How much does brand strategy cost in the UK?

This consultancy’s published UK fees are examples, not a survey of the market: Brand Positioning from £900, Marketing Strategy from £1,500, and a full Brand Strategy from £2,500, each scoped on its own written brief. These are different engagements with different decisions and deliverables, not three prices for the same work, checked 20 September 2026 against the live service pages.

Separate focused advice from developing a strategy

A lower-cost engagement can be appropriate when the task is smaller. It should not be presented as equivalent to a complete strategy programme.

My published services include a £45 Positioning Statement Review, a £200 Focus Consultation, a £250 Strategic Draft Review and a standard £300 Brand Clarity Audit. The statement review refines an existing statement. The consultation addresses one defined question. The draft review assesses existing material and supplies an amendment brief. The audit diagnoses the current positioning and messaging against the market.

These distinctions matter when comparing quotes. A review may identify that the underlying positioning needs development; it does not automatically include that development. A useful first step should have a complete purpose of its own, with any possible later work explained separately.

Understand what a starting price covers

My Brand Strategy engagement develops purpose, vision, values, personality, audience, positioning and narrative into a documented foundation. The written proposal specifies the brands and markets covered, the agreed depth of work and the final fee.

The depth of discovery, evidence review and stakeholder input is agreed in the proposal. Additional markets, brands, stakeholder groups or primary research can require a wider scope and a different fee. A starting price should describe a genuine available engagement, while making clear why a particular brief might cost more.

Ask for the final scope and fee before committing. A price labelled “from” is not an invitation for unspecified additions after the work has begun.

Look at the work behind the deliverable

Two documents with similar headings can be based on very different levels of investigation. Ask what information the strategist will review, which customer or competitor questions will be examined and how uncertainty will be handled.

Research should have a purpose. A familiar market with useful existing evidence may need a different approach from an unfamiliar category where the business has little customer information. More research is not automatically better value; too little can leave the recommendation resting on assumptions that should have been tested.

Also establish who performs the analysis, what involvement is required from your team and how decisions will be reviewed. The number of pages or workshops alone is a weak basis for comparing the substance of the work.

Keep strategy, additions and implementation distinct

Specify any naming, tone-of-voice or wider verbal identity work explicitly in the proposal rather than assuming it is included. My Brand Strategy service excludes visual identity production, website development and campaign execution.

Agree what application guidance and handover the business needs. A team coordinating several suppliers may need more detail than a founder making a limited change. Include those requirements in the scope and budget for the implementation that follows.

When comparing suppliers, ask the same questions of each proposal. A combined strategy-and-design quote should not be compared directly with a strategy-only quote without accounting for the additional work.

Compare the total commitment

Budget for your team’s input and the work needed to apply the recommendations. Confirm the payment arrangements, revision scope and what happens when requirements change. Check that the deliverables can be used with the people who will implement them.

My Terms of Business explain the use licence for paid deliverables and the underlying intellectual property retained by the practice. Ask each supplier to state the total payable amount, including any applicable VAT and additional charges, so the comparison uses complete prices.

Choose the scope that answers the actual question

The cheapest proposal is poor value when it leaves the main decision unresolved. A broader engagement is also difficult to justify when the business already has a sound foundation and only needs a defined review.

Write down what the work must enable, then compare the evidence, outputs and responsibilities against that requirement. To obtain a relevant fee for working with me, submit the business context and the decision you need to make. The scope can then be agreed around the work that is actually required.

What this means for your business

• Ask what a quoted fee actually includes, and whether naming, tone-of-voice or application work sits inside or outside it.
• Get the full scope and final fee confirmed in writing before committing.
• Match the depth of the engagement to the decision it needs to resolve, not to a headline day rate.