Your brand is who you are, and what you have to offer to customers. When choosing a professional branding firm, make sure that they have the knowledge to understand your brand’s vision. Branding trends are constantly changing and evolving along with technology, the economy, and social behaviors, and having a reliable B2B branding firm that is well-versed in cohesive, sustainable brand strategies is essential to success in the 2022 market.
1. How Does This Firm Approach their Clients?
You can learn a lot about a branding firm through how they carry themselves. How they approach their clients will tell you a lot about the quality of experience you will have. Having a B2B branding firm that is transparent about their methods and prioritizes your unique needs and goals as a business can boost your brand’s success tenfold. If a branding firm is providing generic answers and recycled strategies, do your brand a favor: run away. No matter what industry you exist in, originality is essential to success.
A branding firm should welcome your input and oversight, and then use their specific marketing expertise and trusted methods to elevate your brand and its goals. Ask yourself, does this firm take the time to consider your company’s goals? Do they take time in the production process to explain design and content options to you? Or do they take the reins and leave it up to their interpretation? Similarly, do they take the time to set your company apart from their other clients? Using the same brand strategy as their other clients will make you appear to lack originality. This is harmful to your brand awareness in many ways, so avoid branding firms that try to do this.
2. What Does this Firm Bring to My Industry?
Not all B2B branding firms are the same, and many specialize in specific industries – such as tech and manufacturing, retail, and the like. Ask yourself: “Does this firm have an approach to branding that will reach my ideal audience?” Taking time to think about the specific branding needs of your industry can save your business a lot of time (and money)! The easiest way to know whether a branding firm has the right niche experience for your brand is by asking them explicitly what they bring to your industry. Identifying their own strengths will give you a clear idea about their expertise and abilities.
3. How Does this Firm Do Social Media?
Social media plays a massive role in branding – a role that is only going to grow more prominent throughout 2022. According to Oberlo, there are 3.78 billion users across the various social media platforms, which means that your B2B brand has the potential to be marketed to those billions of individuals at any given time. When choosing a branding firm, investigate what social media platforms they work with. Then ensure that they align with your brand’s identity, goals, and audience.
If your brand is targeted towards young adults and college students, go with a branding firm that is familiar with popular social media platforms. On the other hand, if your brand is geared towards an older audience, social media may be less important for you. It all depends on your brand, your goals, and what branding strategies will resonate with your target audience most effectively.
4. How do their Clients Rank?
Just as your customers use testimonials when deciding whether to do business with your brand, you can learn a lot about a B2B branding firm through their clients. Luckily, many firms publish their most notable projects, so you can see their previous clients. When looking at a potential branding firm’s past work, pay close attention to how they have chosen the brand.
Do they have a cohesive theme? Is it clear what is being marketed? Is the information displayed easily accessible and easy to navigate from page to page?
According to Forbes, 38% of users lose engagement if a website is unappealing, and 39% will lose engagement if the images on a website do not load. Likewise, having a cohesive theme and presentation across varying platforms – such as email and social media pages – has been shown to increase revenue by 23%. When looking into a branding firm, make sure you are comfortable associating your brand and products with their work.
5. Does This Firm Use Long-Term Strategies?
Although it can be easy to focus on the immediate results of a B2B branding firm, before making your choice, look at the longevity of the firm. Do they specialize in start-ups? Or do they have a steadfast long-term approach? You want to make sure that the branding firm you select can maintain their promises and projects. Once the initial branding is done, ensure that the efforts stay consistent both in frequency and quality.
With current technology particularly, it can be easy to pre-schedule emails, posts, videos, and many other marketing modes, months in advance. This also makes it easy to pre-schedule them and then forget about them. Select a branding firm that continually checks their marketing productivity and success, no matter how long you’ve worked together. Your brand is not “one and done,” so your marketing strategies should not be either.
6. How Has This Firm Navigated COVID?
As we continue past the pandemic, look at how a B2B branding firm navigated challenges over the last two years. This will provide insight into how strong their capacity for innovation is. Having a strong understanding of post-COVID marketing world challenges and changes is essential to establishing a successful brand.
How does this branding firm handle customer communications in times of uncertainty? Do they have the infrastructure to navigate challenges that arise in a consistent manner? How do they ensure that their clients do not experience unsuccessful campaigns because of the changing COVID climate?
We may be at the end of the pandemic, but every industry will feel the effects for some time. Make sure that you partner with a professional, experienced firm that can navigate challenging circumstances.
7. What Do They Expect from their Clients?
One of the often-overlooked questions while looking for a B2B branding firm is what they expect from their clients. Ideally, a successful branding firm will value your team’s input and collaboration and will prioritize this throughout every step.
Before working with a firm, ask what they expect from their clients? What are their turnaround times? At what points in the process do they ask for your review? These are all incredibly important to determining whether they are the right firm for your company. Communication is crucial in the marketing world, make sure that you choose a branding firm that excels in it. Proper communication results in cohesive branding that is clear and concise.
8. Who is Going to be Working on Your B2B Brand?
Your branding firm should discuss which specific team members will be responsible for each role. They should also inform you whether all their work is conducted in-house or contracted out to freelancers. Brand transparency starts with the firm showing care in how they handle your B2B brand strategy. Being clear about who will be working on your brand is important to its overall success. In addition, it helps establish a good working relationship built on mutual trust and respect.
Having a branding firm that handles all their work in-house, from strategy and design to copywriting and more, is beneficial when it comes to establishing your brand’s look and feel. There are benefits and disadvantages to working with both types of firms. It all depends on the needs and goals of your company.
The Ideal Branding Firm Exists
Regardless of what type of industry you are in, the perfect B2B branding firm for your company is out there! It can be hard to sift through the hundreds of B2B branding and marketing professionals worldwide. That’s why looking closely at each firm is important. Whether you are a new brand or looking to conduct a re-brand, ask yourself these 8 key questions before you choose a B2B branding firm to bring your goals to reality.
Your brand is unique, make sure that everyone knows that – especially the team growing and managing it. There is no better way to start the process than to reach out to an experienced branding firm who knows exactly how to bring your brand vision to life.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your B2B business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business. Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.
