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.
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 a limited number of engagements at a time. So the number you approve is the number you pay.
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 front doorBrand Clarity AuditA written diagnostic of where your brand leaks revenue.$749
- Ongoing partnerFractional Chief Brand OfficerA brand mind in the room, every month.$4,000/mo
- The foundationBrand Identity AcceleratorStrategy, identity, and messaging. A credible foundation, fast.$6,000
- The siteHigh-Performance WebsiteThe site a prospect checks after the pitch should confirm your price.$8,000
- The full systemThe Brand Growth SystemStrategy, identity, site, and launch. Rebuilt as one system.$15,000
- The category playRevenue-Engineered Category LeadershipDefine the category. Name it. Own it.$22,000+
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.
The market
What the same work costs elsewhere
Most of this industry will not tell you a number until it has qualified you, which makes the market almost impossible to research honestly. Here is what can actually be verified. Where a seller publishes its own rate card, it is quoted and linked. Where nobody publishes one, this table says so instead of inventing a range.
- Independent designer, no strategy underneath Not published
A logo, and usually a few applications of it.
Almost never quoted publicly, and the number varies more than any other row on this table. Cheapest on the invoice. The position is left for you to work out, which is the part that decides what you can charge.
- Founder-led studio, senior-led $749 to $22,000+
Strategy, identity, messaging, and often the site, as one fixed-fee engagement.
Where this studio sits, and every fee is published on this page. Fixed, scoped in writing, one senior owner from the first call to launch.
- B2B branding agency, monthly retainer $15,000 to $125,000
A rebrand or refresh delivered by a team, billed per month for the length of the project.
Focus Lab, one of the better-known B2B branding agencies, publishes its rate card openly. Focused Branding starts at $15,000 a month and typically runs one to three months. A Structural Rebrand starts at $25,000 a month and typically runs three to five. Multiply it out and the same rebrand lands between $15,000 and $45,000 at the low end, and between $75,000 and $125,000 at the top.
Published on focuslab.agency, read 4 September 2026 - Large or global agency Not published
A rebrand run through account layers, research partners, and a production team.
If a company that size is quoting you, the number arrives in a document after a discovery call, not on a website. Plan for the fee to carry the overhead of everyone in the room.
Published prices move. These were read directly from the sellers' own pages on 4 September 2026, and the arithmetic on the retainer row is shown so you can check it rather than take it on trust.
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.
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 3–5 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 (2–3 weeks). If the site reopens the negotiation after a strong pitch, that’s the $8,000 High-Performance Website (3–4 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 5–6 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. 9–12 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.
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. | A limited slate, senior-led 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.
By stage
Which number usually fits which company
Revenue is a rough proxy, not a rule. What actually decides the engagement is how much of the system has drifted. This is where engagements tend to land for founder-led companies, and it is guidance rather than a quote.
- Under $500K, or pre-launch Usually too early for a full system. What matters is a position and an identity that will not need replacing in a year. Brand Clarity Audit, $749, or Brand Identity Accelerator, $6,000
- $500K to $1M The brand was built for a smaller company than the one you now run. Usually one thing is broken: the identity, or the site. Brand Identity Accelerator, $6,000, or High-Performance Website, $8,000
- $1M to $3M The plateau. Strategy, identity, messaging and the site drifted together, and fixing one at a time keeps failing. The Brand Growth System, $15,000
- $3M to $10M The offer no longer fits a category the market already understands, so every sales call starts with an explanation. Revenue-Engineered Category Leadership, $22,000+
- Built, and moving fast The brand exists. What it lacks is a senior owner in the room every month while the company changes around it. Fractional Chief Brand Officer, $4,000 a month
Not sure which line is yours? That is exactly what the $749 Brand Clarity Audit answers, in writing, in three to five business days. Sector-specific reads live on the industry pages: consumer brands and CPG, real estate, professional services, startups and founders, and education and civic.
Outside the fee
What no design fee covers
This is the part almost nobody publishes, and it is where the surprise usually arrives. None of the following is hidden or unusual. It is simply not design work, and it is worth budgeting for before you sign anything, with any studio.
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Font licensing
A commercial typeface licence is bought separately from the design fee and belongs to whoever buys it. Price depends on the family and on how many users, page views and applications the licence covers. Free families exist that are genuinely good, and a brand can be built on one.
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Photography and film
Original photography is its own production, with a crew, a day rate and usage terms, and it is invoiced by the photographer. Plenty of brands ship without it. Where a brand genuinely needs it, budget it as a separate line from the start.
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Printing and fabrication
Packaging, signage, cards and anything physical are produced by a vendor and invoiced by that vendor. Design prepares and specifies the files. Production is a separate cost and it scales with quantity, stock and finish.
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Media and ad spend
What you spend to distribute a brand is separate from what it costs to build one. Treat them as two budgets. A strong brand lowers what the second one has to be, but it does not replace it.
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Running costs after launch
A website has a life after it ships: hosting, a domain, and whatever tools it depends on. On a well-built static site these are small, and often close to nothing at the traffic a founder-led company actually has.
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.
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.
Set the fee against what the work has actually returned. Mucho Brands reached a $1M first-year run rate, with buyer acceptance up 47%. Translation Helpdesk did $1.2M in first-year revenue at a 3.8× conversion rate. Medxico raised its consultation booking rate by 62% and cut patient decision time by 41%. Aluxan passed $420K from a single SKU. Every one of those numbers sits on its own case study, with the work that produced it. None of them is an average, a projection, or a promise about your company.
Which is the only comparison that matters. Not what the engagement costs against another studio's invoice, but what it costs against a quarter of pricing you cannot defend.
Questions about cost
Straight answers on price
How much does brand strategy cost?
For founder-led companies, brand strategy ranges from a $749 Brand Clarity Audit (a written diagnostic delivered in 3–5 business days) to $22,000+ for Revenue-Engineered Category Leadership. Most full engagements land at the $15,000 Brand Growth System. Strategy, identity, messaging, and a conversion-focused website rebuilt as one system. A Fractional Chief Brand Officer arrangement is $4,000/month with a 3–6 month minimum.
Why does brand strategy cost that much?
Because it is not decoration. It is the system that sets what you can charge and who says yes. Real brand strategy is research-heavy (market, competitors, buyer psychology) and led by senior judgment, not junior hours. The price reflects work that moves the pipeline: closing bigger deals, defending premium pricing, and shortening sales cycles. Underpriced "branding" usually means a logo and a template, which changes nothing about revenue.
How much does a brand strategist cost?
It depends entirely on how you buy the work, and most of the market does not publish a number. An independent designer without strategy underneath is the cheapest and leaves you to work out the position yourself. A B2B branding agency on a monthly retainer is the most expensive tier that publishes anything at all: Focus Lab, for example, publishes Focused Branding from $15,000 a month over one to three months, and a Structural Rebrand from $25,000 a month over three to five. This studio does not bill hourly and does not bill monthly for project work. Engagements are fixed-fee and scoped in writing before the work starts, from $749 for a written diagnostic to $22,000+ for category-defining work, so the number you approve is the number you pay no matter how long it takes us.
How much does a brand audit cost?
Brand audits generally run from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on how much is actually examined. Ours is $749, delivered in three to five business days: a written diagnostic of where your positioning, messaging, and first-contact experience create friction in the revenue cycle, what each gap is likely costing, and what to fix first. It stands alone, so you can act on it with or without us, and the full fee is credited toward any engagement you start within 60 days.
What is the cheapest way to start?
The $749 Brand Clarity Audit. It is a written diagnostic of exactly where your brand leaks revenue and what to fix first. The lowest-risk way to see how the studio thinks before any larger commitment. If you move into a larger engagement within 60 days, the fee is credited toward it.
Are there hidden fees?
No. Project fees are fixed and scoped in writing before the engagement starts. The number you approve is the number you pay. Anything outside that scope (extra pages, added deliverables, custom work) is quoted separately and only ever with your sign-off first.
How does this compare to hiring an agency or a freelancer?
A traditional agency bills layers of account managers and junior hours; a freelancer typically executes design without the strategy underneath. A founder-led studio sits between them: senior strategy and creative direction on every engagement, one project at a time, at a fixed fee. You pay for judgment and focus, not overhead or guesswork.
How much do brand consultants charge?
The honest answer is that most brand consultants do not publish a rate, which is why this question is so hard to research. What you can compare is structure. An hourly consultant transfers the risk of a long project onto you, because the meter runs whether or not the work is converging. A monthly retainer does the same thing in bigger units: at $15,000 a month, a project that slips from two months to four costs you $30,000 more. A fixed fee moves that risk back onto the studio. Every engagement here is fixed and scoped in writing first, from $749 to $22,000+, and running long is our problem rather than your invoice.
What are typical brand strategy consulting fees?
For founder-led companies between $500K and $10M in revenue, real brand strategy work generally starts in the low five figures once strategy, identity and messaging are all in scope. Below that you are usually buying execution without a position underneath it. The published fees on this page are $749 for a written diagnostic, $6,000 for identity, $8,000 for a conversion-focused website, $15,000 for the full system, and $22,000+ for category-defining work, with a $4,000 a month fractional arrangement for companies that already have a brand and need it governed.
How much does it cost to rebrand a company?
A rebrand is priced by how much of the system is actually being rebuilt, not by the size of the company. Replacing the identity alone is $6,000 here. Rebuilding strategy, identity, messaging and the website together as one system is $15,000. Redefining the category the company competes in, which includes naming and a go-to-market playbook, starts at $22,000. For comparison, a B2B branding agency on a published $15,000 to $25,000 monthly retainer will land the same kind of rebrand somewhere between $15,000 and $125,000 depending on the tier and how many months it runs.
How much does it cost to rebrand a professional services firm?
The same way as any other founder-led company: by scope, not by sector. Where professional services differ is what the brand has to carry. A legal, medical or expert firm is sold on credibility before capability, so the work leans harder on proof, positioning against firms that look identical on paper, and a first-contact experience that survives scrutiny. Most professional-services rebuilds here land at the $15,000 Brand Growth System. If you want to see the shape of that work first, the $749 audit is the cheapest way.
What is the average cost of a rebrand?
There is no meaningful average, and any single number you find quoted for one is averaging a solo logo refresh against a global identity programme. The useful question is which of four tiers you are actually buying in: an independent designer with no strategy, a founder-led studio at a fixed fee, a B2B agency on a monthly retainer, or a large agency quoting six figures. Each tier is a different product. Pick the tier first, then compare inside it.
How much does a personal brand or founder brand cost?
The studio does not sell a separate personal-branding package. In founder-led companies the founder and the company are usually the same brand problem, and splitting them into two engagements produces two half-answers. Founder positioning is part of the strategy phase in every engagement from the $6,000 Brand Identity Accelerator upward. If what you need is a read on how the founder currently reads to the market, that is what the $749 audit covers.
Do you publish prices because the work is cheaper?
No. The prices are published because a founder comparing options should not have to sit through a discovery call to learn a number, and because a studio that will not say what something costs until it has qualified you is telling you something about how the number gets set. Every fee on this page is the same fee quoted in writing before an engagement starts.
Is brand strategy worth the investment?
It is worth it when the gap between your business and your brand is costing real revenue. Deals lost to weaker competitors, pricing you can’t defend, sales calls that start from zero. A single recovered deal at your average contract value often covers the engagement. If the brand isn’t costing you money, you may not need this yet. And the audit will tell you so honestly.
Start here
Still comparing the numbers?
Every engagement on this page starts the same way: with a clear read of where your brand is actually leaking revenue. The $749 audit gives you that in writing. The cheapest way to know which number is yours before you commit a cent more.
Every inquiry is read personally by our founder and answered within two business days.