How did Apple stand out from the competition to garner 28% of the smartphone market? Apple reflected its entire vision in all its products and services, which allowed the brand to connect with its customers. Apple disrupted the existing conditions and changed the rules of branding by leveraging a personalized branding strategy that made customers who became dedicated to their products.
Unfortunately, businesses can’t expect to just copy Apple’s branding approach and be successful, as each brand has a unique message that it’s branding should convey. This is the point where hiring a brand consultant comes into play. But what is a brand consultant and what do they offer to growing businesses?
Who Is a Brand Consultant and What Do They Do?
A brand consultant is an expert who helps businesses define, build, and improve their reputation over time, which makes them an essential driver of business performance and growth. Often, they work alongside senior managers, executives, and other stakeholders in areas such as PR and technology to help businesses unleash their full potential. They convert small businesses into powerhouses through keyword research, content marketing, market analysis, video services, and website design audit.
Upstream of marketing approaches, a brand consultant helps companies to develop a strategic positioning for their spot in the market. Marketing consistently transfers this positioning and brand message to every touchpoint possible, so as to effectively connect with consumers. Agency work, advertising, and market research are separate roles and often not part of a brand consultant’s set of responsibilities.
A brand consultant often views branding as a set of robust systems that help facilitate a business’s economic success through its relation to their customers. Thus the overall looking and feeling of the brand, along with any branding strategies, must be developed and managed consistently.
That interactivity encompasses all the performances of branding. It’s how an effective brand is built from the inside out, one that’s seen as attractive, credible, and positioned differently when compared to the competition.
Why Should I Hire a Brand Consultant?
A brand consultant conducts market analysis to assess the competition, digital presence, and market intent of a product or business. Through them, businesses can identify their primary competitors and develop a strategy to outshine them. A competitive analysis allows companies to identify the keywords their competitors are using, discover a path for optimizing their websites to generate organic traffic, and determine the kinds of potential customers following them on social media. Also, brand consultants look deeply into customer profiles and personas to identify customers’ pain points and the solutions they need.
Branding strategy is another core expertise of a brand consultant. A brand consultant researches competitors and markets, packages, price, and product distribution strategies. After considering every element, branding specialists work to help position a company’s service or product to be more appealing to potential customers.
How Can You Choose the Right Brand Consultant?
Hiring the right branding expert is a daunting task, especially for business owners doing it for the first time. The best way to achieve that is to interview a minimum of five branding experts or agencies, then narrow them down to three final choices after assessing several vital areas.
You can assess a brand consultant based on their expertise and experience, especially on the use of various mediums and channels across multiple touchpoints. Essentially, businesses should hire a brand strategist who can deliver both design and brand strategy.
Hire a brand consultant who doesn’t do everything management says but challenges executives to step out of their comfort zones to pave the way for innovation and creativity. However, proven processes that deliver results must back a branding expert’s approach, so be sure to ask for their past project portfolio.
Also, you must find an expert who believes in the vision of your business and develops a branding strategy that aligns with it. A good brand consultant can envision your company’s future state and understands how to leverage branding to get there successfully. Another consideration may be how much branding services cost.
Final Thoughts
From brand management to creative direction, there are many important positions in advertising and marketing. Brand consulting is one of the critical relationships that can help businesses grow to their full potential. A brand consultant offers market analysis, marketing expertise, and solutions to help increase the sale of the businesses products and services, so hiring one can be seen as a long-term investment; one that may pay for itself many times over after the successful implementation of the various branding strategies that get developed.
