Services / 01 / Brand
Brand
strategy
& identity
Find your position. Define your difference. Build a brand people remember.
A brand is what people think, feel and say about your business when you're not in the room. We help companies decide what that should be, then build the strategy, messaging and identity to make it stick.
Before
We provide high-quality, customer-focused solutions for businesses of all sizes.
After
The plumber who shows up when they said they would.
Every business has a version of the first line. Our job is to find the second one: true, specific, and hard for a competitor to copy.
Looking different isn't the goal. Being chosen is.
Most brand problems don't look like brand problems. They show up as a website that doesn't convert, sales conversations that start from scratch every time, or marketing that looks fine but never quite sounds like you. The fix starts with clarity: who you're for, what you do better than anyone else, and why that matters to the people buying.
Our brand strategy work answers those questions before a single logo sketch. A logo is one piece of it, and our guide to logo vs. brand explains the rest. We look at your market, your competitors and your customers, then define a position you can own and defend. That position becomes the brief for everything that follows, from messaging to visual identity to the way your team describes the business.
For growing businesses, and the ones that grew up
We work mostly with small and midsize companies that have outgrown the brand they started with, and with larger teams that need a clearer story across more people and more channels. The process scales; the standard doesn't.
The result is a brand that feels established without feeling stiff, and an identity system your team can actually use, not a PDF that lives in a shared drive. For a truck dealership with no lot, that meant a brand built before the business opened its doors. Once the voice is set, social media that sounds like you is where most people hear it first.
Core
discovery.
Three exercises that turn what you know about your business into a strategy we can design against. They identify what your customers need and give you actionable insight into how to reach your goals.
1
Brand attributes
Six columns, each a key aspect of the brand. Brainstorm, narrow to three, then commit to one.
Culture
How would your community describe you?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1ClassyHuman connectionExperience focus
Customer
How would you describe your customers?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1Social cultureDiscretionaryLook and feel matter
Voice
How do you sound to others?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1Feel over scienceZenPeloton-esque
Feeling
How do others feel after interacting with you?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1Worth itTribeConfident
Impact
What tangible impact do you have on others?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1Improved daily routineJoin a communityMake a difference
X-factor
What makes you radically different?
Brainstorm, top 3, top 1Wellness lifestyleCommunity focusQuality product experience
The six answers become one sentence
Canis Collection provides a quality product experience to look-and-feel-matter customers in an experience-focused environment with a Peloton-esque voice, helping them feel confident and make a difference.
From our Core Discovery with Canis Collection.
2
Personas
Real people, not segments. Each persona gets a name, a story, the needs that come with it and the solutions that meet them.
Persona example
Middle-class Michelle.
35 to 55. Suburban Salt Lake Valley. Instagram and Pinterest. Makes and takes recommendations.
Demographics
Who, where, when. The facts.
Upper middle class, discretionary income. Probably married, kids at home.
Story
The traits and behavior that shape how they relate to you.
Self-care, wellness, researches before buying. Willing to pay for better brands.
Needs
What they need from you.
Not into oily tinctures. Product looks good, not like medicine. Don't upsell me.
Solutions
How to meet those needs and exceed them.
Travel-size kit. Quarterly subscription. Testimonial stories. A premium shopping experience, not Amazon.
3
Priority goals
Everything gets ranked against three goals, so the work goes where it pays back first.
Revenue
How you make money.
Awareness
Get more customers to discover you.
Efficiency
Systemize the way your organization works.
Mild. Medium. Spicy.
Core Discovery becomes three visual directions on one strategy, from safe to bold. You choose the heat before we design a single logo.
Mild
Familiar and warm. Low risk, easy yes.
Medium
Sharper and more confident. Still on the safe side of the street.
Spicy
Bold enough to make you nervous. Usually the one people remember.
Q. How long does a brand project take?
It depends on scope. A focused identity refresh moves faster than a full repositioning with research. You get a timeline with phases, milestones and budget before work starts.
Q. Do we need strategy if we only want a new logo?
A logo without a strategy is a guess. Even a light round of positioning makes the design decisions faster and the result more durable.
Q. Can you work with our existing brand?
Yes. Often the right answer is to keep the recognition you've built, sharpen what's there and fix what isn't working.
Q. What do we have at the end?
A defined position and messaging, an identity system, and the files and guidance your team needs to use them. Deliverables are agreed in the scope up front.
brand. ↗
A new brand, or one that needs to work harder? Let's find what's true about you.
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