Without a strong brand, you’re just another option on the shelf.
You are thirsty — you grab a Coca-Cola. You need to book a place to stay — you think of Airbnb. You want to watch a movie — you turn to Netflix.
When in need of a product or service you instinctively turn to brands you recognize and trust.
This is the power of branding: it shapes decisions, builds loyalty, and ensures that a product is the first choice in a crowded market.
It is why businesses should aim to achieve strong branding that increases consumer trust and encourages purchases — and having a reliable branding partner can get you there.
Branding agency Willoughby Design stands out for its dedication to excellence, proven creative processes, and strong client relationships.
In this interview, Willoughby Co-CEO and owner Megan Stephens discusses:
- The agency’s approach to driving client trust
- The key benefits of outsourcing branding projects and how to choose an agency that is most suitable for your business
- How to build a strong brand identity in 2024
Who Is Megan Stephens?
Megan is a brand strategist and creative director with 25 years of experience in guiding businesses and organizations through brand invention, evolution, and management. She is a notable speaker on brand strategy and design, creative process, and people-centered design thinking. Her outstanding dedication to helping clients achieve their business goals has resulted in numerous awards and recognitions for Willoughby.
Willoughby has been developing brand strategies and experiences for clients since 1978, making it the longest, continuously running, woman-owned branding agency in the U.S.
“We are branding experts and, now in our second generation of ownership, we have been honing our expertise for decades. We are not marketing or advertising generalists who claim to do everything,” Megan tells me.
According to her, when a business hires Willoughby, they are hiring a team of tenured and expert strategists, writers, and designers who focus their energy day in and day out on creating and developing brands.
“Our proven creative process has been used to develop every kind of brand, from start-ups like Noodles and Company and Three Dog Bakery to the creation of new product brands for companies like Pet Supplies Plus and Hostess to evolving brand expressions for legacy brands like Dixie, Panera Bread, Kohl’s and Hallmark,” Megan adds.
Building Trust Through Client-Centric Approach
Willoughby Design has worked with notable clients like PGI USA and Hershey's, and Megan says the keyword here is relationship.
It all starts with taking the time to understand the business, the category, and the culture. The company acts as a true partner, not coming in with a predetermined solution but coming in knowing how to guide the creative process and how to get the right results.
“Our work requires mutual trust. Branding work is personal, emotional and it can even be scary to commit to a direction for many business leaders. Not only do we understand brands, we understand how to bring a leadership team together to rally around a clear strategy that will, in turn, guide the right branding solution for their company,” Megan explains.
Megan highlights their commitment to doing great work and to being a trusted consultant when clients need to work through branding solutions.
“We are a very tenured and collaborative team. Our clients meet the team lead they will work with on day one and our leadership team remains engaged throughout the process. No bait and switch. We are dedicated to knowing your business and want to be the first phone call when there is a brand challenge to consider,” she explains.
Key Benefits of Outsourcing Branding Projects
Outsourcing branding projects offers significant advantages for businesses looking to elevate their brand identity.
Megan emphasizes that bringing in an external branding team allows companies to enhance their in-house efforts with fresh perspectives and specialized expertise in brand identity development.
“Most of our clients don’t have in-house branding experts. They have marketing teams who manage their day-to-day tactics and communications.
For clients who have larger in-house teams, brand development can be challenging because you are too close to the day-to-day functionality of it, she explains, highlighting that when a brand brings in a branding team like Willoughby, it works as an extension of the brand’s in-house team.
“We understand that they know their product and the audience better than anyone else. We compliment their knowledge with our deep understanding of how to design strong brand identity systems and our ability to bring experience and inspiration from outside their organization,” she adds.
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For example, PGI’s newest brand Inoveo Platinum was looking for a team that could bring branding and jewelry category expertise to help guide the strategy and the identity of this new brand.
“They conducted a global search and we were awarded the work for this ingredient branding project,” Megan underlines.
Inoveo Platinum recently listed Willoughby as its agency of record, so Megan shared with me the key strategies they are implementing to capture the attention of both consumers and industry stakeholders.
“We started with a core understanding that the brand would have two key audiences — the industry stakeholders and an end consumer. This knowledge allowed us to build a strategy that can work across the entire jewelry ecosystem.
We are now in the process of building a comprehensive system that can be used across all communications,” she explains.
Megan points out that it’s important to remember that no matter the industry or touchpoint, every person experiencing a brand is a human experiencing the world around them.
“It takes many impressions to create a memory. The most powerful thing any brand can do is to present a confident, strong branding system consistently across all touchpoints,” she concludes.
Drawing from Willoughby’s success in creating franchise and expansion strategies for numerous brands, she highlights that for businesses looking to scale effectively, the cornerstone lies in creating a brand book.
“Brands live at the foundation of every communication. A strong brand with clear brand standards is the first step in building a scalable expansion strategy,” she says.
A brand book will help you set clear guidelines for perpetuating brand identity in all external and internal communications. Watch our video below to learn what elements to include in your brand book:
Choosing the Right Branding Partner in 2024
What should businesses look for when outsourcing a branding project in 2024?
Megan highlights that businesses should look for branding experts and not marketing communications or ad agencies because branding requires a different skill set than managing marketing.
“Branding should not be an add-on to a larger project or an afterthought to a campaign,” she says.
When looking for the right branding agency, she advises to consider the following:
- Look for their references
- Review their case studies
- Ensure you are hiring a team with a proven process
- Confirm the agency has the experience and tools necessary
- Choose a team that can guide your business from inception to launch
Effective branding is essential for business growth, but it requires careful planning and resource allocation to ensure its success.
“A branding project is a capital investment. It’s like investing in a building. One of the biggest challenges companies face is when they try to fund branding work within an annual marketing budget.
Day-to-day marketing can’t be put on hold for brand work. Branding needs to be done in addition to marketing and be considered a long-term investment in the business,” Megan explains.
How to Build a Strong Brand Identity in 2024
Key factors to building a strong brand identity, standing out in the crowd, and driving trust are:
- Clarity: Brands that clearly understand their audience and why they exist for that audience are always the most successful. Don’t try to be everything to everybody. Work to be something really important and special to a select group of people.
- Consistency: Your website experience should feel like your retail experience. Social should reflect the website. Your voice should be the same online and on the product. This is not an easy thing to achieve when you have many different people creating communications but with strong brand standards in place, it’s very possible. And you can never stop — it requires discipline and commitment.
- Confidence: Believe in your brand with all your heart and have confidence in presenting it with pride. That belief will spread. Others will join. And your brand will grow.
Brand visual identity plays a major role in presenting your business consistently. Watch our video below to discover how to create a brand visual identity for your business:
Given that over 80% of consumers cite trust as a deciding factor in their brand buying decision, per the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, businesses must prioritize building and maintaining trust through consistent, authentic, and transparent branding efforts to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Now more than ever consumers have a lot of options to choose from, which means businesses should do much more than offer value and quality to win them over.
Strong branding is the key here as it not only differentiates a business in a crowded market but also fosters the emotional connection and loyalty needed to secure long-term customer relationships.
Having a reliable branding partner can make all the difference in ensuring that a brand not only meets but exceeds consumer expectations, positioning the business for sustained success.
With its commitment to great work and client-centric approach, Willoughby stands out as a top choice for businesses aiming to partner with a reliable branding agency.
