FAQ: How much will a good branding expert cost me?
Branding is a long term investment, not a cost to your business. Your branding is not just about creating a pretty logo. It isn't even about creating a business card or designing a website. Yes, ICE Innovation could put a price to these, but the price for branding is as much about all of your elements behind your brand that you cannot see, as what your customers do see on the face of it.
Your brand is your promise, your big idea, your story and the expectations that reside in each customers mind about your product, your service and your company. People fall in love with brands, trust them, develop strong loyalties to them, buy into them and believe in their superiority. Your brand is a shorthand searching device in an otherwise crowded sea of competitors and it must stand for your values behind it.
“Your brand is not what you say it is...
...It is what other people say it is”
ICE Innovation say your brand must portray all of this in less than 3 seconds. Why? Because most people will come into contact with your brand when you aren't there, so you have no opportunity to spend 5 minutes telling someone why you are great. Your brand has to do that quickly for you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Faced with 2 pretty logo's to choose from, your prospect will most likely go for the one they like best.
Faced with one pretty logo and your well designed brand with a good strapline, where your colours, typeface and icon have all been psychologically created to appeal directly to them... They will choose your logo time after time. That is what you are investing in.
A good branding expert will spend at least half a day working on your brand strategy with you to ensure they are creating a brand for you that will attract the customers you want in 3, 5, 10 years from now. You want a brand that will last, not one that you have to change each time you start to offer a new service. It is important your branding company ask you lots of questions about the future of your company and what other services you plan to offer. If they aren't asking lots of questions about your business, what it looks like in 3 years, who you are working with in 5 years from now and what the business looks like when you sell it, then you aren't working with the right branding company.
A good brand that works hard for your business will cost you on average £3000 to £5000. This should include your brand strategy report, your logo, your corporate identity (design of business cards, letterhead, continuation sheet and compliment slip), and your branding guidelines. You should also receive the original logo files, high resolution files to use for print and full copywright to use your logos whenever and wherever you want to in future.
