Brand Consultants and How They Add Value to a Firm

Brand consultants help organizations in many different ways. When a company is willing to launch a new product, they study the business model and design stories that revolve around how useful that product is. When firms want to gain a competitive edge in the market, brand consultants help them create a value proposition that promotes the product or service so that it can stand out from the crowd. Since brand consultants have a number of years of experience working with companies in different sectors, they can help firms in designing creative logos and preparing taglines for the product or service.

The brand is not just an image, it is a perception that builds in the customer’s mind over a period of time. The stronger a brand image, the more it will compel a company’s target audience to buy product or service form them. Creating brand loyalty is the most important part of any brand development strategy. Consultants help companies build a loyal customer base for repeat sales. Brand consultants make sure that every communication about the company or their product is consistent throughout the brand awareness campaign.

Responsibilities of a Brand Consultant

Brand consultants work independently with different companies. They provide an unbiased view on how a firm can leverage on its product offering, and the price to create maximum impact on the target audience. In any firm, different departments work together to deliver the final product. These departments could include marketing, operations, and sales. However, usually, each department is biased towards their own interest. An independent brand consultant can help companies acquire a view on how they should protect their brand image on the target audience.

Some of the essential duties that a brand consultant performs include:

Gaining useful insights about company objectives

This is one of the most important elements in a brand consultants job description. Since these consultants are not full-time employees of any firm. They need time to study a particular company’s business model before they can help them in defining useful strategies for promoting their product or service. Consultants achieve this purpose, by sitting down with different company stakeholders and identifying the key strengths and weaknesses that are not yet thought of.

The brand consultant is able to tailor the marketing strategy based on what the company’s long and short-term goals are.

Analyze bottlenecks that occur while creating brand awareness

Brand consultant carefully studies every aspect of the promotional campaigns and tries to find out the bottlenecks that provide hindrance in creating maximum impact on the target audience. Since they are an independent party, they have a bird’s eye view of the whole operation. A successful brand consultant is not only able to pinpoint a bottleneck but is also able to recommend corrective measures for the smooth running of company operations.

Analyze what customers are looking for in a brand

The most important element in building a strong brand image is understanding the needs and wants of the customers. Some of the largest brands in the world have spent a considerable amount of time studying what the target audience is looking for in a brand and then tailoring their brand management strategy according to customer needs.

Old Spice, a leading producer of world-class colognes was not able to market its product to the younger generation. After doing a thorough study about how customers perceived their product, the company was able to revitalize its brand by tailoring its product to attract people of all ages. Old Spice is now considered as one of the leading perfume manufacturers around the world.

Perform competitive analysis

A number of times, companies face problem in gaining a competitive edge in the market even after investing a great deal of time and money in their product. To resolve this problem, brand consultants conduct a thorough study of the market, analyzing key strengths and weaknesses of competitive products. Eventually, they help firms devise their brand management strategies to attract the potential client’s interest towards their own product. This helps in increasing a company’s market share and increasing their revenue over time.

This process also helps brand consultants in identifying unique selling propositions for the company that can be helpful in promoting the brand image in the market.

Advantages of hiring a brand consultant

• Brand consultants specialize in multiple areas of brand management. They can help companies to design appropriate logos, prepare taglines, and even help in identifying the right target audience for their product.
• There are times when companies are struggling with their brand management strategy because they are not able to get to the root of the problem. In these scenarios, it is always better to get an outside view of the business operations. By interviewing each stakeholder, they are able to highlight issues that were not visible to the management before.
• Companies often go for brand consultants rather than hiring brand managers on a full-time basis. The major reason for this practice is that consultants cost less and usually get paid per project rather than per month. This allows organizations to achieve their goals in stipulated timelines.
• Since consultants provide an unbiased and straightforward view about the business, it may not gel well with the company management. Before companies start working with the brand consultant, they should be prepared for an honest feedback about their policies. The organization should be flexible enough to embrace the changes recommended by the brand consultants to achieve a high return on investment.

To maximize their return on investment, companies should choose a brand consultant that is best suited for their own business needs. Organizations should hire brand consultants that have a depth of experience helping clients manage their brand in relevant industries. As long as the end goal remains the same, companies should not shy away from bringing someone on board who can challenge the higher management rather than agreeing to their ideas. This will help in promoting innovative ideas during the brand management strategy discussions.