Finding the best branding agency for your small business

You’ve decided that your small business is ready to take its visual identity seriously, and you’re on the hunt for the perfect brand designer. But how do you know which is the best branding agency for your small business?

You may well expect me to tell you that Ditto is the obvious choice. And, perhaps it is. But here’s the crucial thing: not every branding agency is the perfect fit for every business.

The branding industry is unbelievably varied, with people and agencies operating at multiple levels of skill and experience - and charging accordingly. Navigating all of this can be somewhat of a minefield, but it doesn’t need to be. Here’s what I’d be looking for:

Relevant experience

This doesn’t necessarily mean that your chosen branding agency needs to have worked with hundreds of other businesses in your industry, but having experience in your industry will enable your branding partner to be able to draw from experience, offering you more value.

Approach

How is the branding process structured? How will your chosen branding agency gather information about your business? Be watchful of this; often a ‘brand consultation’ is little more than a questionnaire which you need to fill in yourself. This is great if you’re looking for a low-touch partner and you’re pretty clear on the foundations of your business (who your clients are, what makes your business unique, what your ambition is for the future, how you want to be perceived), but a total disaster if you need personal support to gain clarity on these key points - which, in my experience, is what most small businesses really need.

Beyond this, its worth understanding how your branding agency will approach the design process, how they’ll keep you informed of progress and what check points are built into their process along the way to invite feedback.

Visual style

What does their work look like? Do you resonate with the way in which they capture the essence and ambition of a business through the visual elements they create? Most branding agencies have a consistent style which marks their work out as their own; do make sure this is a style you love. There’s little point in choosing an agency whose house style is ethereal and feminine if you’re looking for a super modern, bold aesthetic!

Personal fit

This is a HUGE factor in my book. The process of designing a brand identity is never a quick one (and not should it be!), so it stands to reason that you and your branding agency will be in eachother’s lives for a while. This is why its absolutely vital that you feel able to forge a strong connection with the people you’ll be working with. Do they seem excited by your work? Do they share your attitude to business? Kindness and compassion are enormously underrated in the work of developing a visual identity; it can be a more emotive journey than you might think, and you need someone in your corner to challenge and champion you. Please, please make sure that you have the right people behind you.

Range of services

A truly impactful visual identity requires more than design skills. At Ditto, we draw upon business strategy and buyer psychology to create truly powerful identities which work at a strategic level - which is supported by design, language, photography, communication design, customer experience design and website design. While the brand design is the juicy bit which gets everyone excited, bringing a brand to life in the most powerful way requires a greater range of skills and services. Sometimes clients have some of those resources in-house, or from another trusted partner - but make sure that you’ve got everything covered before you go too far.

A robust portfolio

To me, a robust portfolio is one which showcases a range of work which has integrity. You don’t necessarily need to love absolutely everything your branding agency has ever created, but you do need to be able to see the reasoning behind it and why it was right for the business it was created for. If it feels scatty or untethered, step away.

Go with your gut

Our instinctive reaction is very rarely wrong. If you get a brilliant feeling about the team you’re speaking with then go for it - you’ve just found the perfect branding agency for your small business. Go and create brilliant things together!