The Ultimate Guide to Hiring the Best Branding Agency in 2025

TL;DR: Every brand needs to find the best branding agency for its unique needs. Besides agencies, brands can also rely on design-as-a-service platforms for a more practical solution to maintain their branding through visual communication. 

Behind every powerful brand is the best branding agency that understands its values and translates those into a living identity that consumers trust and talk about.

But just how important is it to hire a brand identity agency to build a brand and keep it thriving?

Data reveals that 50% of consumers in the U.S. say recommendations from friends or family influence their purchase decisions. On the other hand, online reviews, blogs, or websites rank second at 22%.

These numbers only go to show that the influence on buying decisions goes beyond ads. Instead, trust, reputation, and recognition are more important, and these are the very factors that a strong branding builds. 

In this article, let’s peel back the layers of branding services and everything you need to know about hiring an agency. We’ll also discuss what to look for in a service provider to ensure that it’s the best branding agency for your brand.

As a bonus, we’ll offer a hack for getting graphic design services that are always on-brand and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

What is Branding?

Before we dive deep into the work of a branding agency, it’s crucial to know what branding actually is. Branding pertains to how a company defines, expresses, and maintains its identity so that people recognize and trust it.

The best way to illustrate what strong branding is by looking at Interbrand’s Top Global Brands of 2025. Here are the top five out of the 100 brands on the list:

Chances are, you recognize all the brands above just by their logo alone, which reflects brand awareness.

How did Interbrand rank the valuation of these brands? They based it on three parameters: 

• Financial analysis
• Role of the brand
• Brand strength

The last two components tell us a lot about what every brand should strive for. The report defines the role of the brand as the portion of the purchase decision attributed to the brand as opposed to other factors like convenience and price. Brand strength, meanwhile, is defined as the ability of the brand to establish brand loyalty, leading to future sustainable demand and profit.

Based on these measures, a successful brand creates value in itself, not just at present, but also in the time ahead.

What Does a Branding Agency Actually Do?

Coming off the metrics set by the Top Global Brands of 2025, a branding agency works to both boost the role of the brand and enhance brand strength. 

How does a creative branding agency do it? At its very core, a full-service branding agency handles a range of creative and marketing services for its clients. These services can include:

• Conducting market research
• Defining a brand identity
• Developing a visual identity, including a logo or a branding kit

In short, the best branding agency for your brand is like an architect. It creates a blueprint for how your brand is presented to the audience to establish trust and foster a good reputation.

Aside from full-service agencies, brands can also get branding service from design-as-a-service like Penji. These services offer visual assets that boost brand consistency, such as:

• Logo design
• Branding kit design
• Brand guidelines
• Social media posts
• Packaging design
• Email templates
• Web and app design

Simply put, a full-service branding agency deals with everything related to branding, including market research. On the other side of the coin, branding and design services work to visualize identity, values, and messages to sustain branding. 

When Should You Hire a Branding Agency or a Branding Designer?

Whether you’re considering hiring a design agency or a full-service agency, here are a few scenarios that warrant professional services:

1. The logo you’re using looks outdated. 

Your logo is the face of your brand. That said, an amateurish-looking logo speaks volumes about your company, and not in a good way. A brand designer would know how to use design elements to best show your audience what your brand stands for.

Take color, for instance. An analysis of Fortune 500 company logos revealed that almost four in ten logos is blue, while one in every four is black. About 16%, meanwhile, is a shade of red.

These color choices aren’t random. In contrast, each hue conveys certain emotions, such as:

• Blue – trust and professionalism
• Black – strength and sophistication
• Red – energy and passion 

2. You don’t have a branding kit.

If your logo is the face of your brand, the branding kit, also called the branding guidelines, is the wardrobe that defines how the brand will be presented to the world. Without a branding kit, you risk branding inconsistency, and it’s never a good look for any business.

Branding guidelines typically include:

• Logo usage
• Color palette
• Typography
• Imagery and photography
• Icons

3. Marketing campaigns feel inconsistent.

Having branding guidelines and following it are two different things. In fact, data tells us that even though 95% of companies have brand guidelines, only 25% actually use them.

Hiring the best branding agency or a professional graphic design service helps ensure that all the visual elements across your campaigns adhere to your brand guidelines. 

4. You’re launching something new.

Launching a new collection, product, or service can be a perfect time to establish or revive your brand. That said, hiring brand a designer or an agency will allow you to start from scratch and rebuild trust and credibility. After all, data reveals that eight out of ten consumers need to trust a brand before they can buy anything from it.

If you’re launching something new, catch your audience’s attention with fresh branding and sustain if from there.

5. Social media posts don’t get a lot of engagement.

With 5.66 billion users in 2025, social media has become the main marketing channel for brands of all sizes. Low social media engagement comes in various forms, such as:

• Few likes or reactions
• Minimal comments
• Barely any shares

If you experience any or all of the above scenarios, it’s time to ramp up your branding, and this is where a brand identity agency or designer can really make a difference.

6. You spend too much time on design.

How much time do you devote to producing content per week? Data tells us that more than one in three marketers spend 10 to 15 hours per week producing content, which includes visual assets.

Furthermore, more than one in five marketers said they spent more than 20 hours producing content. That’s more than half the week’s total working hours!

If you don’t have this amount of time to spend on content production, getting a brand design service is a smart move. These services are especially useful for brand owners, startup founders, solopreneurs, and marketers who should be focusing on more crucial aspects of the business. 

What Should You Look for When Choosing the Best Branding Agency or Design Service?

Whether you’re looking for a branding agency or a graphic design service, the best branding services have these things in common:

• Case Studies that Prove Expertise. When researching agencies or service providers, look for case studies that show how they were able to help their clients. Double-check if the clients mentioned are real clients, and look for quantitative results.  

• Strategic Branding Design Expertise. It’s not enough that they know how to create beautiful visuals. Instead, they should know how to use visual elements for strategic marketing. Doing so involves using lines, shapes, icons, visual hierarchy, and color psychology to express values and ideas. For instance, let’s look at some of the logos included in the world’s most expensive logos; they aren’t just beautiful, but they also tell the story of the brand at a glance.

• Clear Communication. Data tells us that 68% of respondents stopped dealing with a company because of poor business communication. It goes without saying that there must be a clear communication line between you and your service provider to be able to collaborate well.
• Transparent Pricing. Hidden charges can be the worst, especially for businesses with limited resources. That said, it’s not surprising that 47% of people who encountered hidden fees stopped or didn’t use the service. The best branding agency and design platform would tell you how much the services would cost from the get-go and care enough for clients so that they won’t be blindsided by surprise charges when the bill comes.  
• Scalable Support. A company’s branding needs to change as it grows. That said, your agency or design platform should be able to accommodate this growth. After all, scalability is the aspect that differentiates a one-off project from a long-lasting partnership.

What Are the Top Branding Trends to Watch?

A good brand is always a few steps ahead of its competitors. The best branding agencies and design platforms would know the latest trends and how to apply them to their clients’ brands. 

Here are a few:  

1. Humanized Branding in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm, with 78% of businesses having adopted AI technologies, according to data. Despite its benefits, however, solely using AI for branding means risking connection.

That’s where humanized branding shines. By focusing on human emotions and real stories, the brand appeals not just to algorithms but to people. 

The visuals for Infrawork combine clean and structured design with human elements: people in real-world settings. This kind of branding makes the business feel real and approachable, allowing the audience to relate to it at a personal level.

2. Purpose-Driven Branding

These days, a brand is defined beyond what it sells, but by why  it exists. As author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek wrote in his book, Start with Why:

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”

Rare Botanicals’ branding is a good example of a business that reflects this philosophy:

The packaging uses design choices that express purity, nature, and integrity: the soft, earth-toned palette, the clean layout, and the minimalist typography.

3. Minimalist, Timeless Design

Minimalism is more than a passing trend, but a strategy to keep a brand looking fresh and relevant for years to come. When you embrace a classic brand, you’re not tied to a dated look, and you won’t need to update your visuals every so often.

Here’s an example of timeless branding:

The Paperlite design uses a limited color palette, using shades of blue, conveying peace and calmness. In addition, the iconography and design elements also reflect trust and innovation.

How Much Does a Branding Agency Cost?

Though every brand would like to work with the best branding agency, not all have the resources to do so. After all, agency service can easily cost thousands of dollars, even for a one-off branding package.

How much, exactly? Business service provider platform Clutch says the average cost of hiring a branding agency is around $100–$149 per hour. And the average monthly cost of agency branding is a staggering $8,868.33 per month based on client reviews.

If you find that amount to be too steep, you’re not alone. In fact, data tells us that an average business in the U.S. spends $14,575 on marketing per year.

If we put two and two together, we can see that an average business could blow its entire annual marketing budget and end up in deficit if it hires a branding agency for just two months.

Fortunately, there can be a workaround – 

What’s the Budget-Friendly Hack to Professional Branding?

Here’s a hack for ventures who want professional branding without breaking the bank: 

Combining a DIY branding strategy with unlimited graphic design. 

Did you know that even some branding agencies outsource their design needs to Penji?

Here’s a quick comparison between the costs of hiring a traditional branding agency and the graphic design monthly plans offered by Penji:

Service Type	Average Monthly Cost	Annual Estimate	Inclusions
Full-Service Branding Agency	$8,868 per month	$71,000 per year	Brand strategy, messaging, identity design, and project management
Penji (Unlimited Graphic Design Service)	$499–$1,497 per month	≈ $5,988–$17,964 per year	Logo design, marketing collateral, packaging, and social media graphics, and over 120 other creative projects

Penji’s mid-tier plan ($995 per month) will cost $11,940 per year – that fits within the average annual marketing budget of businesses in the U.S. ($14,575) with spare change.

DIY Branding Strategy +  Unlimited Graphic Design: A Step-by-Step Guide 

Here are the steps to build solid branding in partnership with a custom graphic design services like Penji.

1. Fill Out a Branding Template to Define Your Brand

Before your designer can do anything for you, you need to define the basics of your brand. Take the time to fill out this template to really pin down your brand identity:

Branding Template

Brand Essence

• Brand name:
• Tagline (if any):
• Products or services offered:
• Brand mission or purpose:
• Problem solved for customers:
• How you want people to feel when they interact with your brand:

Audience Insight

• Target audience (age, location, interests, etc.):
• Audience’s main pain points or needs:
• Brands or styles do your customers already trust or relate to:

Brand Personality

• If your brand were a person, how would you describe them? (e.g., friendly, confident, minimalist, bold)
• Tone of voice your brand should use in its messaging (e.g., playful, formal, inspiring):
• Three words that describe your brand identity:

Visual Direction

• Preferred colors or palette:
• Fonts or typography styles (modern, classic, handwritten, etc.):
• Brands whose design style you admire:

2. Request a Logo and Branding Kit

Using your unlimited graphic design subscription, request your first branding visual asset: your logo. In your brief, include the following details, files, and links:

• Your filled out branding template
• Logos you’ve used in the past, if any
• Mood boards
• Initial color palette and typography choices, if any

Typically, you’ll want to set up your logo first before you ask your designer to create the branding kit, which includes all the creative elements for your brand. This includes your color palette, fonts, logo versions, product mockups, and more. 

However, there may also be instances when it would make sense to create both materials at the same time. Such may be the case if you’re launching a new brand from scratch and you want your logo and branding kit to evolve together. 

3. Review and Revise as Needed

One of the best things about unlimited graphic design is that it comes with unlimited revisions for a flat monthly fee. Unlimited revisions are a game-changer when you’re in the initial phases of building a brand. 

After all, at this stage, you might still be in the process of discovering your brand. For instance, you might need to tweak your logo icons, adjust colors, or try new layouts. With on-demand graphic design, you won’t need to pay per revision, allowing you to really refine your brand personality. 

4. Request Other Branding Assets

Branding doesn’t stop at having a logo and a branding kit. You also need to maintain and sustain your brand through your visuals and messaging. Make the most out of your monthly subscription by requesting visual assets like:

• Packaging design
• Social media posts
• Website design
• App design
• Email templates
• Printable assets

The Bottom Line

Ideally, ventures would aim to hire the best brand agency to build a strong online and offline presence. However, there are other paths you can take if you don’t have the budget for full-service agencies. In the end, it still boils down to clarity, creativity, consistency, and how you nurture the brand you build.

From establishing a brand to maintaining consistent visuals throughout every platform, Penji is here to help.

Take, for instance, the work that Penji did for Chatfuel, one of the most popular chatbot platforms. Penji developed a brand style guide based on their highest-performing design elements. Using that brand guideline, Penji crafted the company’s UI/UX design and unique landing pages.

The result? Up to 10x boost in landing page sign-ups and a 57% uplift in web page and UI customer satisfaction.

Penji’s top 2% designers could also do the same for your brand. Visit Penji’s portfolio or view a short demo to see why Penji is the top design solution for brands of all sizes.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a branding agency?

A branding agency is a service provider that assists clients in building, defining, and maintaining their brand identity. Their services can include branding kit creation as well as brand messaging, tone of voice, and market positioning.

How much does a branding agency charge?

The amount an agency charges can vary greatly depending on experience, expertise, location, and niche. Data from Clutch’s client reviews peg the cost at $100–$149 per hour or $8,868.33 per month. 

What makes a branding agency the best?

The best branding agency makes the effort to understand each of its clients’ business goals, audiences, and values, and uses all those to craft a branding that genuinely represents the organization.