Some Branding Tips

It’s clear that branding is one of the most important steps you, as a business, will pursue.  You don’t have to be large company or organization to need it.  With so much discussion, so many web sites, periodicals, and reference materials available, it’s obviously a hot topic.  So, exactly what is branding?

In a few words, it’s your seal of excellence.  It’s your firm’s signature of approval that customers will perceive as a reassurance of consistent quality. It’s your promise to a customer that your business or organization is a unique entity providing the service or product they seek.

Being unique, what makes you memorable and stand apart from the rest?  Are you the new kid on the block, fresh and creative, the top of the line product or provider in your industry, or maybe the one that offers the best value for the money?  Whatever the case, because focus is so important, your business needs to concentrate particularly on these qualities coming across consistently to your customer.

One of the most visible aspects of your branding is your logo.  The rest of your promotional materials, including your stationery, web site, and perhaps your packaging (all of which should feature your logo), are the standard bearers for your brand.

Developing Your Brand

Developing your brand can be a fairly deep, introspective process.  It can involve some serious thinking about a variety of important aspects of your business or organization, including:

• What is/are your unique selling proposition(s) (i.e. what makes you special)?
• What is the existing perception your customers already have of your business?
• How do you want your organization to be perceived?
• What is your firm’s mission?

You really need to know, through research, precisely what your customers’ needs are and how they normally proceed to satisfy those needs.  With so much information available online, and with so many business-related advisory resources in your city or community, you’ve got a lot of potential help at your disposal.

 

Promoting Your Brand

After some (business) soul-searching weeks or months, your brand is ready to go. Now here are some things you’ll need to do:

• Have a professional work with you to design a fabulous logo.
• Put it on everything!  Make sure that logo appears on all your organization’s promotional and communication materials.
• Consolidate all aspects of your brand message, and make sure all your employees communicate it correctly.  This includes your email signature, how you answer the phone, how you dress when you meet with your clients, and everything else.
• Come up with a tagline:  a memorable message to accompany your local, and make it short and sweet!
• Develop a “voice.” Your company or organization is an entity unto itself, and, as such, has a personality.  Whether it’s formal, informal, friendly, or funny, make sure it’s reflected accordingly.
• Be consistent.  This is one of the most important aspects of branding.  You must be prepared to commit to consistency; otherwise, the entire exercise becomes a waste of time (and money).

Seven thoughtful tips for newbie design freelancers

If you’re starting your own freelance business in graphic design or aspire to become a designer, there is a world of opportunity that awaits you. If you’re talented, have some experience (the more, the better, of course), and have the tools of the trade, you’re all set, right? Well, let’s just say it’s a start.

No matter what sort of business you’re in, there’s always a sales and marketing component to consider. Bummer, huh? Well, no, it’s actually not such a bad thing. There are a few things that you can learn and some skills to hone before you start trying to drum up business. These, along with your natural talent and training, will likely take you a long way.

1. Try to see things from your client’s perspective. Remember that it’s all about them, after all. They hire you, they’re willing to pay for the work, and they allow you to work in your field, so it’s a good idea to listen carefully to what they want. Sure, offer an informed opinion to help them, but, ultimately, they’re the boss and what they want is what you need to provide. If you feel really strongly negative about their product, service, attitude, or direction, then you need to consider whether you should proceed at all, rather than become antagonistic in the course of your business relationship. At the beginning of your career, it’s usually a case of simply being grateful for the work and just toughing it out, but use your discretion and best judgement. If it doesn’t feel good to do this job, think it through before you pass it up.
2. Be responsive. If a client phones or emails you with questions or requests, make sure you reply as quickly as you can. This leaves them with a very favourable impression and makes you stand out as being reliable. Referring back to point #1, you need to see yourself through your client’s eyes. Wouldn’t you want someone to be paying attention to you, especially when it’s someone you’ve hired? I’m always amazed to hear stories from my clients about how they’re still waiting for a call back or an email from a service provider, even after a week or two!
3. Don’t be afraid to offer advice or suggestions. You are the expert, right? Be careful, however, not to seem pedantic and use your best diplomatic approach to address potentially difficult topics. Again, your client is depending on you to help them arrive at the design solution they need, and often, they only think they know what they want (some admittedly have no clue), so they need you to guide them.
4. Make all your requirements clear and make them up front. It’s common practice for people in our industry to request a deposit before beginning a project, so make that known. Also, what will you need from them, and when? Informing your client makes you look more credible and authoritative, and it helps remove some of the apprehension associated in dealing with someone they may not know very well.
5. Be proactive. The world, being a far from perfect place, often wreaks havoc on schedules and the best laid plans. That being known, take the initiative to contact your client, sooner rather than later, and let them know the status of their project. Ideally, you are making every human effort to meet the deadline, but if something has gone awry in your work queue, typically something over which you have no control, let them know as early as possible that there may be a delay. Then, offer at least a rough estimate of how much longer the work or project milestone may require.
6. Be punctual in your delivery. I’m tempted to suggest the old “under promise and over deliver,” but, in a sense, you should be doing that to a great extent anyway. Remember, people love pleasant surprises, and you’ll be hailed as a hero, worshipped, and your deeds will live on in the songs of troubadours. Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the drift.
7. Always, always, always charge what a job will cost. You need to live, after all, and you won’t be doing anyone a favour (least of all yourself) if you undercharge. Charging too little also has a negative effect on other professionals in the field who are trying to earn a living, so be considerate to others as well as yourself.

 

From my own humble experience, I hope this helps you. If you have some other suggestions for newbie design freelancers, please share. Thanks for reading!

Working with a Graphic Designer

Working with a designer can be very smooth and efficient, with just a modicum of cooperation.

Here are some important things to consider in choosing to work with a graphic designer. 

 

Look at their portfolio to see if you like their style, direction, and flexibility.

Size them up. Do you know anyone who has dealt with this individual or firm?  If so, find out what their experience have been like.  If not, try to determine if your intended designer has the personality, professionalism, commitment and/or sense of ownership that will work for this project.

Check your budget and timeline.  The best graphic designers are typically (and understandably) very busy people.  They will want to do their utmost to meet your deadlines, and so they will need to assess how your project can fit into an existing work queue.  For this reason, you’ll need to be realistic in discussing a feasible target date for completion.  Keeping projects moving and clients satisfied requires a great deal of project management skill on the part of the designer, so working with them in this regard will help them manage your project’s time and resource allocation most effectively.  This translates to making sure your project is done as well and as quickly as possible.  Also, most designers will accommodate an urgent project in return for a premium payment.  If you allow for a reasonable time for completion of this project, you may not need to pay the premium.

Keep an open mind.  Remember this trained professional is going to do their best for your business or organization.  After all, your success is their success.  You’ve hired them, and they will want to make you happy by bringing their talent, experience, and skills to bear fully on your project.  Just as you would expect them to listen, give them an opportunity to explain their approach or rationale.

Attitude check.  If you know you have a tendency to micromanage, you may find it challenging (if not impossible!) to work with a professional designer.  Most people are at their best when they have the room they need to get things done.

Communicate.  This is especially important when you’re dealing with marketing concepts and abstractions!  Although a seasoned designer will actively seek out the information they need  through a design brief, it’s important for you to try meeting them halfway.  Tell them as clearly and honestly as you can what your requirements are, and provide constructive input when it’s requested.  Often, it helps immensely to present examples of designs you’d like and/or would like to avoid.

Assign a contact person.  It’s incredibly frustrating for a designer (or perhaps for anyone!) to take conflicting directives from two or more people (think “too many chiefs…”), who may not be in sync with each other, or worse yet, be at odds.  Have your meetings and discussions with all parties concerned within your organization and come to a consensus.  Your contact person should uniquely communicate the resulting decisions and input.

Provide what is needed.  Most designers will require all the necessary details and information from you ahead of starting a project.  Any textual components to be incorporated should be proofread and finalized.  Delays in providing these materials will nearly always translate to delays in the project’s completion.

Have you had some interesting or useful interactions with graphic designers?  I invite you to share them here.  Thank you for reading!