FOR CONSULTANTS & ADVISERS
How does video marketing for consultants build trust?
Why video helps advisers win trust, which types of film work, where to use them and how to feel comfortable on camera.
What a consultant's visual identity needs: a wordmark, a small palette, clear fonts and reusable templates, applied consistently across proposals, LinkedIn and your website.
Consultant branding is the visual identity that makes your work look consistent and credible. For most advisers that means a simple logo or wordmark, two or three colours and one or two typefaces, plus a small set of templates for proposals, slides and LinkedIn. Keep it plain. Apply it the same way everywhere, and let your expertise carry the message.
Clients often size up a consultant before hearing a single word of advice. They look at your proposal and your LinkedIn profile, then at your website, before deciding how careful and credible you seem. Good consultant branding, applied consistently, makes sure that first impression goes your way.
You don’t need a big-agency brand system. An independent adviser needs something small and clear that’s easy to reuse. Below you’ll find what to include and in what order, plus how to keep it consistent. If you’re weighing up your own name against a company name, our separate guide covers whether to trade under your own name or a company name.
Most independents can get by with five things.
The first is a logo or wordmark. For most consultants, the strongest option is simply your name set in a well-chosen typeface.
Then a colour palette: one main colour, one or two supporting colours, and a neutral for text. Typography means one typeface for headings and another for body text, or a single family used well.
Add a photograph or two: one current, professional portrait used everywhere. Finally, templates. These are ready-made layouts for your proposals and slides, as well as for reports and social graphics.
Still working on your positioning? Start with our guide to personal branding for consultants, and come back to the visual side once the message is settled.
A wordmark is just your name, or your firm’s name, designed as text. For a consultant it’s usually the better choice. It reads quickly and works at small sizes like a LinkedIn profile picture or an email signature, and it doesn’t date fast.
Add a symbol or monogram only if there’s a reason, say if the firm might grow beyond you. Steer clear of stock icons such as globes, handshakes and arrows. They say nothing about you, and plenty of other advisers use the same ones.
Keep several versions on file. You’ll want full colour and single colour, a white version for dark backgrounds, and a square crop for profile images.
Choose colours that suit your sector and personality, then stick to a few. Lots of advisers use a deep main colour with a lighter tint, plus one accent kept for links and calls to action. Your text colour must be easy to read. The W3C accessibility guidance asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, so test your colour pairings with a checker instead of trusting your eye. Light grey on white is the usual culprit. Pale accent colours on photographs come a close second.
Pick a clear, readable typeface for body text and, if you want, something with more character for headings. Check that both will work in your proposals and slides as well as on your website. A font that only lives on your laptop gets swapped the moment a client opens your file. Write down the exact font names you use. Note the weights and sizes too, so anyone helping you can match them.
Templates are where a brand pays for itself, because they turn your identity into a habit. In order of priority:
If you’d like these designed and set up so you can edit them yourself, that’s the work we do under graphic design for consultants.
Mostly, consistency means making a few decisions once and then reusing them. Use the same portrait, the same version of your name and the same colours everywhere. That goes for your website and LinkedIn profile as much as your proposals or email signature. Your headline and description should say the same thing in every one of those places, even if the length changes from one to the next.
A one-page brand sheet helps. List your logo versions and colour codes on it. Add your fonts too, along with a few rules such as where the logo sits and how much space it needs around it. If a designer, an assistant or an associate ever produces material for you, it saves a lot of back and forth. For a view of where branding sits within your wider marketing, see our overview of marketing for consultants.
It’s optional, but understand it. GOV.UK says you can register a trade mark to protect your brand. It costs at least £205 and lasts 10 years before it has to be renewed. With a registered mark you can take legal action against anyone using it without permission, and you can use the ® symbol.
Some things can’t be registered. According to GOV.UK, a mark can be text, sounds, logos, colours or a combination, but it can’t simply describe your services or look too much like an existing mark. A name like “Business Growth Consulting” is unlikely to qualify. That makes a distinctive name an advantage twice over: it helps your branding and your legal position. This is general information, not legal advice. If the name is important to your business, talk to an intellectual property professional.
Overdoing it comes top. Six colours and four fonts look as if you couldn’t make up your mind. Leaning on stock icons is close behind, because they make you look like everyone else.
Then there’s having a different look in different places. A polished website next to plain, unbranded proposals weakens both of them.
Style over legibility is another trap. If clients can’t read something comfortably, it isn’t doing its job.
And treating branding as a one-off project is a mistake too. It only earns its money once you’re using it in real documents.
We design visual identities and working templates for independent consultants and small advisory firms, covering everything from wordmarks and colour palettes to proposal and slide layouts, and LinkedIn too. See our graphic design for consultants service for what’s included. We agree a clear brief, scope and fee with you before any work begins.
Not necessarily a symbol. For most advisers, a cleanly designed wordmark of your name is enough, and often better. The important thing is that it’s readable at small sizes and kept in a few versions. Use it the same way on proposals and LinkedIn as on your website.
Two or three is plenty. A main colour and a supporting colour with a neutral for text will cover it. You can add an accent if you want one. Fewer colours look more confident. They also make it far easier to keep your templates consistent.
It helps. When your portrait suits your colours and tone and appears on your website and LinkedIn as well as in proposals, the whole identity feels intentional. Use a photo that looks like you today, and replace it when it stops doing so.
Yes, as long as you keep it simple and test it for legibility. Plenty of advisers use their name in a good typeface with a restrained palette. Where a designer earns their fee is on the logo and the templates, and on checking that it all works together.
That depends on how important your name is to the business. GOV.UK sets out the basic costs and rules. Whether it’s worth doing is a legal and commercial call, though, so if you’re unsure, get advice from an intellectual property professional.
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What thought leadership is for consultants, how to find a point of view, which formats suit you and how to prove your expertise.
How independent consultants can rank for the services and problems they solve, using topic pages, genuine expertise signals and earned links.
Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
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