The verdict in three sentences
Buyers of a boutique strategy consultancy in Frankfurt, CEOs, supervisory board members and private equity operating partners, check your site after a referral to see who the partners are, which sectors you know and how you think. Local agencies typically quote EUR 20,000 to 60,000 for a redesign (2026 ballpark), while the Kolonell fixed grid sits at EUR 2,700, 4,500 or 8,200, the last being the multilingual Premium tier, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready (4 to 6 for Premium). The redesign is worth doing if it makes your thought leadership and partner profiles credible without losing the search visibility and legal notices you already have.
Is your current site costing you mandates?
Run this check with a colleague who has never seen the site, on a phone, in under five minutes:
- Partners. Can they find each partner's background, sectors and former roles in two clicks? Generic headshots and a paragraph of adjectives tell a board member nothing.
- Sector depth. Are banking, insurance, automotive, chemicals or industrial goods, the sectors that dominate the Rhine-Main region, presented with real issues rather than a list of logos?
- Thought leadership. Is the latest article from this quarter or from 2022? A dormant insights page suggests a dormant firm.
- Case studies. Are they anonymised, real and specific about the problem and the approach? Invented or overstated examples are spotted quickly by former consultants on the client side.
- German and English parity. Does the English version say the same as the German one, written natively, or is it a shorter afterthought?
- Compliance basics. Is there a complete Impressum, a current privacy notice and a cookie banner that actually works before tracking starts?
Two or more failures and the site is likely undermining referrals that took years to earn.
What a redesign costs in Frankfurt in 2026
| Option | Typical budget | Time to launch | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand-led Frankfurt agency | EUR 60,000 to 150,000 excl. VAT | 4 to 8 months | Full rebrand, positioning work, large partner group |
| Boutique Frankfurt agency | EUR 20,000 to 60,000 excl. VAT | 3 to 5 months | Custom design, German and English, CMS training |
| Freelance designer and developer | EUR 5,000 to 15,000 excl. VAT | 6 to 12 weeks | Small firm, clear brief, in-house copy |
| Kolonell Starter | EUR 2,700 | 3 to 4 weeks | Young consultancy needing a credible, focused site |
| Kolonell Growth | EUR 4,500 | 3 to 4 weeks | Partner pages, sector pages and an insights section |
| Kolonell Premium | EUR 8,200 | 4 to 6 weeks | Multilingual tier, languages set in the quote |
| Client portal, gated reports, CRM integration | On quote | Scoped separately | Firms sharing deliverables online |
| Maintenance after the 3 included months | On quote (market assumption: EUR 200 to 600 per month) | Ongoing | Updates, backups, content support |
Local ranges come from typical agency quotes and public rate pages and are indicative only. Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting and three months of support; the detail is on the international offer. A German version is scoped in the quote for the Premium tier.
A realistic timeline, phase by phase
| Week | What happens | What the firm must provide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scoping, URL inventory, redirect map, structure | Partner list, sectors, existing analytics access |
| 1 to 2 | Design direction and mock-ups | Brand assets, two or three reference sites |
| 2 to 3 | Build, content integration, structured data | Approved bios, sector texts, anonymised cases |
| 3 | Legal and data protection review | Impressum details, privacy notice approval |
| 4 | Migration, redirects, go-live, Search Console checks | Final sign-off by the managing partner |
| 4 to 6 | Premium only: additional language versions | Native review of each language |
Content readiness drives the calendar. A firm that starts writing partner bios after kick-off usually adds two to four weeks.
What goes wrong in consultancy redesigns, and how to prevent it
| Risk | Likely consequence | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Insight articles dropped or moved without redirects | Loss of years of search visibility on expert topics | Full URL inventory, 301 map, post-launch crawl |
| Case studies naming clients without consent | Breach of confidentiality, damaged relationship | Anonymise, get written approval for any named reference |
| Incomplete Impressum or outdated privacy notice | Warning letters (Abmahnungen) are common in Germany | Review against the Digital Services Act transposition (DDG) and the GDPR |
| Tracking before consent | Complaint to the state data protection authority | Consent management tested before launch |
| English version thinner than German | Weaker credibility with international PE funds | Content parity decided at scoping |
| Launch during a pitch period | Broken links sent to prospects | Go-live outside key pitch weeks, rollback plan |
German law requires a provider identification (Impressum) on business websites, and the GDPR together with the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) governs forms, newsletters and analytics; the Hessian data protection authority supervises firms based in Frankfurt. If your firm also carries out activities supervised by BaFin, those communications need their own review. This is not legal advice; ask your counsel to check the final notices.
Questions to put to any provider: who writes the partner bios and in which native language? Who owns the domain, hosting and analytics accounts? What exactly is redirected, and who checks it after launch? How are consent and form data handled?
When a Frankfurt agency is the better call
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A local agency makes sense if you want a full repositioning with workshops in your office, a brand identity built from scratch or a project manager who can sit in partner meetings every week. It also fits firms whose procurement requires a German contracting party. If your positioning is settled, your partners can supply content and you mainly need a credible, fast, well-built site, a fixed-price studio is usually the more efficient route.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: "Mainhattan Strategy Partners", a fictional consultancy of eleven consultants including four partners, serving mid-sized banks and industrial groups. Its current site has about 120 indexed URLs, 40 of them insight articles. It receives a boutique agency quote of EUR 32,000 excl. VAT and compares it with Kolonell Premium at EUR 8,200, the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote.
The partners translate both into partner days at a hypothetical day rate of EUR 2,500: the agency quote equals 12.8 days (32,000 ÷ 2,500), Kolonell Premium 3.3 days (8,200 ÷ 2,500). They keep the insights archive, map all 120 URLs to redirects and plan one week of legal review for the Impressum and privacy notice.
FAQ
What does a strategy consultancy website redesign cost in Frankfurt in 2026?
Boutique agencies typically quote EUR 20,000 to 60,000 excl. VAT, brand-led agencies EUR 60,000 to 150,000 (2026 ballpark). Kolonell tiers are fixed at EUR 2,700, 4,500 and 8,200.
How long does it take?
With Kolonell, 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready, 4 to 6 weeks for Premium. Local agencies often plan 3 to 5 months, including workshops.
Should the site be in German, English or both?
Most Frankfurt boutiques serving international funds need both, with full content parity. The Premium tier is the multilingual one, with languages set in the quote.
Can we keep our old insight articles?
Yes, and you should: they carry search visibility and show continuity of thinking. Each URL is mapped to its new address with a 301 redirect, then checked in Search Console after launch.
Are client portals or gated reports included?
No, gated areas, portals and integrations are priced on quote after scoping. The site itself, with three months of support, stays at the tier's fixed price.
Let's scope your project. A Growth or Premium redesign with partner profiles, sector pages and a preserved insights archive, live in 3 to 6 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
