When to Hire a Freelance Branding Expert vs. Agency

Branding is more than a logo and company colors — it represents who your company is. 

Through your brand name, copy, slogans, graphic design, typography, and other materials, your brand should clearly communicate what your mission is and what your business does.  

In doing so, you can target customers more effectively, differentiate your company from others in your industry, and improve brand loyalty. In fact, 81% of consumers say that they need to trust a brand before they will consider buying one of its products.   

What Services Do Branding Experts Provide? 

• Brand strategy 
• Brand positioning and messaging 
• Developing brand guidelines
• Logo design
• Web design 
• Copywriting 
• Social media strategy 
• Naming
• Rebranding or brand refresh

However, branding can be challenging to do on your own. Hiring a brand expert to establish your business or products can give your business a leg up and propel your business forward. 

But should that be a branding freelancer or branding agency? 

The answer depends on your needs, budget, and more. This article outlines the benefits and challenges of both to help you find the perfect partner for your project. 

Looking to hire a branding agency? Search for top-rated agencies on Clutch, then filter by location, client ratings, and cost to find the perfect partner for your business. 

Freelance Branding Expert

What is a Freelance Branding Expert? 

Freelance branding experts are independent contractors, but they can still provide a lot of the same services as branding agencies. Often, they have experience working for branding agencies or companies with internal branding teams and are skilled in brand strategy, graphic design, copywriting, and more. 

5 Benefits of Hiring a Freelance Branding Expert

If you’re unfamiliar with building a brand strategy or don’t have the skill set to deliver brand materials, a freelance branding expert can help. 

Here are some of the top reasons why you should hire a branding freelancer: 

1. Faster access to talent & flexible scheduling
2. More competitive cost-wise
3. New ideas
4. No long-term commitment
5. High-quality work

Faster Access to Talent & Flexible Scheduling

Building an internal branding team or hiring a branding agency can take more time to onboard. Freelance brand experts, on the other hand, can get started on a project right away. 

Once you’ve connected with them and explained your project, there is very little overhead. Because of this, you are more likely to receive your deliverables quickly so you can launch your new brand. 

More Competitive Cost-Wise

In general, it is more affordable to hire a freelancer than it is to hire a branding agency. This is because there are fewer people working on a project and, often, the projects are a bit smaller. 

Especially if you are looking just to create a few logos, refresh your graphic design, or update your color palette, a branding expert can deliver those quickly without excessive costs. 

Compared to an internal team, a freelancer is much cheaper because companies don’t have to pay their salary or benefits, meaning they’re only paying for the work they need to be completed. 

Small businesses that are looking to enhance their branding, but have a smaller budget than large enterprises, can benefit from hiring a freelance branding expert to refresh their look. 

New Ideas 

Hiring a branding professional can help your business gain insight into new ways to reach customers and present your brand. For in-house employees, it can be easy to lay back on existing brand materials or existing ideas, which can make your brand feel stale. 

By getting a third-party perspective, you can generate fresh, new ideas that can jumpstart your business. 

No Long-Term Commitment 

When companies hire a branding agency or in-house team, they need to be able to justify the cost by committing to more extensive projects. Freelancers, on the other hand, can be brought on for even one quick project or to simply deliver brand materials quickly. 

Some brand agencies may require your business to spend a minimum amount, which means that they won’t take on short-term projects. Rather than spending a lot on a full branding project, you can limit your expenses by working with a branding freelancer who can work on just one project. 

High-Quality Work 

Branding freelancers, even though they may be less formal, can have extensive experience building out brand guidelines, developing brand collateral, and more. Whether you’re looking to create a brand from scratch, want to launch a new product, or want to refresh your look, you don’t necessarily have to hire a full branding agency to be happy with the finished product. Freelancers are certainly capable of delivering a stand-out brand and quality materials. 

5 Challenges of Hiring a Freelance Branding Expert

While freelance branding experts can provide top-notch branding services, they may not be the best fit for your business. Here’s why: 

1. Less insight into your business
2. Fewer resources
3. More risk associated with high-budget projects
4. Scalability
5. Reliability

Less Insight Into Your Business

Whenever you outsource a project, you risk they may not understand your business or your audience. Particularly because it’s difficult to vet branding freelancers, it may be difficult for businesses in certain industries to find a freelancer that understands your business inside and out. 

One of the best ways to combat this is to share market research and existing brand guidelines with your branding freelancer. Then set up initial meetings to answer any of their questions and explain the goals you’re hoping to achieve. 

Fewer Resources

Freelancers are just a team of one. While this can make communication and collaboration pretty easy, this means that there are some limitations to what they can accomplish. With fewer resources, they may not be able to deliver on big projects as quickly. 

It also means that they may be strong in one area, but weaker in others. For instance, they may be great at creating brand guidelines and graphic design, but they may lack the ability to create engaging copy, whereas an agency will have experts to support all aspects of your project. 

 Branding agencies are more likely to be well-rounded and can provide everything you need when it comes to branding. 

More Risk Associated with High-Budget Projects

While many branding freelancers have been able to deliver high-quality work on time, there is always some risk that you take on when you hire a freelancer. 

For one, it may be difficult to confirm the quality of their work and how easy it is to work with them before hiring. They’re also a little more difficult to hold accountable because there is less oversight than there would be when you hire a branding agency. 

Especially if you’re about to spend a lot of money on your branding project, you’ll want to feel confident that they can deliver everything you need. 

Scalability 

As discussed above, it can be hard for one person to deliver everything you need. There is only so much that one person can do. Even if they’re great when working on one project, they may not have the resources needed to take on additional responsibilities if you wish to expand your partnership. 

Consider this: can they deliver everything on your timeline? And will your project take priority over others? This may limit what you’re able to request from them. 

Reliability 

If you’re depending on one person to provide all of your branding materials, you may get to a point when they won’t be accessible. Whether they take a new job, don’t have the bandwidth to work on your project, or are simply on vacation, they can be unreliable long-term.

However, a branding agency has the team and the resources needed that they will always be able to deliver on time and provide your business with the support you need. 

Branding Agency 

What is a Branding Agency? 

Branding agencies have many teams composed of industry experts that can help develop everything you need for your branding project. This includes: 

• Brand strategists
• Graphic designers
• Logo designers
• Copywriters 
• Social media specialists 
• Trademark and copyright lawyers 
• More

With an experienced team that can deliver everything your business needs to create an engaging and eye-catching brand identity, a brand agency may be the perfect partner for your business. 

5 Benefits of Hiring a Branding Agency

If an expert branding freelancer isn’t the right fit for your project, a branding agency may be able to provide the resources you need to get the results you want. Here are the top 5 reasons you should hire a branding agency: 

1. Extensive industry experience
2. Robust team and many resources
3. Higher ROI
4. Reliable
5. Fresh perspective

Extensive Industry Experience 

Branding agencies have extensive portfolios to showcase their work. Having worked with hundreds of clients in different markets and industries, they are able to deliver unique, and interesting brand ideas.

They also know what will stand out in your specific industry and can balance that with creating a brand image that represents your business well. 

Most branding agencies also have a set workflow that helps them collaborate with clients, iterate on ideas, and deliver a fresh brand look that you are sure to be happy with. With a proven track record of delivering high-quality work, you can’t go wrong when hiring a branding agency.  

Robust Team & Many Resources 

Unlike freelancers, branding agencies have a large team of experts and can pool resources to ensure that you get the results you want in the timeline you need. This makes them more scalable and reliable, but it also ensures that their team is well-rounded. They have brand strategists, graphic designers, copywriters, web designers, digital marketers, and more working on your project. 

Higher ROI 

Great branding has the potential to launch a business forward. It can help grow brand awareness, target new audiences, strengthen customer loyalty, and even increase conversions. 

While it’s certainly possible to do this with an in-house team or freelancer, branding agencies are particularly skilled at positioning your brand so that you can reap all the benefits. Because of this, companies that hire a branding agency are likely to see a higher return on their investment. 

Reliable

With a more robust team and a solid workflow, branding agencies are very reliable. They can easily fill positions and bring in additional team members to work on projects when needed. 

They can also be trusted because they’ve built a reputation on their work and their ability to deliver high-quality work. 

Fresh Perspective 

Not everybody is super creative, but that’s okay! Branding agencies are full of creative professionals who can provide new, fresh ideas. They may also be able to provide a fresh perspective that an internal team may have missed to begin with. As creative people, they can look at ideas from different angles in order to appeal to different audiences. 

5 Challenges of Hiring a Branding Agency 

While nothing can beat the quality of work delivered by a top-notch branding agency, they still have a few weaknesses. Here are a few things to consider to determine if a partnership with a branding agency is the right move for your business: 

1. Less flexibility
2. May not take on smaller projects
3. Can be expensive
4. May not be as transparent
5. Communication problems

Less Flexibility 

Branding agencies may not be as flexible as freelancers. With different clients and responsibilities they need to manage, they may not be able to take on new projects or produce new branding materials at the drop of a hat.

They’re also less likely to take on additional work that wasn’t scoped out at the beginning of the project. To do so may impact the timeline and cost of the branding project. 

If you’re looking for a flexible partner, ask about how they address problems like this or consider bringing them on retainer. 

May Not Take on Smaller Projects 

Some branding agencies won’t take on smaller projects. Especially if they’re very well-known, they can be picky about the clients and projects they accept. They may even have a minimum project cost, which can eliminate a lot of potential clients. 

If you’re just looking to create a few branding materials, look to connect with a smaller branding agency or a branding freelancer. 

Can Be Expensive 

Compared to freelancers, branding agencies may be slightly more expensive to hire. This can be for a multitude of reasons, such as: 

• Their notoriety creates demand for their services
• They have a minimum project cost
• They’re premium branding experts 
• They have bigger teams and more overhead costs 

Still, they’re well worth the investment if you’re looking to enhance your brand. Even with a higher cost, you can still see high returns when working with a branding agency. 

May Not Be As Transparent 

One of the biggest benefits of working with a freelancer is that they can become more integrated with your in-house team. Because of this, it can feel like they’re more transparent and communicative about what they’re working on. 

There are more people involved in the process when you hire a branding agency, and they often stick to a specific workflow to brainstorm ideas. This can make it feel like they’re being less transparent about their process and where they are in the project. 

Usually, however, branding agencies will set up regular meetings with your team to present their ideas and receive feedback. Many are very upfront about this process, even if they’re less communicative between meetings. Be sure to talk about how they plan to collaborate with your team 

Communication Problems 

Whenever there are large teams in play, there’s potential for miscommunication. Things simply get lost when it’s shared between team members, similar to how messages can be misconstrued in a game of telephone.

To solve this problem, establish how you will communicate between teams and err on the side of over communication. CC team members on emails, set up regular meetings, and add comments to shared documents so everyone involved can reference it when needed. 

The Right Partner for Your Project Depends on Your Branding Needs 

Both branding freelancers and branding agencies have experience developing brand identities, strategies, and marketing collateral. However, they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. Deciding which one your business should hire depends on your branding goals. 

While branding agencies have more resources and can reliably deliver high-quality work, freelancers can be more flexible and affordable, especially for smaller branding projects. 

Carefully consider your business’s needs before hiring a potential branding partner. 

Looking to hire a branding agency? Search for top-rated agencies on Clutch, then filter by location, client ratings, and cost to find the perfect partner for your business. 

About the Author

Hannah Hicklen Content Marketing Manager at Clutch

Hannah Hicklen is a content marketing manager who focuses on creating newsworthy content around tech services, such as software and web development, AI, and cybersecurity. With a background in SEO and editorial content, she now specializes in creating multi-channel marketing strategies that drive engagement, build brand authority, and generate high-quality leads. Hannah leverages data-driven insights and industry trends to craft compelling narratives that resonate with technical and non-technical audiences alike. 

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