If you’re going to hire a branding agency to help you with your brand, you’ll need trust above all else.
It is the most severe problem that can torpedo the branding process — when a company doesn’t trust the agency, designer, or branding professional that they have hired. Now, this should go without saying, but if you don’t trust an agency, you shouldn’t hire them. But we also know that it can be more complicated than that. Many companies do not know what to look for in a trusted branding partner. They might hire a branding partner only to realize halfway through the project that they aren’t delivering as they promised.
Often, the founder or employees involved in the branding work don’t trust that the process will work because it seems so abstract. While the process is in-depth and holistic, it is not as predictable as knowing that “if we do ‘this,’ then we get ‘that.’”
When you are baking, you add various ingredients together that might taste terrible on their own. Yet the combination of mixing ingredients and the addition of both heat and time results in a cake. Seeing the individual raw ingredients on the kitchen counter doesn’t instill trust that the result will be something edible or even delicious. Branding is even less linear than baking, and people trust best when they see a linear progression. It is true, however, that if you engage in branding, you see better results in your marketing, sales, and internal company culture. The results just don’t appear as the outcome of a simple A + B = C equation.
Companies might not trust that branding will work for their business, as if their company is unique and different, and they don’t need it. Just like with weight loss, you might assume that the particular needs and idiosyncrasies of your company won’t allow branding to work for you. Companies get so caught up in the internal problems that they can’t imagine there is such a straight-forward solution out there.
Remember: Branding deals with the realm of perception, and people often don’t trust what they can’t see. Yet while you can’t see perception, it is still genuine. People have perceptions all day long. Branding just brings what is in the subconscious into the conscious.
Overcoming a lack of trust can be difficult. A company that is second-guessing will often doubt their intuition or forget the reasons they hired an agency in the first place. It’s during these times that communication is essential, and being able to take a step back and get clear on the goals your company is trying to achieve.
It makes common sense to hire a branding agency … for branding. And, you can do that in just 2-days with our “Branding Intensive“.
