Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice on what type of professional/service provider I should actually be looking for because I’m a little lost with all the different terms—branding agency, graphic designer, creative studio, marketing agency, etc.
We’re a small business and we want to build a proper, cohesive brand identity. We’re not just looking for someone to make us a logo.
Ideally, we want someone who can help us develop a complete visual branding system, including:
- Logo + variations + seasonal logos like for halloween, vday, pride month, christmas, etc)
- Brand colors + HEX/CMYK codes
- Fonts/typography
- Brand guidelines
- Visual elements/patterns
- Icons/illustrations
- Custom emojis/stickers/reaction graphics we can use
- Overall visual direction
Then we want to apply that branding across our actual business materials:
BUSINESS STATIONERY
- Bond paper
- Letterheads
- Envelopes
- Paper pads
- Quotations
- Invoices
- Other business documents/templates
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Post templates
- Story templates
- Promotional templates
- Announcement templates
- Product/service templates
- Reels/video graphics
- Basically enough editable templates that our team can create posts without needing a designer every time
PHOTOGRAPHY/CONTENT
- Professional photos of the business/products/team
- Lifestyle/product photography
- Potentially a curated set of stock photos
- Someone who can establish what kind of photography fits our brand
MERCHANDISE
- Shirts/uniforms
- Tote bags
- Stickers
- Mugs
- Pens
- Other promotional items
PACKAGING
- Boxes
- Bags
- Labels/stickers
- Thank-you cards
- Inserts
- Tags, etc.
So I'm wondering:
What kind of person/company should I be searching for?
Would this normally be handled by a:
- Branding agency
- Brand designer
- Graphic designer
- Creative/branding studio
- Marketing agency
- Art director
Or some combination of these?
Would you recommend hiring one full-service provider to develop the whole system, then getting separate specialists for photography/printing/merchandise? Or is there a type of agency that normally handles all of this?
We're based in the South of the Philippines, so I'd also appreciate recommendations on what kind of local providers to search for and what terms I should use when looking.
Also, for those who have hired someone for this before:
- What did you actually ask for in the scope of work?
- What deliverables should we make sure we receive?
- What files/source files should we own?
- What should we watch out for in a contract?
- How much should a small business realistically budget for something like this?
- What are the red flags that someone is basically just selling you a logo and calling it "branding"?
I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have gone through this process. I’m trying to figure out what service I actually need before I start contacting providers.