A brand strategist decides what your business should be known for, and by whom, before anyone designs anything. Most owners skip that step and hire a designer instead. Then they wonder why the new logo changed nothing.
I do both jobs, so this isn't a post about designers being the problem. The problem is asking a designer to answer a question nobody asked them.
Strategy writes the brief, design answers it
A designer needs to know what to make. A strategist works out what it should say. Without the strategy, the designer fills the gap with taste: theirs, yours, or whatever the rest of your category already looks like.
That's why so many rebrands look new and work the same. The surface changed. The message didn't.
What the work actually looks like
In my eight-week process, strategy comes before any design. It goes roughly like this:
- Listening. Talking to customers who chose you, and if possible a few who didn't. Their words for what you do are rarely yours.
- Reading the market. Mapping competitors by what they promise, not how they look. The gap is usually the thing nobody is saying.
- Positioning. One sentence a buyer could repeat: who it's for, what you're the obvious choice for, and why they should believe it.
- Messaging. What you say first, second and third, on the website, in a proposal, on a call.
- The brief. A document the designer, the copywriter and you can all work from.
I was on a sales call once when the prospect asked me: if you could only get one part of brand strategy right, which would it be? I said the audience, not the visuals. He was surprised. He didn't expect a designer to put the logo second. But visuals can wait a few months. Not knowing who you're talking to can't.
Strategist, designer or agency: who does what
- Brand strategist. You get positioning, messaging and a brief. You don't get finished visuals, unless they also design. Best for owners who can't say why they're different.
- Designer. You get the logo, the identity and the files. You don't get a decision about what to say. Best for owners who already know their position. If you're weighing a cheap one, read Is a Fiverr logo good enough for your business?
- Branding agency. Usually both, with a team behind it. You don't get a low price or a fast turnaround. Best for bigger budgets and bigger rollouts.
Signs you need strategy, not more design
- You've rewritten your website more than once and it still doesn't land.
- Buyers keep putting you in the wrong box. They treat you as a vendor when you're a partner, or as the cheap option when you're the careful one.
- You compete on price even though you're better.
- You had a new logo made and nothing changed.
When you don't need one
You don't need a strategist if you're still testing whether anyone will buy. You don't need one if customers pick you on location and opening hours. And you don't need one if you can already say, in one sentence, why you're the obvious choice, and your customers say it back to you.
Then you need execution, and a good designer is enough.
The short answer
A brand strategist decides what your business should be known for and who it's for, then turns that into words a designer and a salesperson can use. If your design keeps changing and your results don't, you've been paying for execution without a direction.
What to ask before you hire one
- What will you research, and who will you talk to?
- What will I get in writing at the end?
- How will we know it worked?
- Do you design too, or will you brief someone who does?
If the answers are mostly about deliverables and mood boards, you're talking to a designer with a new title.
If two of the signs above sounded like your business, that's the conversation I have on a first call. Book a call.
