Different companies have different types of branding and marketing expertise and from a client perspective it can be quite challenging selecting a partner and trying to compare the different types of services on offer.

Often Ad agencies or Design companies like to call themselves Branding Consultancies. However they invariably start with their own creative interpretation of what is needed and this is normally without any structured research or methodology in terms of understanding your customers needs, the competitor landscape or the dynamics within your business.

So how does one determine which company would best serve your needs? First, you must carefully assess your needs so that you know what you are looking for. Once you have done that, you should make your selection based on the following:

• Look at how they brand themselves – how much thinking and imagination has gone into building their own brand? Based on this would you trust them to build yours?
• Look at the people – qualifications, experience, track record – will you be dealing with a junior account exec or the owner of the business.

• Look at the type of work they’ve done – great work always speaks for itself, ask to see their case studies and find out what results they have achieved – remember brand consultancies don’t have to have experience in your industry to deliver spectacular results!
• Look at what their clients say about them – a brand is ultimately a reputation so read what their clients say or better still even talk to their clients to get it directly from the horses mouth.

The bottom line: If an agency has a hammer, it will treat everything as a nail. If it has a screwdriver, it will treat everything as a screw. Find out about how they work and the types of projects the agency or consultancy has focused on. In this way, you will know whether they have the capabilities to help you.

At ThinkTank we specifically focus on market research informed brand positioning, strategy development and execution

We always start with Strategy before Creative because we believe that if the strategy is wrong no amount of creative ideas will put it right.

So if you are looking for a totally integrated strategic marketing and branding solution for your business then why not TALK TO US.