Owner PULP Brand Studio & Ooey Gooey Creative
If your brand feels a little scattered — your website says one thing, your logo says another, and your messaging keeps changing depending on who’s writing the caption — you’re not alone.
Sound familiar?
Most women who come to me haven’t hired a marketing agency yet. They’ve been doing it all themselves — creating the Canva graphics, managing the Instagram, tweaking the tagline for the hundredth time. You’ve been the CEO and the creative department.
And now, you’re ready to stop winging it.
So here’s the real question: when you’re ready to take your brand seriously, do you hire a marketing agency or a brand studio?
Because those two things are not the same — and choosing the wrong one is usually why people end up rebranding every year.
Let’s keep it simple.
A marketing agency helps you promote what already exists.
A brand studio helps you define what should exist in the first place.
Agencies run ads, plan campaigns, and manage content calendars. Studios build the foundation those things depend on—your message, voice, identity, and direction. If you want to understand who shapes that foundation, meet the brand strategist.
One sells. The other shapes.
Category | Brand Studio | Marketing Agency |
Purpose | Builds the brand foundation — strategy, identity, and story. | Promotes what the brand sells — ads, content, campaigns. |
Focus | Long-term clarity and consistency. | Short-term visibility and conversions. |
Process | Strategy → Identity → Creative Systems → Launch. | Campaign → Metrics → Adjust → Repeat. |
Team Style | Small, focused, creative strategists. | Larger teams split by service (social, ads, PR). |
Ideal Client | Business ready to define or refine its brand. | Business with an established brand and budget for promotion. |
Outcome | A brand that feels clear, aligned, and organized. | Campaigns that drive awareness or sales — for now. |
If you’ve tried piecing together freelancers and it’s still disjointed, then you need one place that connects the dots—start with a brand studio, or bring in a brand specialist.
Agencies are great at what they do—but they’re not built to fix a brand that doesn’t have direction yet. They’ll make things look better, but not necessarily make them make sense.
Here’s what usually happens:
Campaigns look good but don’t feel like you.
Metrics drive decisions while meaning gets sidelined.
Awareness grows, but the core brand isn’t ready to hold it.
What if you started with clarity—before spending a dime on ads?
That’s what a brand studio does. It makes sure every message, post, and visual lines up with your bigger vision so marketing actually works when you’re ready to scale. When you’re at the “we’re growing fast and need leadership” stage, you’ll want to understand the role of a brand director
A good studio doesn’t stop at a logo and color palette. It gives your business structure.
That includes:
Strategy: your direction, position, and purpose. (See What Is a Brand Strategist?
Identity: how that strategy looks and sounds in the real world.
Creative systems: visual and verbal frameworks your team can use.
Alignment: decisions that match your goals, not just trends.
If you’re planning long-term expansion, read about the brand builder.
If you hire a marketing agency before you’ve defined your brand, they’ll end up guessing. Every guess costs you—in time, budget, and sanity.
Agencies ask: What do we promote?
Studios ask: Why should anyone care?
That’s the difference between short-term attention and long-term results.
Want the full picture of what a studio tackles? Start here → What Is a Brand Studio?
Still wondering if this is worth it for smaller businesses?
Go here next → Why a Brand Studio Is the Best Investment for Small Businesses
Hi, I Erin and committed to helping you build a brand you love!
Fresh squeezed with all the Ooey Gooey Goodness!
