Strategy Note 15: Red Flags in Brand Strategy Consulting

If you are considering hiring someone to help with your brand strategy, there are red flags worth knowing.

They cannot explain their methodology clearly.

If they cannot articulate how they work, they probably have not thought it through. Good strategists have a perspective on what strategy involves and can explain the process in terms you understand.

Vagueness is not a sign of sophistication. It is usually a sign of confusion or, worse, an intention to figure it out as they go.

They promise transformation without discovery.

If someone is ready to prescribe before they have diagnosed, they are guessing. Brand strategy requires understanding your specific situation—your audience, your competitors, your history, your constraints. Anyone who skips that step is offering a template, not strategy.

They quote you before they have listened.

A proposal that fails to demonstrate they have grasped your context and challenges is a template in disguise. The proposal should reflect what they learned about you, not what they offer to everyone.

They skip the interviews.

Brand strategy requires excavation. If they are not curious about your business before proposing solutions, the solutions will not fit. The discovery process is not overhead—it is where the real work happens.

They rush to deliverables.

If the timeline prioritizes speed over understanding your business, the strategy will be shallow. Good strategy takes time to develop. Anyone promising comprehensive brand strategy in two weeks is cutting corners you cannot see.

They focus primarily on visuals.

A mood board is not a strategy. If the conversation centers on colors and fonts before it centers on positioning and audience, the priorities are inverted.

Visual identity matters. It matters after you have answered the fundamental questions about who you are and who you serve. Leading with visuals is like choosing paint colors before you have designed the rooms.

They use the same template for everyone.

Strategy by its nature must be specific to you. Your positioning depends on your specific competitors, audience, strengths, and beliefs. There is no universal formula that applies across industries, stages, and contexts.

If the process looks identical regardless of the business—if you can see exactly what the deliverables will be before any discovery work has happened—you are paying for a product, not a service. Products can be valuable, but they are not strategy.

They cannot connect their recommendations to your business goals.

Pretty deliverables mean nothing if they do not tie back to what you are trying to achieve. Strategy exists to serve the business, not to exist for its own sake.

Trust the red flags. The wrong partner costs more than money. They cost time, momentum, and the opportunity cost of what you could have built with the right guidance.

Stay Curious,