Your brand is the most important single investment you can make.
Our work is inspired by the ambitions of our clients. With their end goal in mind, the right research and customer insight we generate growth and make them relevant in a crowded and noisy marketplace.
Humble beginnings
Branding as we know it, is a world away from its origins where cowboys burned symbols into cattle hides. Whilst that practice is long gone, using a psychical mark to portray ownership remains the same.
Brands today extend into every area and touchpoint of an organisation. The logo (brand mark) and visual identity are still key parts, but it’s what goes on behind the scenes that truly makes or breaks a brand.
first impressions count
Every organisation, large or small must take its brand seriously, it plays a crucial role in defining who they are and how they are perceived by their customers, partners, and stakeholders. An organisations brand has to exist in both the heart and mind of its audience. A brand must spend time reviewing, developing and crafting its story so the first impression it leaves, and the conversations it inspires are the ones it wants its customers, and potential customer to have.
Your brand is a valuable asset
A strong brand can help an organisation to differentiate itself from its competitors, establish trust and credibility, and build lasting customer loyalty. A well-established brand can have a huge impact on an organisation’s performance by increasing customer acquisition and retention rates, improving customer lifetime value, and enhancing overall market value. Taking a strategic approach to building and maintaining a strong brand will help organisations achieve long-term goals and gain a tangible competitive advantage.
Brand services
discovery and research
- Interviews/insights
- Brand workshops
- S.W.O.T analysis
- Marketing audit
- Competitor audit
brand positioning
- Purpose and values
- Positioning
- Proposition
- Personality
- Tone and Voice
brand architecture
- Naming
- Brand audit
- Brand strategy
- Brand/product messaging
- Audience Definition
visual identity
- The big idea
- Logo
- Strapline
- Visual identity
- Digital presence
- Social media
- Interior/exterior branding
communication strategy
- Define objectives
- Identify target audiences
- Situational analysis
- Develop key messages
- Identify channels
- Establish metrics
- Action planning
- Implement and adjust
implementation
- Brand amnesty
- Brand roll out
- Style guides
- Brand guardianship
- Legal checks
- Trademarking and copyright
each agency does branding in its own way, after 25 years
of working with clients large and small from an eclectic
mix of sectors – this is how we do it
Discovery and research
The first stage of any branding project involves learning as much as we can about your organisation, products, services industry, and competitors. Think of us as friendly but rather nosy detectives. This step typically involves market research, customer surveys, and competitor analysis.
For start-ups and new businesses we’ll go through many of the stages above forgoing any relating to existing visual identity.
Brand positioning
It’s essential to understand your target audience – their wants and needs. Here we define your brand’s unique qualities, values, and personality, as well as how it differs from its competitors, together we will discover the unique value that your brand will presents to its customers.
Brand architecture
There are several brand architecture models, monolithic, endorsed, umbrella brands and a few more for good measure. Choosing a model for your organisation will depend on your products, services, and target audience. We can help you choose the right system that will help you organise your brands, products and services, to ensure customers can access and relate to your brand.
We knew we needed people we could trust, and EPLS came highly recommended. After our first meeting, we felt they absolutely got us; what we were about and what we were trying to achieve. encouraged us to be bold, whilst ensuring we felt comfortable with the tough decisions we had to make.
Justin – Executive Director, Thirtyone:eight
Visual Identity
Here we start creating the visual elements of your brand, such as logos, colors, typography, and imagery, that will help you stand out from the competition and communicate your brand personality.
Through the discovery, positioning and architecture phases we’ve developed a thorough understanding of your organisation and its goals. Now we take these learnings and apply them to what you are going to look and sound like. What will be the magic ingredient that get’s your brand recognised, what will be the visual and verbal style that the brand will be known for?
Communication strategy
Writing a brand communication strategy starts with a deep understanding of your consumers. Researching target audiences, analysing which content will be most engaging to them, and determining which channels your audience uses to craft your messaging.
Before starting your brand communication strategy we will clarify why you need one and how it serves your greater business goals, and make sure you’ve established your business objectives, thoroughly analysed the market, and performed research on competitors.
Implementation
First up is a brand Amnesty, we’ll help you make sure that the old brand (if there is one) has been relegated to the bin. We’ll build you a Brand Book, a beautifully crafted tactile page turner or virtual book, or both? We can help plan how to roll-out the brand within the organisation including the essential staff launch so that your whole organisation can feel a part of the new brand. Then onto the launch itself, big and bold or small low-key roll-out we can help you with the style of brand launch that suits your brand.
With over 25 years experience we’re always excited to take a brand over the finish line.
Monitoring and evaluation
Regularly monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of your branding efforts ensures they are achieving the desired results. Your new brand shouldn’t just be launched and left to fend for itself. We’ll always be here to support you and your colleagues as the brand evolves (which they always do).
We can help you create an in-house Brand Guardian who will live and breathe the new brand 24/7. If you need a second pair of eyes or ears we can act as Brand Police (a role we particularly enjoy) this will ensure that the brand is always true to its roots – plus you can blame any changes on us.
How much does all this cost
Our pricing model flexes depending on your requirements and can be tailored to fit your budget. No one branding model will fit every organisation. We work with start-up’s, SME’s through to large organisations. Each time helping them to tell their own unique story.
If after reading this you’d like to know a little more. Or you’re ready to start your brand journey with us please get in touch call 01962 795 019 or email and Mike or Gregg and we’ll get the biscuits, sticky notes and coffee ready.