Visual and Verbal Branding Agency
A Cincinnati-based branding agency, The Marketing Collective provides visual branding and verbal branding services for companies looking to position themselves solidly within their market.
Your brand represents how people perceive your business. It conveys what people think and feel about your products or services. A branding agency helps businesses develop a clear brand strategy that aligns with your business goals and objectives. This involves understanding your target audience, identifying key brand attributes and messaging, and developing a plan for how the brand will be communicated and promoted.
Visual and verbal branding allows customers, employees, and prospects to identify a company and differentiate it from its competition. A brand identity is made up of visual and verbal cues that are designed to help the public recognize and remember your business.
At TMC, we know how essential a company’s brand is to their business. Building brands is what we do. From brand positioning to marketing and promotion strategies, our goal as your branding agency is to ensure your brand expresses your identity, personality, values, and promises — and then help you communicate that to the world.
Working with a branding agency like TMC will garner you a team of specialists who will help make sure your brand reflects what you believe in, why you exist, and how your target audience feels about you and your products.
What does a branding agency do?
A branding agency helps companies build brand awareness and manage their brand. People buy from brands they like and trust. A critical component to finding those customers — and keeping them — is showing them who you are through a strong, reliable brand.
A branding agency works with businesses to develop a brand strategy that is tailored to their specific needs and goals, and helps drive business growth and success.
Branding agencies provide the following services to help you do that:
- Brand analysis. To evaluate the effectiveness of your current branding strategies and dive into a customer and competitor traits to identify how your brand is currently supporting your business.
- Brand positioning strategy development. To establish your brand in the market and establish what differentiates your business from your competitors in the eyes of your customers.
- Brand guidelines and key messaging creation. Including design, style and tone; key differentiators; mission, vision, and values.
- Brand refresh and implementation. For established businesses looking to update and stay current.
- Logo development. Plus color palettes, iconography, styling and more.
- Brand marketing and promotion strategy creation. Including marketing plans, social media campaigns, digital strategies, and whatever else we decide together will help broadcast your message.
Branding is about understanding who you are, what makes you better than your competitors, identifying your target audience, and then projecting what your business is about in a way that connects with that audience.
Why should I hire a branding agency?
Hiring a branding agency can be a valuable investment for companies of all sizes and industries. Good branding is not easy. When you hire a branding agency, you’ll work with professionals in the field who specialize in targeted strategies and clear, consistent messaging that gets seen by the right audience.
A strong brand goes well beyond a company’s logo. You can have a logo you love, but it won’t take you far if you produce inconsistent messaging, communications that are off the mark, or social media posts that fall flat — or worse, fail to get any engagement whatsoever.
A branding agency’s goal is to help companies establish a unique identity, increase brand awareness, and improve customer loyalty. Some reasons why a company might want to hire a branding agency include:
Expertise.
A branding agency has the experience needed to develop a comprehensive brand strategy that aligns with your company’s goals, values, and vision. A branding agency can provide a fresh perspective on the company’s brand and offer insights and ideas that you may not have yet considered.
Brand consistency.
A branding agency can help ensure that all brand messaging and visuals are consistent across all channels, including digital and print. Consistency is essential for establishing brand recognition and building trust with customers.
Time and resources savings.
Building a strong brand can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. A branding agency can help alleviate this burden by taking care of all branding-related tasks, allowing the company to focus on its core business operations.
Competitive advantage.
A strong brand can give a company a significant competitive advantage in the market. A branding agency can help a company differentiate itself from competitors and establish a unique position in the industry.
Targeted messaging.
A branding agency can help a company develop targeted messaging that resonates with your audience. By understanding the audience’s needs and preferences, a branding agency can create messaging that speaks directly to them, increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.
Long-term partnership.
Building a strong brand is an ongoing process that requires consistent effort and attention. A branding agency can provide a long-term partnership, working with your company to continually refine and evolve the brand strategy over time.
What should I look for in a branding agency?
- Experience and expertise. The branding agency should have a track record of success in creating and implementing effective branding strategies. Look for an agency that has experience working in your industry or with businesses similar to yours.
- Strategic approach. A good branding agency should take a strategic approach to branding that is based on research and analysis. They should be able to articulate a clear and compelling brand strategy that aligns with your business objectives.
- Creative capabilities. The branding agency should have a strong creative team with the ability to develop a distinctive and memorable visual identity for your brand.
- Collaborative culture. The agency should be a collaborative partner that is committed to working closely with you to understand your business, your customers, and your goals. They should be responsive and communicative, and able to adapt to your changing needs.
- Results-oriented. Look for a branding agency that is focused on delivering results. They should have metrics in place to measure the effectiveness of their branding efforts and be able to show you how their work is contributing to your business success.
When you select a branding agency, you’ll want one that will work with you to tell the right story, inspire the right audience, and convert your prospective customers into client ambassadors.
TMC’s brand strategy process
1. Discover: Uncovering the brand DNA
Review History
We start with a forensic review of your “DNA” including your history, culture and clients. We unveil the strengths and weaknesses in order to evaluate and redefine the story of the brand.
Build Personas
We get to know the target audience closely. We build persona descriptions for each segment of the audience, providing a detailed look at who they are and how to target them.
2. Define: Creating a unique brand story
Write the Story
We apply the discovery knowledge to develop your verbal identity — what to say to your target audience and how to say it. We build internal language as a guide for messaging development.
Set the Structure
We map out the brand architecture defining the key elements — products/services, organization, personality, essential benefits and core brand values.
3. Develop: Bringing the brand to life
Craft the Look
We put our designers to work establishing what will become the visual assets of your brand – logo, color palette, typography, photography – the look and feel of the brand.
Put it to Work
We apply the new brand to all aspects of the business from signage and brochures to social media and apps. We develop the marketing tools needed to bring the brand to life.
Still have questions?
We’d be surprised if you didn’t! Let’s talk it through. We’d love to look at the pieces of your marketing puzzle and figure out the best way to successfully build your brand.
