Talkin’ Turquoise

When most people think of branding, they picture a logo or a tagline or maybe a color palette. But branding goes far deeper than visuals — it serves as the foundation for how an organization communicates, builds trust and connects with its audience. A thoughtful branding process doesn’t just influence how people see you, it shapes how they engage with you.

At Turell Group, we’ve helped:

• Businesses stand out in competitive markets
• Government agencies boost public engagement
• Nonprofits attract more donors, participants and job applicants

Whether you’re rebranding an existing organization or launching something new, the process can feel overwhelming. But when it’s done thoughtfully, branding can be a powerful tool to advance your mission.

At Turell Group, our approach is collaborative, thoughtful and grounded in strategy.

Here’s how we walk our clients through the branding or rebranding journey, from discovery to evaluation, with thoughtfulness and purpose at each and every step.

Discovery & Research: Understanding the Landscape

Every branding project starts by listening. Before we design a logo or write a tagline, we dive deep into discovery. This phase is about understanding who you are, how you’re perceived and where you want to go.

We conduct internal interviews with leadership, staff and board members. We hold focus groups with stakeholders, donors, customers or residents. We can create and deploy surveys and conduct competitive audits. We explore what your community thinks and how that aligns (or doesn’t) with your goals.

Key questions guide this process:

• What do people believe your organization stands for?
• How do you compare to similar organizations or agencies – what makes you different?
• What problems are you uniquely positioned to solve?

For one project, a local nonprofit came to us with a major identity issue: job applicants, families, referring agencies and potential donors misunderstood their role based on their outdated name. Through interviews, surveys and focus groups, we discovered that their current branding narrowly reflected who they serve and the full scope of their work. That insight gave us the direction we needed to reframe their narrative and broaden their appeal, resulting in a more inclusive brand and an increase in job applicants, so they could better serve the community.

Research lays the foundation. Without it, branding is just guesswork.

Planning: Setting the Stage for Success

Branding is as much about process as it is about creativity. Once discovery is complete, we shift into a detailed planning phase.

We develop a roadmap that includes:

• Clear timelines with milestones and check-ins
• A detailed scope of work
• Assigned roles and responsibilities
• Defined deliverables
• A collaborative review and approval process

Whether we’re working with a multi-department government agency or a small nonprofit team, we’ll customize our planning to fit your workflows and decision-making process.

We also discuss logistics: Who has final approval? Are there hard deadlines we need to hit (e.g. a funding cycle or public launch)? What platforms do you use? Can we help with the brand rollout?

Planning keeps everyone aligned, prevents scope creep and bottlenecks and ensures we stay on budget and on track, even when timelines are tight.

Innovating: Turning Strategy Into Creative Concepts

Once the research is complete and the roadmap is established, we begin the creative exploration. This is when the magic happens and the ideas come to life!

We consider big-picture themes and brand narratives, explore mood boards and visual directions, and develop a range of creative concepts through brainstorming and graphic design. We’ll also determine brand tone and voice and craft messaging that resonates with your audiences, internally and externally.

Everything is grounded in the insights we discovered during our research phase. If your brand needs to instill trust in a diverse community or inspire people to join your cause, we’ll tailor the creative concepts to meet those emotional and strategic goals.

Client collaboration is crucial. We don’t just disappear and come back with one shiny idea. We bring you into the creative process. Together, we refine concepts and align the direction before the final designs are produced.

The result? A brand that feels like you, only more focused, more engaging, more modern and more strategic.

Creating: Bringing the Brand to Life

Once the direction is approved, we move into our create phase. This is when your brand becomes tangible. Based on our scope of work and your budget, we can create logo systems and iconography, color palettes and typography, messaging and tone-of-voice examples, as well as:

• Brand guidelines or a simplified brand board
• Photography and videography
• Templates for print and digital materials
• Rollout plans for launch and beyond

We make sure that the brand is cohesive and scalable, from social media profiles to signage. The goal is to create a look and feel, as well as assets that work across every touchpoint, helping your audience instantly recognize and connect with you.

This includes helping you implement the brand. For some clients, that means new stationery, business cards and brochures. For others, it’s designing email templates or updating an entire website.

For example, when we rebranded the previously mentioned nonprofit, we created not only a visual identity system, but also news releases, talking points, open house materials, photography, videography and website, ensuring the brand was consistent from one element to another.

Delivering: On Time, On Budget and With Support

Creating a strong brand isn’t just about the work. It’s about collaborating and inspiring you throughout the process and delivering the work with precision and professionalism. At Turell Group, we make good on our promises, and we make the process fun!

Our team is committed to meeting deadlines, managing approvals efficiently and delivering what was agreed upon, on time and on budget. We’ll provide final files in multiple formats, organize digital assets in easy-to-navigate folders and create guides that empower your team to use the brand confidently moving forward.

For nonprofits and small teams, we can provide simplified tools like Canva templates that you can use going forward. For larger organizations, we often help carry the brand forward through our ongoing work, which might include advertising, website management and public relations or public relations or public affairs.

We don’t just hand it off and disappear. We’re here to support you, whether it’s helping you get buy-in and communicate the brand internally, answering questions, presenting the brand to your board or staff or pulling off a big brand reveal event.

Evaluating: Measuring Impact and Adjusting Over Time

The branding journey doesn’t end with a launch — it continues through evaluation.

After the rollout, we can help clients assess how the brand is performing:

• Are people engaging more with your communications?
• Have you seen a change in hiring success, fundraising or public perception?
• Do your internal teams feel more aligned and confident?

If you wish, we can conduct post-launch surveys to gather feedback from audiences and stakeholders to compare these insights to pre-branding data and look for measurable improvements. This is especially important for public agencies and nonprofits where transparency and accountability matter.

Branding With Purpose

Branding is a living, evolving part of your organization. As you grow, your brand should grow with you. We’ll be here to help you revisit it or refine it as needed, making sure it remains relevant and effective long after the initial launch.

At the end of the day, branding is about clarity and emotional resonance. Whether you’re a nonprofit advocating for change, a medium-sized business seeking to stand out in a crowded market, or a public entity working to serve your community more effectively, your brand should be a true reflection of who you are and what you do.

At Turell Group, we’re here to guide you through every phase of the journey, from discovery to delivery and even evaluation. Let’s build a brand that reflects your purpose, speaks to your people and supports your goals, for today and for whatever is next.

Before you go, be sure to check out some of the logos we’ve created and take a peek at some of the branding we’ve done for other clients:

Helfrich McKenzie Rafting
Riverview Center for Growth
Coquille Valley Hospital
Eugene, Cascades AND Coast

Ready to start your branding journey? We’d love to help you tell your story. Contact us!