We’re Not for Everyone. That’s the Point.
We realize that our work as brand strategists and designers can be somewhat difficult to fully describe. Ask any of our supportive friends and family members what we do, for example, and they may speak to the tangible deliverables that we offer. They may tell you, with wild assurance, that we build websites and design logos. While this is true, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into crafting a successful brand identity that people may not be aware of. It’s a big part of who we are and how we operate, but we don’t get many opportunities to emphasize the strategy behind the work we do.
When strategizing with clients, we do an exercise that asks them to define their brand by what it is not. Framing ideas in the negative helps crystallize abstract concepts and sharpen focus. We’ve decided to apply this same exercise to our own brand—clarifying the work we do at Cowbird Creative by outlining who and what we are not.
We Are Not a Logo Factory
When small business owners come to us requesting a brand identity, sometimes what they’re *really* asking for is a logo. In our experience, the logo is the piece of the brand identity that owners can’t wait to get their hands on. They sometimes request a logo even before they have a physical location for their business. We get it! The logo—and the accompanying swag clients order as soon as they receive the logo—feels like the physical manifestation of everything small business owners are working towards. It’s as if creating a logo authenticates the business.
However, the true brand identity of an organization is much more comprehensive than just the logo. It includes everything that helps shape outward perception of the brand including the color palette, the typography, the visual mood, the photography style and the supporting design elements. It also includes the tone and attitude of the web copy, taglines and messaging. All of these elements grow from the brand’s foundation—the mission, vision, values and goals. Before we even begin to consider creating any visual elements for a brand, we delve into the company’s DNA to understand the brand’s foundations. We ask many questions to clarify the mission, the short and long-term goals for the company and the ultimate vision for the brand. From there, we make specific and intentional choices about the messaging and our approach to the visuals. This takes time! Which is all to say that there’s a lot of care that goes into building a brand with intention. The logo is just one element of a brand; the real depth lies in the concept and cohesive identity system that gives a brand its meaning.
We Are Not a Digital Marketing Company
Branding and marketing are deeply intertwined. A brand includes a company’s identity, values, voice, and positioning while marketing describes how that company communicates and promotes their identity to their target audience. In short, branding shapes perception, and marketing amplifies it. Digital marketing companies rely heavily on templates and data. They churn out ads, posts and websites using best-practice formulas and A/B testing. They have a metrics-driven agenda, focusing on conversion rates and ROI but often neglecting the emotional resonance of content that builds audience empathy and connection. In the digital marketing world, strategy is placed on tactics. Original storytelling is secondary or nonexistent.
There are valuable strategies to borrow from the world of digital marketing. The issue arises when digital marketing companies claim to offer creative work. Often, what they mean is that they generate assets—ad designs, videos, web pages and copy—that execute a brand’s strategy across channels. But since the goal of the digital marketing company isn’t brand strategy, the creative might be more of an afterthought. Additionally, much of the work that we’ve seen from digital marketing companies is templatized—color palettes may be swapped out and fonts might be altered from one client to the next, but there isn’t a heavy emphasis on originality or creativity. Since a brand’s primary mission is to stand out from its competitors by showcasing its distinctive personality, original creative is a non-negotiable. As a branding studio, we are focused on storytelling and copy rooted in strategy and identity.
We Are Not One-Trick Ponies
Though we do adore and support equines in general, we are not one trick ponies when it comes to our approach to branding and design. Many small branding studios find success with a single look or technique, and then they repeat it over and over. If the goal of standing out in an industry is to appear unique, this approach may work once or twice, but ultimately, every brand deserves to have a look that reflects its mission and vision and leans into its personality as a differentiator.
This is not to say that branding agencies may not prefer a particular aesthetic. An agency that defaults to a certain look or mood, may still do strong strategic work even if has a recognizable aesthetic preference—minimalist, bold, moody, muted, edgy, etc. This choice is stylistic rather than strategic: their portfolio may feel visually similar even if the underlying brands still exhibit their own uniqueness.
How to tell a one-trick pony from an agency that does bespoke strategic work to capture the spirit of each client? Just look at their portfolio. If the websites seem templatized or repetitive in look or spirit, then it may be best to shop around. Similarly, if you are a person who gravitates towards a moody, gothic look, then a branding studio that showcases work with bright, clean light and bold neon palettes may not be for you.
We are Not Social Media Managers
Don’t get us wrong—we love developing strategy and creating original visuals for our clients. What we like best, in fact, is dropping into our clients’ work spaces to capture photos and video of what they do, who they are and how they deploy the tools of their trade. We delight in amplifying our clients’ personalities and expertise.
While content marketing consulting may not be the most glamorous part of the industry, it’s one of our strengths. We help clients map out their approach, generate platform-specific ideas and create a clear plan for showcasing their content in a way that feels intentional and aligned with their brand. Once we’ve defined the strategy, we capture original content—videos for YouTube, brand photography, founder videos, creative portraits, video testimonials, and more. From there, the content can be thoughtfully segmented and distributed across social platforms. What we don’t do is manage the day-to-day execution of content: writing captions, scheduling posts, generating blogs or overseeing ongoing rollouts.
We are Not Speed Demons
If you need a website built by the end of the week, we are not your Cowbirds. If you need a logo for a campaign that starts tomorrow, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Because so much of our creativity is rooted in strategy, we like to build in enough time and space to talk through ideas and to think through deliverables. We see our work as a collaboration with our clients, and because of this, we use a workshop model as part of our process. This means we come to clients with content, messaging or visual suggestions, and we talk through it together to see where the heat rises from the page. Most importantly, we make sure that all the creative decisions we make exist within the framework of the Brand DNA that we outline with our clients at the beginning of the journey.
We are Not an SEO Company
But we *are* SEO conscious. There is a balance between incorporating SEO thoughtfully into a website and blasting headings full of keywords but light on meaning. Yes, keywords should be included in web copy to support visibility and rankings. However, they shouldn’t be crammed into the text at the expense of clarity or brand voice.
When we build websites for our clients, we’re intentional about weaving SEO into the foundation—offering strategic copy suggestions, refining page structure and ensuring metadata, image alt text and headings are optimized in a way that feels natural. Our website design incorporates a basic SEO package that sets each site up for long-term discoverability without compromising the integrity of the message. We’re aware of the fact that strong SEO should be balanced with human connection.
We are Not ChatGPT
And speaking of humans…we want the visual and verbal materials we generate to connect on an emotional level with other humans. That’s when branding is most successful. This is why we’re flummoxed when we discover entire swaths of web copy with all the hallmarks of an LLM. We’re not saying don’t use ChatGPT to help revise your copy or to frame ideas, but first and foremost, public-facing text associated with any brand should speak to other people, acknowledge their pain points and offer a solution. This must come from a place of humanity. We started our careers as writers, so it feels natural for us to spend a lot of time crafting specific language and facilitating discussions with our clients about how a single word might alter the emotion of a sentence. The the human connection behind a brand is the thing that inspire trust; this work shouldn’t be outsourced to machines.
We are Not One-Night Stands
Think of us as long-term partners. Spouses. We’re in it for the long haul. We like to grow with our clients. We love it when a client comes back to us after a few months or years and asks that we help think through the best way to strategize the rollout of a new campaign or to shoot a few more testimonial videos. When we work with a client over a long period of time, we come to know them—their preferences, their personalities, the deep roots of their brand. The more we know about a company, the better we are at thinking through what might work for them going forward.
Defining ourselves by what we’re not brings us closer to who we are. We are not a logo factory, a churn-and-burn marketing machine or a shortcut to quick visibility. We are strategic partners. We are careful listeners. We are writers. We are storytellers and designers who believe clarity, strategy and creativity are essential foundations that support and inspire design.