How Much Should Branding Cost?
03/25/2025
Brand Strategy
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How Much Branding Costs: Branding Prices Can Vary
Budgeting For Branding: New vs. Established Business
Let’s get this out of the way: Branding costs can vary.
Branding agencies can quote you anywhere between $25,000 to $100,000+ (and above), and this may not even be for the full suite of branding items. Custom branding services offer tailored solutions, creating unique logos, brand guidelines, and strategies specifically designed to resonate with your target audience and reflect your business identity.
On the other hand, a freelancer on Fiverr or Upwork might charge you just $500 for a logo design (of course, there’s no guarantee it won’t come out looking the best… but it’s a start)!
For new businesses, launching a new brand is generally more straightforward, as it involves building a fresh identity from scratch without the complexities of changing an existing one.
A common rule of thumb is to allocate 5-10% of annual revenue to rebranding or 10-20% of your overall marketing budget to branding efforts.
Shania Brenson of 15M Finance brand says, “Branding is a crucial aspect of any business or organization as it helps create a distinct identity and emotional connection with customers. Implementing the brand across various touchpoints, including physical locations, digital platforms, and social media, might require additional efforts and costs.
How much should your company spend on branding?
The sequence and process of creating a brand.
If you’re a new company, here are a few things that you might think to include in your process of branding:
- Discovery Process
- Brand Naming
- Brand Strategy
- Brand Architecture
- Brand Positioning
- Messaging Framework
- Creative Direction
- Logo Design
- Brand Concepts
- Packaging Design
- Website Design
- Website Development
- Social Media
- Brand Assets
Branding Packaging Pricing
The cost for packaging design from a branding agency will range, hiring a freelancer might be cheaper, costing you anywhere from $500-$1,000 for the entire design process, per package. However, if the freelancer is inexperienced you may have issues when it comes time to print. Packaging design from an established branding agency that specializes in print usually starts at $5,000 USD per packaging design, an entire packaging design system may run upwards of $10,000. Packaging design is often included in branding package pricing, and because it involves deliverables and design complexity, it can significantly impact the overall branding cost.
Brand Identity Package Price
Your visual brand identity system includes logo design, color palette, typography, iconography, shapes, patterns, and applications. Branding package pricing varies depending on the range of services and deliverables included. Comprehensive packages often feature marketing materials such as business cards, email signatures, social templates for consistent digital presence, and pitch decks for client presentations or investor meetings. The cost for a branding specialist or agency can be costly, but it’s important not to skimp on the investment. A good branding system will give your company a boost in credibility and help you establish your brand as one that customers can trust.
If you’re starting out with a new business and are still on a shoestring budget, you could opt for a logo only package as a lower-cost alternative, typically excluding additional brand collateral. Jobs like this can be done on Fiver or Upwork for $1,000 - $2,500 or, you could get it done with an experienced branding agency for $10,0000 - $20,000 and for larger companies that are looking to rebrand, the cost for this is much more, upwards of $50,000 - $250,000+ for medium to large companies.
How much does a brand guide cost?
A brand guide, style guide or branding guidelines will range in pricing depending on the depth of the guidelines. Entry-level branding packages often include basic brand guidelines, which cover essential elements such as logo usage, color palette, typography, and other foundational standards necessary for consistent brand identity. You could do a basic style tile in FIGMA and the cost for that may only be $1,000, or, you could do a 3-4 page style guide for $1,500, but, if you want detailed guidelines that include up to 60+- pages of branding guidelines the cost will range from $5,500 - $15,000+ typically brand guidelines like this are useful for companies with a marketing department, Solopreneurs and young entrepreneurs that are just starting out don’t need brand guidelines with this much depth.
Brand Development Cost
Brand development costs will vary depending on the services you need for your brand - for example, brand positioning, logo design, packaging design, website design and development, and social media strategy for a startup or small business may cost you $20,000+ and for a more established business the cost for all of these services may be upwards of $50,000+. It's also crucial to invest in defining your brand voice and ensuring consistency across all customer touchpoints, as these elements strengthen your brand identity and enhance the effectiveness of your branding efforts.
How much should a freelancer charge for branding?
Are you a young graphic designer that’s just getting started and don’t know how much you should charge for services like logo design, packaging design, brand book and other branding services?
The best advice we can give you is to take the time to review your competitors on Upwork, Fiverr, Dribbble, Behance and look at the pricing they charge for the work delivered to the client.
It’s important that the quality of your work is in alignment with marketing pricing for that level of work. You don’t want to under charge clients, but, you also don’t want to over charge clients either.
As a freelance designer, you should know that freelancers typically charge between $50 and $150 per hour for branding services. When considering logo cost, a basic logo usually costs around $250, but prices can go up to $2,500+ depending on your experience, skill level, and the type of clients you are targeting. Logo cost is a key consideration for clients when hiring a freelancer, so be clear about what your investment covers.
At The Branded, we offer a full suite of branding services to our clients.
Here are the starting price points for The Branded Agency’s standard deliverables.
How much does Brand Naming cost?
At The Branded Agency, we charge a minimum fee of $3,500 USD, for a more complex naming process that may have specific requirements that could include international trademark research and social media name availability.
The deliverables for this include research, strategy, exploration of lexical names, invented names, descriptive names, and Evocative names.
We do trademark research for the names we present to our clients, the top 6 names will also include domain pricing and availability, ranking, SEO, and a likeability score.
How much does Brand Strategy cost?
At The Branded Agency, we charge a minimum fee of $5,500 USD; if you require in-depth research and analysis and a detailed report there are additional fees. Developing an effective brand strategy often involves comprehensive customer research and competitive analysis to ensure your brand is tailored to your target audience and stands out in the market.
How much do Brand Concepts cost?
Brand Concepts allow us to explore options for your visual identity, the cost for each brand concept is $1,500 USD
This is an important phase in the process, it will align the brand visually to ensure all brand identity assets are created with a strategy and plan in mind.
How much does Logo Design cost?
Our logo design service starts at $3,000 USD, reflecting the logo cost for a custom logo tailored to your brand’s unique needs. We will provide you with 6 logo concepts to choose from and include up to 5 hours of revisions.
The logo design concepts will include wordmark and brand mark logo combinations, color variations, and applications. Unlike creating a logo quickly with DIY tools or AI generators—which may offer lower costs but often result in generic designs—a custom logo ensures a higher level of quality, originality, and alignment with your overall branding strategy.
How much does Custom Packaging Design cost?
Packaging Design fees start at $6,500 USD, which includes up to 3 packaging design concepts.
We will do mock-ups, provide print-ready files and collaborate with your printer to guide the project to completion.
Website Design starts at $5,000 USD, this would include up to a maximum of 10 custom-designed pages in FIGMA.
Each page will include standard Desktop and Mobile sizing, additional screen sizes are extra.
Can you create a Strong Brand with DIY Branding Solutions?
If you have the knowledge, the skills and resources, you can absolutely create a strong brand without hiring an agency or studio. DIY branding options typically involve using templates and tools like Canva or LogoMakr, which allow you to create a logo quickly and affordably. However, while these solutions are cost-effective, they may lack strategic depth and consistency, and the resulting designs can sometimes appear generic or offer limited customization.
Premium Pricing Models for Global Brands
Every agency pricing models are different, if you are a global enterprize company, you will be looking at premium pricing. Enterprize companies need a different calibre and quality of work than a startup or small business. Enterprize branding solutions typically start in the 6-7 figure range depending on the scope of work.
Want to learn more about brand platforms, Brand Strategy and Brand Identity? Keep reading!
How much does Website Development cost?
Key Takeaways
Sloane Avery
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