01 - DISCOVER SERVICES

Know Your Terrain Before You Start Climbing.

Q: Do I need Discovery if I already have a brand?

Yes — especially if you already have a brand that isn't performing the way you expected. Discovery helps us understand what's working, what isn't, and why before we make any changes. A brand refresh without a Discovery phase risks repeating the same strategic mistakes with a newer-looking coat of paint. For new brands, Discovery is essential from day one.

Q: Can I do Discovery without committing to Design or Grow services?

Absolutely. Discovery stands completely on its own as a service. Many clients come to us just for strategic clarity — they have an in-house designer or an existing developer, but they need the strategic foundation that their current team doesn't provide. You'll walk away with a complete strategic brief that any qualified designer or agency can work from.

Strategy before design. Clarity before execution.

Great brands aren't built on guesses. Before we design a single pixel or write a single word, we dig into who you are, who your customers are, and what space exists in your market for you to own. This is where the map gets drawn — and everything that comes after depends on it.

START WITH DISCOVERY

Next: Design Services

DISCOVER STAGE INCLUDES

• Market Research

FOUNDATION

• Brand Positioning

STRATEGY

• Audience Analysis

TARGETING

• UX Planning

EXPERIENCE

• Competitive Landscape

INTEL

• Brand Discovery Session

KICKOFF

The map before the climb.

You can't navigate terrain you haven't mapped. Every brand we've built that truly performs started with a Discover phase — because clarity at the start is worth ten revisions at the end.

- WHAT WE DO

The Full Discover Suite

Every service in our Discover stage is designed to answer one question before it becomes an expensive problem. Click any service to see what's included and what you walk away with.

Market Research

Understand the landscape before you build on it

Most small businesses skip market research because it feels like something big companies do. It isn't. Without it, you're building a brand based on assumptions — and assumptions are expensive when they're wrong. We research your industry, your competitors, and the gaps in the market that you can genuinely own. You walk away with clarity that no amount of good design can manufacture on its own.

WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH

✓ Competitive landscape analysis (5–10 direct competitors)

✓ Market gap identification report

✓ Industry trends and positioning opportunities

✓ SWOT analysis specific to your business

✓ Clear brief for brand positioning work

Brand Positioning

Define the space your brand owns in your customer's mind

Brand positioning answers the most important question in marketing: why you, instead of anyone else? We define your unique value, your competitive differentiation, your brand voice, and the emotional territory your brand occupies. This becomes the strategic foundation that every piece of design and copy is built on. Skip this step and your brand will always feel like it's trying to catch up to who it's supposed to be.

WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH

✓ Positioning statement and brand promise

✓ Core messaging pillars (3–5)

✓ Brand personality and voice definition

✓ Differentiation map vs. competitors

✓ Strategic brief for visual identity design

Audience Analysis

Know exactly who you're talking to — and what they need to hear

The biggest mistake in small business branding is designing for yourself instead of your customer. We build detailed audience profiles — not generic "demographics" but real portraits of the people making the decision to hire or buy from you. What are they afraid of? What do they want to feel? What makes them choose one business over another? When you know this, every word and every design decision becomes effortless — because you're speaking directly to the person who matters.

WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH

✓ 2–3 fully developed customer personas

✓ Psychographic and behavioral profiles

✓ Pain points, motivators, and objections map

✓ Customer journey outline (awareness to decision)

✓ Messaging recommendations per persona

UX Planning

Design the experience before you design the interface

User experience planning happens before a single wireframe is drawn. We map how your customers will move through your website — what they need to see first, what builds their trust, what answers their objections, and what makes them take action. Done at this stage, UX planning saves weeks of revision in the design and development phases. It's the blueprint that makes every subsequent decision faster, cleaner, and more effective.

WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH

✓ Site architecture and page hierarchy map

✓ User flow diagrams for key conversion paths

✓ Content priority framework per page

✓ CTA strategy and placement recommendations

✓ Mobile-first experience considerations

Brand Discovery Session

A deep, guided conversation that uncovers what makes your business different

Every engagement starts here. Our Brand Discovery Session is a structured 90-minute deep dive into your business, your vision, your customers, and your goals. It's not a sales call — it's a working session that generates real strategic output. Most clients tell us the Discovery Session alone is worth the entire project investment because it forces clarity they've been putting off for years. This is where we become partners, not just vendors.

WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH

✓ 90-minute guided strategy session (remote or in-person)

✓ Recorded session and full written summary

✓ Brand clarity scorecard

✓ Prioritized action roadmap

✓ Clear scope definition for design and growth phases

- WHAT WE DO

The Discovery Process

From your first call to your final strategic brief — here's exactly what happens in the Discover stage.

The Discovery Process

We start with a 30-minute no-obligation call to understand where you are, what you need, and whether we're the right fit. No pitch. Just conversation.

30 MINUTES

Brand Discovery Session

A structured 90-minute deep-dive that uncovers your brand's core — your story, your customers, your differentiators, and your goals. The foundation for everything that follows.

90 MINUTES

Research & Analysis

We dig into your market, your competitors, and your audience. This typically takes 3–5 business days and produces the strategic brief that drives all design and growth decisions.

3-5 DAYS

Strategy Presentation

We present your complete Discovery findings — positioning, audience personas, UX plan, and strategic brief — in a working session where you can ask every question before work begins.

DELIVERABLE REVIEW

- WHY IT MATTERS

Design Without Strategy Is Just Decoration.

We've rebuilt enough brands to know exactly what happens when strategy gets skipped. A business owner gets a logo they love — but nobody else does. A website launches that looks great — but doesn't convert. A campaign runs — but reaches the wrong people entirely.

The Discover stage exists to prevent all of that. It costs less than one revision cycle. It saves more than it costs on every project we've applied it to. And it gives you something priceless: the certainty that everything built on top of it is built on solid ground.

START WITH A FREE DISCOVERY CALL

- THE PROOF

Clarity is the most Valuable Thing We Deliver.

Before any logo is drawn, website built, or ad run — our clients know exactly who they are, who they serve, and why they're different. That clarity makes every subsequent investment more effective.

The businesses that grow fastest aren't the ones who move fastest. They're the ones who started with the clearest picture of where they were going.

NEXT: DESIGN SERVICES

100%

Of our clients who complete Discovery report higher confidence in their brand direction before design begins

40%

Average reduction in design revision cycles when Discovery is completed first

90min

Is all it takes for our Brand Discovery Session to produce actionable strategic clarity

5★

Average client rating for our Discovery deliverables — "worth every minute"

- CLIENT RESULTS

The Discovery session alone changed how I think about my business. I came in thinking I needed a new logo. I left knowing I needed a completely different positioning — and that the positioning was already inside what I'd built. Consort just helped me see it.

KEVIN WESTON

Owner, Shape2Tone

I'd worked with two other agencies who just started designing. Consort was the first team that asked me who my customer actually was before they picked up a pencil. The difference in the final result was night and day.

JOHNNY LITTLE

Owner, Elicious Resturant

- COMMON QUESTIONS

Everything You Need to Know

Questions about how Discovery works, what it costs, and whether it's right for your business — answered plainly.

▸Do I need Discovery if I already have a brand?

▸What is brand positioning and why does it matter for a small business?

Brand positioning is the strategic decision about what space your brand occupies in your customer's mind relative to competitors. For small businesses, this is even more critical than for large ones — because you don't have an advertising budget to brute-force recognition. You need to be known for something specific. Brand positioning defines that something clearly so every touchpoint reinforces the same message.

▸How long does the Discovery stage take?

A full Discovery engagement typically takes 2–3 weeks from kickoff to final deliverables. This includes the Brand Discovery Session (90 minutes), research and analysis (5–7 business days), and a strategy presentation and review session. If you're combining Discovery with Design or Grow services, this timeline runs concurrently with early-stage planning so it doesn't delay your overall project.

▸Can I do Discovery without committing to Design or Grow services?

▸What is UX planning and how is it different from web design?

UX planning is the strategic architecture of how your website works — what pages exist, how users move between them, what information appears in what order, and what actions you want visitors to take. Web design is the visual execution of that architecture. UX planning happens first, in the Discover stage, so that when we get to Design, we're not making structural decisions on the fly. It results in faster design, fewer revisions, and dramatically better conversion rates.

- READY TO BEGIN?

The Map Before the Climb.

Start with a free 30-minute discovery call. No contracts, no obligations — just a conversation about where you are and where you want to go.

BOOK YOUR FREE DISCOVERY CALL

EXPLORE DESIGN SERVICES

Free 30-min call · No contracts · No obligation · We respond within one business day.

Various blog images of people in the Information Age - digital marketing, branding and website design agency in St. Louis

Know Your Terrain Before You Start Climbing.

Strategy before design. Clarity before execution.

• Market Research

• Brand Positioning

• Audience Analysis

• UX Planning

• Competitive Landscape

• Brand Discovery Session

You can't navigate terrain you haven't mapped. Every brand we've built that truly performs started with a Discover phase — because clarity at the start is worth ten revisions at the end.

The Full Discover Suite

Market Research

Brand Positioning

Audience Analysis

UX Planning

Brand Discovery Session

The Discovery Process

The Discovery Process

Brand Discovery Session

Research & Analysis

Strategy Presentation

Design Without Strategy Is Just Decoration.

Clarity is the most Valuable Thing We Deliver.

Everything You Need to Know

▸Do I need Discovery if I already have a brand?

▸What is brand positioning and why does it matter for a small business?

▸How long does the Discovery stage take?

▸Can I do Discovery without committing to Design or Grow services?

▸What is UX planning and how is it different from web design?

The Map Before the Climb.

How Brand Strategy Shapes Every Successful Website

5 Website Design Mistakes That Are Killing Your Conversions

Why Your Established Business Needs a Brand Refresh (Not a Rebrand)

SERVICES

COMPANY

GET STARTED

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