Everyone wants to know what branding costs, and the first answer is always "it depends." Which is true, and also completely useless when you're trying to make a budget. I know. I’ve seen the renewed complaints all over Threads lately. So let's get specific.
Branding can cost anywhere from nothing to more than most cars, and where you land depends on three things: how much of it you do yourself, how much strategy you need, and how many pieces you need at the end. Here's how that plays out in real life.
*These are examples from my own service packages, not industry-wide price tags. Every designer approaches pricing and scope a little differently.
Photo by My Networking Apparel on Unsplash
The DIY route: $0 (plus your time)
You can absolutely build a starting brand yourself, and a lot of people do. Pick two fonts, pick a few colors, make a simple wordmark in whatever tool you're comfortable with, and then use them the same way everywhere (that you have control over). That last part is the one people skip. Everywhere means everywhere.
Cost doesn’t only mean money. It's time, plus the challenge of making everything look consistent and professional when you're figuring it out as you go. For a side business or something you're still testing, then saving your dollars is actually a smart choice.
The middle: a brand foundation (around $650)
This is a good place for a lot of newer and solo businesses to start, and it's why my A Little Help package exists.
For $650, you get a primary logo and wordmark (or a cleanup of the one you already have), a color palette, font recommendations, a social banner or profile treatment, a mini brand guide, your digital files, and print files that you can use yourself or send to a professional printer.
What you don't get is deep strategy. That’s not for you. This one is for folks who already know who they are and who they're talking to, and just need their branding to match.
The bigger build: a full identity ($1,500 and up)
Once your business is established, or you're ready to drop real coins on signs, printing, or a website, it's time to think beyond just a logo.
My Strong Start package starts at $1,500 and adds a brand clarity session, a secondary mark, a full typography system, customizable social templates, and a mini brand guide.
Brand System starts at $3,750 and goes further into strategy, messaging, voice (I mean writing in this case), and full brand guidelines.
It might look like you’re just getting more stuff (I mean, you are, but that’s not the whole point), but you’re really getting everything you need so that everything you make looks like yours. You can’t be out here looking raggedy and expect folks to give you their hard-earned money. In this economy?
So which one do you need?
Do you know who your customer is? Do you already have a name, a vibe, and a rough idea of how you want to look?
If yes, a foundation package is plenty for you.
If you're still figuring out who you're talking to, what makes your business different, or how to keep everything consistent as you grow, it's worth investing in the strategy part.
And if you're somewhere in between, that's what Office Hours are for. Fifteen minutes is $35, and we can figure out where you need to be before you spend anything bigger.
What to pay for first
If money is tight (again, in THIS economy?), start with the basics: a clear idea of who you're trying to reach, a clean, usable logo, and a consistent set of colors and fonts.
Then, invest in templates for whatever you make most often. Social posts, flyers, menus - whatever you use the most. Everything else can wait until the business is ready for it.
The main mistake I see people make is paying for branding twice. Usually because the first round was rushed, random, or bought from someone who works from the same 4 logo templates every time.
Planning upfront saves you much more money than having to pay someone else to redo everything later.
If you want to talk through anything, book an Office Hours chat or take a look at A little help. Or just message me. Sliding in my DMs here is perfectly acceptable.
