What goes into award winning branding and websites? Hi This Is Bry wins Web Branding Agency of the Year in South England

I recently found out that Hi This Is Bry has been named Web Branding Agency of the Year at the South England Prestige Awards 2026/27, which was a particularly lovely award to receive because it sits right between two huge parts of the work I do.

I offer branding and website services separately because plenty of businesses only need help with one of them, but I rarely think about either one in complete isolation. A brand eventually has to work somewhere, and for most businesses their website is one of the most important places people will experience it. At the same time, a website can be beautifully designed and still struggle if the business behind it has unclear positioning, weak messaging or branding that does not reflect the quality of what is being sold.

That crossover is a big part of how I work, so being recognised specifically for web branding felt very fitting.

So what actually goes into my branding and website work?

A lot more than choosing some colours and making a homepage look nice, thankfully, because that would get boring quite quickly.

When I work on branding, I’m thinking about what somebody needs to understand when they first encounter the business, what kind of customer the brand needs to appeal to and what they are likely to expect at that price point. I’m also considering what makes the business recognisable, what needs to feel distinctive and whether the visual identity can actually be used consistently across the places the business appears.

With websites, I’m looking at what happens once somebody lands on the site. I want to know what they see first, whether they understand what is being offered, what information they need before they can make a decision and whether the website gives them enough reason to trust the business. If they start comparing it with another company in another tab, the website needs to give them useful reasons to keep considering this one.

The design matters throughout all of this, but the decisions behind the design are usually where most of my thinking happens.

A brand has to work outside the logo file

One of the reasons I offer several different levels of branding and marketing support is that businesses come to me at very different stages.

Some already have a recognisable identity and plenty worth keeping, but it has become inconsistent or no longer feels like it represents the business particularly well. My Brand Clarity Report and Refresh is designed for that situation. I review what already exists, work out what is weakening the brand and give practical recommendations for improving it, alongside refreshed priority graphics and an updated style sheet.

Other businesses already know what they sell and who they are selling it to, but they have never had a proper visual identity built for them. That is where my Foundation Brand Identity comes in. I create the logo and supporting visual assets as a system that can actually be used across the business, rather than handing over one logo and leaving the client to work out the rest.

Then there are businesses where the questions start much earlier. They may be competing in a crowded market, moving towards a different type of customer or struggling to explain why somebody should choose them. My Strategic Brand Identity goes further into the business itself before the visual identity is developed, looking at the positioning, audience, messaging and what could make the business easier to recognise and remember.

The finished branding still needs to look good, obviously. I am a designer. I would quite like people to enjoy looking at it. The point is that there should be a reason behind what has been designed and a clear idea of what the business needs that identity to do.

See also: Why does my business look unprofessional? Honest branding advice for small businesses

Your website has a job once somebody arrives

Websites have a similar problem because it is very easy to judge them entirely by appearance. A site can look polished in a screenshot while being surprisingly unhelpful to the person actually trying to use it.

When I review a website, I’m following the experience somebody has from the moment they arrive. Can they work out what the business does quickly enough? Do the services make sense to somebody who has never spoken to the owner before? Are important questions answered before the enquiry stage? Is there proof in the places where somebody is most likely to start wondering whether they can trust the business?

This is why my website design and strategy services are split depending on how much work is actually needed.

My Website Clarity Report and Refresh is for businesses that already have a decent website underneath it all, but something about the messaging, user journey, design or credibility is getting in the way. I review what is happening and provide recommendations, a website style sheet and mockups to show how the strongest improvements could work. It is guidance rather than me logging in and rebuilding the site, which makes sense when the foundations are already there.

My Foundation Website Build is for businesses that already have a clear offer and a way of generating sales, but need a professional custom website that represents them properly. I build these completely from scratch in Wix Classic rather than starting with a template or using AI to generate the design.

The Strategic Website Build goes considerably deeper because the website itself needs to do more of the selling. I work through the website sales strategy, user journey, messaging, trust and authority before building the site around that plan. I also consider how the content can help people discover the business and what the client can continue doing with the website once it has launched.

See also: Why isn’t my website converting? A guide to web optimisation for small business owners

Branding and websites affect how people judge the same business

This is the bit that makes the Web Branding Agency of the Year title feel especially relevant to me.

A potential customer does not neatly separate your branding from your website while they research you. They experience the business as a whole. They might see a social post first, search your name, open your website, read a case study and then check your reviews before they ever contact you.

If those different pieces give them a similar impression of the business, the decision becomes easier to make. They know what you do, understand roughly who it is for and have enough evidence to decide whether they want to know more.

Problems tend to appear when the experience changes dramatically between places. A business might provide an expensive specialist service but have branding that looks unfinished. Another might have excellent branding but a website that gives almost no useful information about what happens after somebody enquires. The individual parts can be fine while the overall experience still makes the business harder to understand.

That is why I spend so much time looking at the connections between things. A logo does not need to explain an entire business, and a website cannot repair every wider problem with the brand, but they should be doing their own jobs properly and supporting the same business.

See also: How to know if your brand is holding your business back

You probably do not need to start everything again

One thing I wanted to build into my current services was a bit more common sense around what businesses actually need.

A complete rebrand is unnecessary if the existing identity has good foundations and simply needs tightening up. There is very little point paying for a completely new website if the existing one mainly needs better structure, clearer messaging and stronger visual direction. Equally, trying to patch the surface of something that has much bigger strategic problems can become an expensive way of avoiding the actual issue.

That is why I now have Clarity, Foundation and Strategic options across my branding and website work. The level of support should match the problem rather than automatically jumping to the biggest project available.

If you are not sure where yours sits, you can look through my Creative Services to see the different ways I work with businesses, or enquire if the problem crosses several areas and needs something more tailored.

What did the Prestige Award mean to me?

I’m very pleased with it, partly because awards have become a useful way of checking whether the work I am doing is being recognised outside my own little corner of the internet.

Over the past year I have received recognition across branding, websites, content creation, business development and entrepreneurship, and I spend a fair amount of time telling clients to make better use of things like awards, press and other independent recognition when they have earned it.

So yes, this blog is also me being forced to take my own advice.

The Web Branding Agency of the Year title feels particularly relevant because the overlap between branding, websites and strategy has become such a large part of Hi This Is Bry. I do not want to make things that only work in a portfolio image. I want the client to leave with something they can actually use to explain their business, attract the right people and make the next stage of their marketing easier.

FAQs

What does a branding service actually include? It depends on how established the business already is. My branding services range from reviewing and refreshing an existing identity through to creating a new visual identity, with the Strategic Brand Identity also covering deeper work around positioning, audience and messaging.

What is the difference between Foundation and Strategic branding? Foundation Brand Identity is designed for businesses that already know what they sell and who they are selling it to, so the focus is creating the visual identity they need. Strategic Brand Identity starts earlier and looks at the direction of the business, its positioning and messaging before the visual identity is developed.

Do I need a completely new website if mine is not working? Not necessarily. If the foundations are good, problems with the user journey, messaging, design or credibility may be fixable without replacing the whole website, which is why I offer a Website Clarity Report and Refresh alongside full website builds.

Should branding and website design be done together? They do not always need to be one project, but they should support the same business and give potential customers a consistent impression. If you already have strong branding, a website can be built around it, while an existing website may only need updating after a brand refresh.

What does a strategic website include that a standard build does not? My Strategic Website Build includes deeper work on how the website helps sell the business, including the customer journey, messaging, trust, authority and content direction. The finished website is then designed and built around that strategy rather than working out those decisions during the build itself.

Want to see where your own business could be stronger?

Branding and websites are only part of what somebody sees when they decide whether to trust a business, so if you are trying to work out what deserves your attention first, my free Business Visibility Playbook helps you review your branding, website, social presence and visible authority to find the gaps that could be making the decision harder for potential customers.