Selecting Your Branding Consultant (Recon Thursday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  It’s Recon Thursday and we are continuing our series on understanding how to outsource branding and marketing support for your company.  Today we are discussing Branding Consultants.

In last week’s blog I asked you to consider whether or not your marketing was working and if you should keep it in house or bring in an outside consultant.  If you have decided to hire a branding consultant, there are four areas to focus on when you are in discussions with an individual or company to do the work.

First is rapport.  Do you feel you have established a relationship and will get along with this individual or company?  You will be trenches with them so it is very important that you get along well.  Number two; review examples of their past work and make sure you like it.  Don’t assume that just because they are talented they will be able to provide what you want.

Next look at their approach, the steps will they take to complete the scope of work.  Fourth, call/review references, look at the age of the references and if they are not recent, request newer contacts.

Once you engage a consultant clearly define the scope of work.  Discuss fees; every company is different, they may bill you on an hourly basis, a project basis or retainer.  Decide what will work the best for your budget.

Establish a timeline.  I recommend that you consider a phased delivery.  Don’t encompass all the work into one milestone to be delivered at the end of the project.  Rather, establish a number of smaller milestones.  Review and approve one milestone at a time and then move on to the next.  Lastly, be very clear on the deliverable or deliverables the consultant will turn over to you when the work is complete.

Your branding consultant should get you excited about your brand and branding in the future.  They will assist you to create brand positioning, identify target customers and develop a marketing action plan that will move execution forward.  Again, review each milestone and ensure it meets your expectation before you move on to the next.

The last thing to remember is that you are the client, you have to decide whether or not to implement the recommendations that the consultant makes to you.

That concludes Recon Thursday.  Join us tomorrow for Digital Friday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

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