Perception Shift
Perception Shift: rebranding services from brand strategy to website
Prospects meet your brand before they meet you, and right now it describes a smaller business. We measure that gap, get your leadership agreeing on one way to describe the business, and build the identity and website from that agreement.
One strategist, kickoff to launch
The engagement
Four phases, and what each one settles
Phase 1
Clarity
Interviews, research and a leadership workshop settle who you serve and how you describe the business.
Phase 2
Expression
The identity and the website, built from what the workshop agreed.
Built in
Assessment
Thirty days after launch, we fix what turns up and review the first numbers.
Optional
Partnership
BrandOPRA keeps the brand and the site current as the business grows.
What you get
Three builds, each one decided by the build before it
The strategy sets the rules for the identity, and the identity sets the rules for the website. Hosting, domain and software accounts sit in your name from day one.
The strategy
Interviews with your leadership and your clients
A competitor read and your Perception Audit™ findings
A workshop where your leadership agrees on the positioning
The Brand Master Guide, the rulebook for every brand decision
The identity
Logo suite, color, type and graphic devices
Usage rules, written into the Guide
Print-ready collateral, with printing arranged if you want it
A photo shoot, with a photographer we hire and direct
The website
A sitemap and keyword map built from the strategy
Wireframes, copy and design for up to 8 core pages
A WordPress build with initial search setup
Launch, editor training and the 30-day check
The website
How your website gets built, and where you sign off
You approve the page structure and the words before any design work starts. By the design review, the only open question is how it looks.
1
At kickoff
Sites you admire
Each decision-maker names sites they admire, competitor sites they envy and sites they dislike, with a reason for each.
2
After the workshop
Strategy and sitemap
What each page has to do for the buyer, and the search terms it should win.
3
You approve
Wireframes
Every core page laid out in plain gray blocks.
4
You approve
Copy
Written from the Brand Master Guide, in the voice your leadership agreed.
5
You approve
Design
The identity applied to the approved pages, with two rounds of revisions.
6
On a private copy
Build and checks
Tested on phones, for load speed and for accessibility before it goes live.
7
Go live
Launch and training
Live on your domain, with a recorded walkthrough for whoever edits the site.
8
Thirty days later
The 30-day check
We fix what turns up, review the first numbers and hand over the growth plan.
Launch, then grow
A launch date that holds
New page ideas arrive in every project, usually mid-build. At the workshop we sort them into two lists. The launch list carries what the new positioning needs on day one. The rest goes into a written growth plan, in the order it should be built.
At launch
Home, about and contact
Your core service pages
At least one case study
Search setup, analytics and your Google Business Profile
In the growth plan
More case studies and service detail pages
Insights, team bios and resources
Built in order through BrandOPRA, or by your team from the plan
After launch
BrandOPRA keeps the gap closed
The gap starts to reopen the day you add a partner, a service or an office. Each quarter we pick the one or two areas that matter most to your growth and agree the direction with your leadership. Then we carry it out in two-week cycles. Your website stays updated the whole time.
Billed monthly, six-month minimum.
Partnership
We set the direction and plan each two-week cycle. Your team carries out the tasks.
Partnership Plus
We set the direction and do the work ourselves, up to an agreed number of tasks each cycle.
In both
Monthly WordPress updates and small edits, the growth plan built out in order, and a one-page report each month with one perception note.
Which one fits what you're seeing?
"We know something's off, but not what."
Start with the Perception Audit. It names the gap before you spend on closing it.
Perception Audit
"The website can wait. The brand can't."
The Sprint builds the strategy and identity, and leaves the site for later.
The Sprint
"Prospects judge us by the site before they call."
The Perception Shift carries the new brand through to a website with SEO.
Perception Shift (you're here)
Questions about the Perception Shift
We tried this before and it didn't stick. Why would this be different?
Because the last attempt almost certainly started with design. A logo, a palette and a website that looked better and changed nothing, and your name on it.
This one starts with a written diagnosis, before you commit to anything further, that you can put in front of your leadership without needing to be persuasive about it. If the diagnosis says you don't need us, that's what it will say.
How much does a branding agency cost?
For a brand strategy firm it depends on scope: how much research the gap needs, whether the website is included, and how many locations and audiences the brand has to serve.
We don't publish prices. Every engagement is quoted after the free meeting on a weeks-based timeline and billed on milestones, and the Audit is a small fixed fee that tells you whether the bigger work is worth it.
Book a free meeting and you'll leave knowing the likely range for your situation.
Why not let our web designer or agency handle the rebrand?
Because they sell the build, so the build is where they start. A designer works around a disagreement your leadership hasn't resolved, and the new site repeats the old description in a nicer font.
We don't run ads, host sites or sell execution retainers, so nothing pushes us to start designing before what's wrong is settled. Once it is, your current designer or developer can build from the Brand Master Guide if you'd rather keep them.
Why not hire a marketing director instead?
A marketing hire executes a brand. They can't settle a question the owners haven't settled themselves, and they inherit the three different descriptions of the business along with the job.
The Perception Shift settles what the business is once, in a fixed scope, and hands your team or a future hire a Brand Master Guide to run on. If you hire afterward, they start with an answer instead of an argument.
What is live on launch day?
The pages the new positioning needs on day one: home, about, your core services, at least one case study and contact, with search setup in place.
Every other page idea goes into a written growth plan agreed at the workshop, so new ideas don't push the launch date.
Do you ask what websites we like?
Yes. At kickoff each decision-maker names sites they admire, competitors they envy and sites they dislike, and why.
We use the answers once the positioning is agreed, so taste guides the design after the message is settled.
Who owns the files and the website?
You do. Hosting, domain and software accounts sit in your name from day one, and every file is handed over at the end.
We keep access only while we're working on the site or in a BrandOPRA partnership. Premium plugin licenses are bought in your name too.
What happens after launch?
Every Perception Shift includes a 30-day check after launch.
After that, BrandOPRA is an optional partnership that keeps the brand and the website current. Security, daily backups and SSL come from the managed host on your account.
What do you need from us?
A day of leadership time for the workshop, access to a few clients for short interviews, and quick decisions at each milestone.
Hosting and domain accounts are opened in your name so you own everything from day one.
We send a full kickoff list after you sign.
Ready for the brand to catch up?
Thirty minutes with Steven. Bring the question you keep answering in every first meeting.