Toggle menu

6 January 2020

Branding your professional services

Open Bracket launches with impact

Open Bracket is a learning and organisational development consultancy based in London, UK. Another Colour played a pivotal role in supporting us to establish our company identity — looking back, it was a crucial stage in our business formation that has enabled us to bid for bigger projects, charge what we’re worth and start building a strong brand that will serve us for years to come.

Daniel Scott, Consultant Facilitator and Founder, Open Bracket Consulting

We asked Daniel from Open Bracket some questions on his experience of building a company brand — the process, creating a tailored suite of collateral and the value as a business to business brand.

Tell us about the branding process in its early stages. How did you get started?

Early in the process, with a company name in mind, I approached Another Colour about developing a logo. What ensued was a much more thorough and thoughtful (but surprisingly easy and satisfying) process. In one of our early Zoom conversations, I was challenged with a series of unexpected questions… What do you actually do? Who are you hoping to work with? Where are they? How do your clients actually get value from you? What do you do that’s different to your competitors? What do you want to be known for? How do you want your clients to feel when they work with you?

From those questions, did you get a notion of the identity you wanted to build for the company?

Another Colour drew out of me a range of ideas I had around the identity of the company. They really listened and built on my ideas, while always steering me in a better direction based on their demonstrated experience and evidence of what works.

How did you build on these ideas and translate them into the brand?

It was so much more than a logo… As well as the visual elements, Another Colour ended up influencing the final company name and the language we use to describe ourselves and our services. They helped me articulate some key principles (which I’m now developing to become our company values) which are integral to everything we do, internally and externally.

As a business to business company, were there aspects to consider in the branding process? How did this influence the delivery of the visual identity?

Another Colour highlighted to me a wider range of potential needs for a consulting business which I hadn’t thought about. This felt like information I was thirsty for and not a hard sell. They learned about the day-to-day tools I used to win and deliver business, which led to the design of custom-built PowerPoint templates for both digital and print use, Word templates for proposals and correspondence, business cards, an email signature, and web-friendly images and logos that I could use for a variety on online uses. It was a complete suite of professional and fresh looking products that tightly echoed my own mental picture of the company. And along the way I became educated in managing the company’s visual brand. There were also lots of priceless and really practical nuggets of advice throughout the process — such as management software tools, marketing ideas and online training.

Since launching, how has the brand been received?

Using the brand identity products had a greater impact than I could have anticipated. The feedback from my closest clients was that Open Bracket now felt more established and professional. They liked the cleanness and simplicity of the company’s look and feel. Customers (and myself!) started using the company name more. Most importantly, I noticed that having a proper company identity significantly built my own confidence in quoting my customers for what I know our work is worth — I was no longer just another freelancer, but instead a serious and competitive consultancy who clearly projected what they had to offer.

What benefits have you experienced as a result of the company branding?

The value I get from this process is still unfolding, and I’m glad I have a continuing relationship with Another Colour (for the times I need a friendly practical reminder on using the assets supplied, or even to benefit from their branding experience through stories on their website/blog). I feel lucky to have engaged Another Colour when I did, from the beginning, because it has felt like a massive head-start. Fellow consultants (my competitors!) have commented that after one year, my company is where their’s was after 3 years. And I put a lot of that down to my relationship with Another Colour.

If you would like to discuss creating a brand for your professional services, please get in touch.

Previous storyThe power of online reviews for small business

 See all

Next storyHow to name a company

Close