TOP 4 REASONS TO CHOOSE A PROFESSIONAL & LOCAL BUSINESS FOR YOUR BRAND
Now that you know how important good branding is, you’ll probably need help developing your brand.
Today’s market is extremely fierce. Everybody craves that “competitive edge” that will make customers remember you or your brand. Chances are your products and services might not be unique… But good branding will make your customers perceive you as unique.
Where to start?
Your tool list must include a logo, a website, a mobile application (or a mobile friendly website), a social media presence, a marketing campaign, brochures, business cards, maybe a newsletter. You need a plan to develop your visual identity and ultimately, your customer base.
You might have the ideas, but not the means or the right software. You might have the money, but not the time. What you have nowadays is so many possibilities for brand development that you probably don’t know where to start.
So why not leave it to professionals who know what they are doing? If you’re starting your business or looking for a renewed corporate image, you probably don’t have any time to waste on the technical part of things.
1 – SOMETIMES, IT’S JUST TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
When you begin to search for brand design online, options may seem unlimited. You have to be careful though. Sites that advertise “We design logos” or let you “design your own logo” have many limits.
First, if you’re on a “design your logo for free” site, there will be so many pop-up ads and advertising that you’ll become frustrated very fast. Also, don’t be naive: nothing is free! You’ll have a “free trial” and then, you’ll have to pay – usually, for something that seems very complicated, with a lot of technical jargon, like “file conversion process fees”, more commonly known as “only $19.99!”.
OK, those sites are not necessarily expensive, but you’ll most certainly end up with a product of mediocre quality that looks cheap. In the end, you’ll have wasted your time and your money. Even worse, you might end up with a business card or a logo that are templates or contain clip arts that are available everywhere… for free.
From a brand point of view, you’re nobody. You don’t stand out. You’re not unique.
2 – YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A NUMBER
You don’t want your content to be generic or look less professional. Why? Simple: your customers will trust you less. Put yourself in their shoes: they’ll think that if you didn’t take the time to get a decent logo, if you didn’t invest the money to develop a brand that speaks about you, you won’t have time for them. How can you take them seriously if you don’t even take yourself seriously?
A last note on the automatic logo making websites… You already know that they over promise and under deliver. They’re machines. Generators. Tools. Their only feature is that they contain a database of images and fonts, and that’s it. They let you do the work and you pay for it.
How logical is that?
3 – HIRE PROFESSIONALS WITH A SPECIFIC SET OF SKILLS
Let’s be honest: you don’t want to look like a fool, you want your brand to be unique for all the right reasons – if you don’t believe me, there are many examples of logo “fails and disasters” online. Maybe they’ll make you laugh, but they’ll also make you think: somebody didn’t do their job right and the results are unfortunate.
This will not happen if you hire professional designers or web developers. They’ve got the tools that you don’t have. They’ll do the job for you, and not the other way around. They went to school to acquire a specific set of skills. They possess the creativity that you might not have. In short, they’re experts and will develop a brand that’s the perfect fit for you.
Logical conclusion: you need to find the best professional designers to make sure that you get what you really want.
4 – YOU WANT A CUSTOMIZED IMAGE AND THE BEST SERVICE
Studies show that nowadays customers tend to trust people more than corporations. Sometimes, our world lacks that basic human interaction most people crave. People don’t want to be “just a number”. They want a personalized “near me” service, a level of trust that will allow them to express what their brand is, what image they want to project.
And what’s more personal than a custom design for your business? It will please your customers and you’ll be satisfied, as a customer. If you get into a creative partnership with a local firm, they’ll take the time to know you, to meet you, to know what you want for your business and what your business is. They’ll submit several drafts before delivering the final product and make sure that their graphic solution is the best for you. In other words, you’ll get the kind of customer service, availability and personal level of trust that you won’t get by using a “do it yourself” platform.
Finally, professional brand developers will follow up with you. They’ll give you ideas that you might have never thought about. Branding is an investment. Think about it as being affordable, especially if it helps you gain more customers in the long run.
The best way to launch your brand is to let professional designers take care of it. They’re the best at what they do. So choose a local company or at least one that can give you the one-on-one service necessary for your brand to be the best that it can be.
For more information on this service, please see Branding & Illustrations and Print & Advertising.
