Pricing, in plain numbers

How much does brand strategy cost?

For founder-led companies, brand strategy runs from a $749 diagnostic audit to $22,000+ for category-defining work. Most full engagements land at $15,000 — strategy, identity, messaging, and a conversion-focused website, rebuilt as one system.

No packages padded with filler. No hourly meter. Every fee is fixed and scoped in writing before the work starts, and we take one engagement at a time — so the number you approve is the number you pay.

Start with the $749 audit See every engagement

The numbers

What each engagement costs

Every price below is the real, published fee — the same number you’ll approve in writing, and the same number you’ll pay. Read down the list by how far your brand has drifted from the business, not by budget.

The audit fee is credited toward any larger engagement started within 60 days. Fractional Chief Brand Officer is monthly, with a 3–6 month minimum.

Find your number

Which number is yours?

Pick the line that sounds most like where you are right now. We’ll point you to the engagement built for it — and its real, published price. No form, no email, no invented quote.

Something’s off — but which gap is doing the damage isn’t clear. One thing is broken — just the identity, or just the site. The whole system outgrew the business, all at once. What the business sells doesn’t fit any category that already exists. The brand’s built — it needs a senior owner in the room every month.

Select a situation above to see the engagement built for it — and its real price.

The front door

Brand Clarity Audit

$749

The lowest-risk way in: a written diagnosis of exactly where your brand leaks revenue and what to fix first, delivered in 5–7 business days — and credited toward any larger engagement started within 60 days.

See the Brand Clarity Audit →

The focused fix

One leak, one engagement

$6,000 · $8,000

If the identity reads two sizes smaller than the work, that’s the $6,000 Brand Identity Accelerator (3–4 weeks). If the site reopens the negotiation after a strong pitch, that’s the $8,000 High-Performance Website (5–7 weeks).

Compare both engagements →

The full system

The Brand Growth System

$15,000

Strategy, identity, messaging, and a conversion-ready website rebuilt as one system in 8–10 weeks — with 60 days of launch support after it ships.

See the Brand Growth System →

The category play

Revenue-Engineered Category Leadership™

$22,000+

When your offer doesn’t fit an existing category, forcing it in commoditizes it. We map the opening, name it, and build the architecture and go-to-market to own it — 12–16 weeks.

See Category Leadership →

Ongoing partner

Fractional Chief Brand Officer

$4,000/mo

The brand’s built; now every month’s decisions either compound it or erode it. Senior brand leadership in the room monthly — strategy, direction, and hands-on execution, with a 3–6 month minimum.

See the Fractional CBO engagement →

What drives the price

Why one engagement costs more than another

Two engagements can carry the same word — “branding” — and separate by tens of thousands of dollars. Four things move the number, and none of them is how many logos you get.

Scope

A written diagnostic is days of one person’s time. A full rebuild — strategy, identity, messaging, and a conversion-focused site — is weeks of a senior team. The deliverable set is the biggest lever on price.

Stage of the gap

Fixing one leak (just the identity, just the site) costs less than rebuilding the whole system. The further the brand has drifted from the business, the more it takes to close the distance.

Research depth

Category-defining work is research-heavy — competitive intelligence, buyer psychology, naming. That depth is what makes the positioning defensible, and it is priced accordingly.

Who does the work

A founder-led studio prices differently than an agency billing junior hours or a freelancer with no strategy. You are paying for senior judgment that is never delegated — the reason the work moves revenue.

Studio vs. agency vs. freelancer

What you’re actually paying for

The same rebuild can cost roughly the same money in three very different places. What changes is who does the thinking, how the fee is built, and what you own when it’s over.

What you’re comparing	Traditional agency	Independent freelancer	Diego Luján Studio
Who leads the strategy	A senior partner sells it; junior staff deliver it.	One generalist, strong on craft, usually light on strategy.	Senior strategy and creative direction on every engagement, never delegated.
How the fee is built	Layered hourly plus account-management overhead.	Hourly or per-deliverable, where scope creep lives.	One fixed fee, scoped in writing before kickoff.
Strategy under the design	Often a separate line item you add on.	Typically absent — execution without a position underneath.	The foundation every engagement is built on, not an upsell.
How many projects at once	Your account is one of many in the queue.	Whatever else is in their pipeline that month.	One engagement at a time, start to finish.
What you own at the end	Deliverables, sometimes licensed back to you.	Varies by whatever the contract says.	Every file and format, outright — no licensing games.

The middle option is cheaper on the invoice and more expensive on the outcome — a position you can’t defend costs more than the fee ever saved you.

How pricing works

No meter, no moving numbers

Every fee on this page is fixed before a single hour is worked. Here is exactly how the money moves.

Scoped in writing firstBefore any engagement starts, the deliverables and the fee are agreed in writing. The number you approve is the number you pay.
The audit credits forwardThe $749 Brand Clarity Audit is the lowest-risk way in. Move into any larger engagement within 60 days and the full $749 is credited against it — the diagnostic becomes the first phase, not a separate cost.
Fixed fee, split simplyProject fees are typically half at kickoff, half at launch. No hourly meters, no timesheets, no surprise line items at the end.
Anything new is quoted firstWork outside the agreed scope — extra pages, added deliverables, a new SKU — is quoted separately and only ever moves forward with your sign-off. Nothing gets added to the bill quietly.

The real math

Cost is the wrong first question

The question isn’t what brand strategy costs. It’s what the gap between your business and your brand is already costing you — every quarter, quietly.

That gap shows up as deals lost to weaker competitors, pricing you can’t hold in a negotiation, and sales calls that start from zero because the brand did none of the work ahead of you. A single recovered deal at your average contract value often covers an entire engagement. And if the brand isn’t costing you money yet, the $749 audit will tell you so — in writing, and without a pitch to spend more.