For these first couple blog posts, I want us to kick back, relax, and get to know each other better. I thought about making this first post an introduction to me, but really, I’ve already done that on my “About” page, and I don’t think knowing where I grew up or my favorite color will be a useful introduction to what we’re going to talk about here. (Though it should be pretty easy to guess my favorite color. There’s a lot of it on this site.) You can find out all about me and my services and my work and all that other good stuff by working your way through my website. Hopefully, you have landed here because you want something more. So, lets get into that.
I want to talk about what I believe about the work I do: branding design, marketing, and specifically social media. Although social media only plays a part in some marketing plans, I still think it’s important to talk about what I believe about how brands should be using social media and how that affects users. It’s a huge part of all our everyday lives, and my client work and the advice I give here will absolutely touch on it, so we’re going to talk about it. Today, I want to tell you how I really feel about design in general and branding design in particular.
1. Branding Design is MASSIVELY important…
I bet we have all had this experience. You’re looking for a service, say a contractor. You meet with two companies: Joe’s Construction and Bob’s Construction. Joe and Bob both have a great reviews, both were equally nice and professional when you met with them, and they have a similar price point. However, Joe has a magnet on the side of his truck with his name on it in comic sans, but Bob has a nice set of decals with his logo and company information. Joe wrote his estimate on a generic form from Office Depot and Bob sent you one via email a few hours later with his company logo and colors. When you deal with Joe and Bob’s assistants, you notice that Bob’s assistant has a branded email signature with all the company’s contact information and logo that is consistent with Bob’s signature. Joe’s assistant’s email just says “Sent from my iPhone.”. Which company will you choose? I bet you’ll go with Bob. Even if you don’t know anything about design, branding, or even business, something about all these interactions tells you that Bob’s company looks more professional, more “legit” than Joe’s. And you won’t be the only one.
2. …BUT that doesn’t mean that you need to sink your ship before it even sets sail by hiring someone like me to do it for you.
Starting and growing a business is hard. I’m in it right now, deep, and you don’t need me to tell you that this struggle is real. And I don’t even have to worry about products or overhead: I can sit on a pillow in my living room and do my job, but that’s not the case for Joe. Joe has to have employees and transportation and the aforementioned magnets. That stuff isn’t free. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “You have to spend money to make money”. It’s usually coming out of the mouth of someone who wants you to spend that money with them. Well, I believe you have to make money to spend money. In my experience, there are lots of business owners who know very little about design and how important it is, but there are even more business owners who get it. However money doesn’t grow on trees no matter how many they plant, maintain, or trim. They have to make some money before they can turn around and invest it in something like solid branding design.
3. I believe ALL businesses deserve great design.
Call me an idealist, but I believe that the tiny tortilleria down the street deserves to look just as nice as the trendy taco chain in the fancy shopping district. I’m not running a graphic design charity (yet; it’s crossed my mind), but I also know that not everyone has the financial resources right this minute to invest thousands on professional branding design. So, what’s the solution for those businesses who aren’t ready or able to drop the big bucks on branding services? I believe it’s education.
Never in history has so much information been freely available on design and marketing. There is SO MUCH information in fact, that it can create a sort of paralysis. A quick Google search of “how to design my own logo” or “how to get my business started with social media” yields THOUSANDS of results, and it’s a rabbit hole that is all too easy to fall down. Before you know it, you have spent hours reading about flat design trend in logos and why you should be on twitter because of SEO (whatever that means). Not only do you not know any more about how to take action than you did before, but you’ve wasted a whole afternoon that you could have spent making and selling stuff.
So, if you’re bootstrapping it, stick with me. I want this blog to be a place where you can get actionable tips and tricks for marketing your business and looking great while you do it.
“But Jess,” you ask, “if you do that, won’t you work yourself out of a job? If you teach everyone to DIY their brand, who’s going to hire you?”
I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED.
Unless you decide to quit your existing businesses and become a graphic designer, none of the advice I’m going to give here will be a long term solution. Neglecting your business to be a designer is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. If you’re new to business or growing, I want to help you streamline your look and feel so that you don’t lose out to the Bobs of the world so you can land the gig and make the big bucks. Once you do, I hope you’ll hire me. If you don’t, no hard feelings. We can still be friends.
Stay tuned tomorrow for my marketing manifesto, including my thoughts on the death of print, the death of blogging, and hopefully, the death of saying that certain strategies are dead.