We are small, and mighty.

Two senior people, forty and twenty years in, working on your business directly. No account managers. No junior team. Nobody in between.

We help B2B manufacturers, marketing teams, and founders replace scattered branding with one clear message that holds up everywhere.

KAREN LARSON
Brand Strategy and Design

Karen has spent four decades on brand. Global manufacturers and tech companies, large nonprofits, and small teams with one marketing person doing everything. She is the one who asks what you actually do, and keeps asking until the answer is simple enough to build on.

JAMIE SAUNDERS
Marketing Strategy and Analytics

Jamie spent twenty years inside B2B corporate marketing before co-founding CBS. She knows what a stretched team looks like from the inside. She handles content, analytics, and the systems that keep it all moving, and she will tell you what is working and what is not.

WHO WE SERVE

Who We Work Best With

After this many years, we have a pretty good sense of who we help most. It usually comes down to one thing. You know something is off, but you are too close to it to name it. Here is where we do our best work.

B2B  |  INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING

You make something real, with long sales cycles and buyers who do their homework. You do not need another campaign idea from someone who has never walked your floor. You need messaging that holds up in front of an engineer or a distributor.

CORPORATE MARKETERS

You have a team, a budget, and more on your plate than either can cover. You do not need another vendor to manage. You need a partner who plugs in, gets up to speed fast, and hands work back ready to go.

SMALL BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS

You are the founder, the salesperson, and most days the marketing department too. You do not need a 40 page strategy deck. You need to get clear on what you are, say it the same way everywhere, and stop guessing.

LARGE NON-PROFITS

Donors, board members, staff, and the people you serve are all hearing something a little different. You need consistency and one message everyone can repeat, and materials that work as hard as your team does.

OUR APPROACH

The CBS Brand + Marketing Ecosystem

Every engagement lives within one of four phases. Most clients move through them in sequence, though where you start depends on where you are at right now.

CLARIFY

Before you build anything, you need to know what you’re building and why.

BUILD

Your brand, your website, your sales tools. Everything your team needs.

GROW

Content, campaigns, events, email — buyers will find your company.

SUSTAIN

We keep the marketing on track so you can focus on your business.

TESTIMONIALS

Clear Brand Strategy has enabled our brand to find our presence and voice in the digital marketplace. Their partnership has empowered us to turn our customers’ ideas and needs into commercial results. I highly recommend Clear Brand Strategy to those who are looking for lasting business impact on their brands!

Bruce Choi

Senior Product Manager, Mativ Industrials Business Unit

Jamie and Karen have been incredible partners on many high-stakes projects. Their utmost attention to detail combined with their creativity has made them an obvious choice as agency partners. They’re thorough, sincere, and above all, they play to win. I would recommend Clear Brand Strategy to any business looking to up their communications game.

Shobhita Sharma

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications, Mativ Industrials Business Unit

Clear Brand Strategy helped us transform from a new market entrant to a trusted American manufacturer in record time. Their strategic approach to building our brand and market presence gave us the credibility we needed to secure national distribution.

Jason Alloway

President, New Castle Steel

A go-to collaborative partner for B2 Consulting LLC — We brought Clear Brand Strategy to the table to redesign an incredibly deep, information-rich client website. It was an easy decision to add Clear Brand Strategy to the team. Karen’s organizational and design skills, creative strategy, and insight into financial services helped deliver a savvy user experience. Bottom line: Hire Clear Brand Strategy. It will be the best decision you’ll make.

Barb Biess

Principal, B2 Consulting LLC

I believe there are six key characteristics of a top-notch service provider — integrity, experience, expertise, attention to detail, follow-through, and interpersonal connection. CBS has all six in spades.

Jim Niedzinski

Co-Founder, Motive Financial

RECENT BLOG POSTS

Let’s have an honest conversation about your brand.
What’s working, where it’s stuck, and where you’re trying to go. We’ll tell you what we’d actually recommend — even if that means we’re not a long-term fit for you.