetary incentives like extra time off, free snacks, etc. 3 - Offer Flexible Working Hours To Allow For Better Work-Life Balance Offering a flexible schedule can improve your company's overall culture. Research shows that flexible working hours lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity. Employees can manage to work around their obligations and feel trusted and valued. In response, they feel more dedicated to their work and contribute more effectively to the organization. 4 - Establish A Mission Statement & Communicate It A mission statement is a declaration of your company's purpose and values. Establishing a mission statement can align employees with your company's vision and help develop a unique workplace culture. It can also unify your team and create a sense of belonging. Regularly sharing your company's mission statement aids employees in grasping the significance of their role in upholding the organization's vision and principles. 5 - Create An Open and Inviting Atmosphere Creating an open and inviting atmosphere can increase employee engagement and job satisfaction. This atmosphere can be achieved by providing a comfortable and ergonomic workspace, natural light, and good ventilation. A pleasant physical space can improve motivation and overall health. 6 - Establish Health & Wellness Initiatives Prioritizing your employees' physical and mental well-being can improve your company's culture. Some initiatives could include providing healthy snacks, installing standing desks, organizing office sports teams, or offering stress-management courses. Encouraging employees to prioritize their health can lead to better well-being overall. 7 - Provide Plenty Of Opportunities For Professional Development Lastly, professional development opportunities can enhance employee skills, knowledge, and motivation. It also shows that the company is invested in its employees' growth and development. These opportunities include professional skills training, leadership development courses, mentorship programs, or co-learning sessions. Unlock the Potential of Your Team: Discover the Benefits of a Thriving Company Culture Improving your company culture requires a holistic approach. By implementing these tips, you can create a more positive, vibrant, and engaging culture that promotes employee motivation, productivity, and well-being. Encouraging collaboration, recognizing achievements, establishing a mission statement, creating an open atmosphere, prioritizing well-being, and offering professional development opportunities can all help to build a healthy and positive company culture. Remember that culture is not created overnight; cultivating a healthy and inclusive workplace environment takes time and effort. Investing in your company culture means investing in your employees, ultimately leading to long-term business success. Read Also Strategies For Preventing Workplace Injuries Proactively What Are the Ways to Prepare a New Employee? How to Create an Effective Company Training Program

5 Factors To Consider When Hiring A Branding Expert For Your Business

How can a Branding Expert help a Business: What you need to know