How clever branding can help your service business attract higher value work

If you’re running a service-based small business - whether you’re a designer, photographer, coach or consultant - I’ll bet you dream of attracting higher value work. Less time lost to admin; more time devoted to the work you love (and that actually earns money!).

Over the years, our branding agency has undergone a total transformation, from a high street print shop to a specialist branding agency working with small businesses worldwide. We’ve gone from dealing with tens of clients a day to just a handful a month - and the impact on our bottom line is astonishing.

Here’s how we built our brand to attract higher value work.

We discovered where our value lies - and what that means for our clients

When we began providing brand design services, our offering was incredibly indistinct. That was ok back then… it was a time when business was still done very locally, and our high street position afforded us good visibility and footfall. This was all that we needed to attract low level work, and with each project our skills grew and so did our sense of what our clients cared about. I’ll never forget a client telling me that he didn’t buy a brand identity from us - he bought the confidence that the brand identity gave him to approach bigger clients and punch higher. That insight was transformative, and made me realise that I’ve a real passion for working with clients to help them to see their value… something that almost every small business owner struggles with. I’ve a way of building my clients’ confidence, broadening their perspective of their business and setting them up for success. This fundamental shift in their mindset - coupled with a knockout visual identity and carefully considered communications - means that the small businesses we work with can grow faster, attract the right kinds of clients (and employees!), and drive revenue.

We became comfortable with (politely) turning certain work away

As our own perspective shifted away from ‘local designer who can have a bash at anything’ to something much more specialist, we were able to raise our fees to reflect our value. Inevitably, this meant that our pricing became out of reach for certain clients. This is a hugely challenging point for small businesses, as we hate to think we’re missing out on work - but if you’re serious about growth, focussing on your dream clients means becoming comfortable with the idea that you’re not for everyone.

We elevate our visual brand identity and messaging

If you want to be seen differently, you need to look different. A rebrand is one of the fastest ways of adjusting the way your business is perceived, and creating the space for your business to grow - and that’s exactly what we did. In fact, we’ve rebranded our business several times; each time heralding a shift in our ambition. With each rebrand, our visual identity became more refined and our language became more confident and more powerful - and the kind of clients we hoped to attract responded exactly as we wanted.

We plucked up the courage to really stand out

It’s so unbelievable tempting to follow the crowd and emulate what others in your industry are doing - that’s why you see so many websites with identikit imagery, messages and visuals. The problem with this is that every business looks exactly the same, serving only to confuse your client. We’ve absolutely fallen into this trap; I remember feeling the need to portray Ditto as a tabletennis-playing, beer-fridge-owning, pizza-on-a-friday kind of agency… the truth was nothing of the sort. We’re more likely to be found watching the light fall through the trees or noticing ferns unfurling in the woodland which surrounds the studio than enthusiastically whacking neon post-it notes on a wall. And so… we leant into what makes us different. We redesigned our website to feature images of the nature that inspires us, and the difference was immediate. Suddenly, we stood out. Our clients loved it, commenting on how we were clearly ‘not another city agency’.

We up-leveled all of our communications

Your brand identity and website are just the start. Your story continues through every single interaction you have with your clients, from your Service Guide to your Proposals, Terms of Business, Reports, Presentations and outward communications such as LinkedIn and Instagram. The attention we devoted to all of these seemingly non-critical moments communicated a level of thoughtfulness which echoed our approach to our work. Even today we have clients complimenting us on the style of our terms of business!

Was this an overnight success story? No, not really (apart from that website redesign - that really was phenomenal!). The journey to attracting higher value work to a service-based business is a continual one, requiring constant incremental refinement… but paying attention to these basics will get you there a LOT faster.

Wishing you every success!