A Brand to Make Your Competitors Cry

New IT equipment, perhaps office furniture, stationery, advertising, staff… when you’re starting a new business the costs can mount up pretty quickly and it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that graphic design is an area that you can cut back on until you’re making some money. After all, little Johnny’s a whiz on the computer, he can knock you up a logo and some leaflets to get you started, just until you’re making some money!

I’m going to suggest to you that actually that’s the worst thing you can do.

Imagine for a moment you’ve hung up your entrepreneurial shoes and you’ve landed an interview for your dream job. You’re going to earn three times as much as you do now and you’ll be doing something you love. You have an interview with the Chief Executive tomorrow. What do you wear? Your best navy suit and your smartest shoes? Or do you throw on your ripped jeans and the jumper you did the gardening in yesterday on the premise that once she gets to know you she’ll see past your scruffy attire and offer you the job based on your credentials. Of course not! That would be ridiculous. We all know that in an interview presentation is key, that if you don’t create the right impression from the outset the interviewer won’t listen to a word you’re saying.

What sort of job would you be likely to get if you did wear your scruffy clothes? Sure, you’d get something if you were persistent. But would it be the right type of job? Headed in the right direction?

A strong corporate identity is rather like your best suit.  It will create a positive impression from the outset and gain you the clients that you want to pick up. A well-designed logo will appeal to your target market. Without you even opening your mouth it will create a reputation, an image, a feeling and evoke a reaction. A homespun logo is likely to do more harm than good. It’ll attract the wrong type of business, send out the wrong type of message and you’ll have to work twice as hard to create a great first impression.

By corporate identity I mean more than just a logo. I’m talking about your whole ‘brand’. Which is a rather fancy term for the way your company presents itself. It’s about looking at what your company stands for, what it offers your clients, why they buy from you and how you differentiate from your competitors, and then it’s about communicating that consistently.

It’s about thinking about what colours, typefaces, images and text reflect your core values, and then applying those to create something that not only looks great, but works as a marketing piece too. Good graphic designers are about so much more than knowing how to make a software programme do it’s thing!

A good design agency won’t just look at whether your logo looks pretty. They’ll help you with your marketing to ensure you present yourself in the best possible light. They’ll help you write killer copy; they’ll dissect your leaflets to create the right impact; they’ll use their marketing knowledge to help you work out how to get the best bang for your buck. In all, can you afford to be without them?

So if you’re aware that you need to replace little Johnny’s logo with a professionally designed corporate identity, the next step is to work out where on earth you start. The Yellow Pages is bursting at the gills with design agencies; many printers offer a design service and that’s before we even get onto the internet-based companies. How do you pick your way through the hundreds of companies just waiting to create something wonderful for you?

Try to start with a recommendation. Talk to friends, colleagues, competitors if you can! Find out who they use and how much things cost. Once you have whittled down a shortlist, call them. Do you ‘click’? You’re investing a lot of time and hope in this project, you need to be sure you’re on the same wavelength.

Meet with your agency if you can, and ask to see examples of their work (most will have a portfolio that they can either email to you or you can visit). Try to be subjective, even if you don’t like everything they’ve done, talk to them about the brief and what the client wanted. Ask them how the logos they’ve designed fulfilled the clients objectives. Are you comfortable with their design style?

The next stage will be for you to brief the agency. The discipline of the brief is invaluable in helping you understand your business. A good agency will want to know:

o        What you do

o        Who your customers are

o        Why they’ll want to buy from you

o        Who your competitors are

o        Why you’re different from them

o        What impression you want people to have of your company

If you have an idea bring it to the table – seeing little Johnny’s logo properly designed, alongside one other will help you visualise whether the concept for your logo was right or wrong.

Armed with that information they’ll set about creating a logo that firmly positions your brand where it needs to be. They’ll carefully select fonts and colours that get your message across. They’ll think of a clever way to visually represent perhaps what you do or how you benefit people. Maybe they’ll create an illustration just for you, maybe they’ll use photographs. It could be as simple as the right font in the right colours with the right layout.

Corporate Identity needn’t cost the earth, but it is worth investing a little upfront to get the best possible result. Many companies (my own included) produce Corporate Identity ‘packages’ so you know what you’re going to get upfront and how much it’s going to cost. Having said that, this shouldn’t be the place to start cutting costs. Generally you’ll get what you pay for – expect to pay between £250 and £1000 for a good logo.

Generally when you commission a corporate identity design, you’re paying for three elements: research and brand positioning (how you compare to your competitors); creative (coming up with a good idea) and artworking (making it look good).

Usually an agency will come up with two or three ‘concepts’ that represent what you are trying to say. You should then take time to review it with friends, family, colleagues, clients if you can, to see which concept works best. Concepts aren’t finished articles, they’re ideas, to show you where things might be heading. Concepts are all about creativity. Then you’ll move onto the artwork – the making it look good. Be prepared for a lively discussion with your design team about colours, fonts etc! Don’t be afraid to explain why you want fuschia pink and orange together! But at the same time be ready to listen if they suggest it’s inappropriate!

Very often as we work through the design process with a client they’ll iron out any inconsistencies or conflicts within their own vision of their company. It’s a great springboard to go forth and say “This is who I am! This is what we do! Come and buy from us!”

Once you’ve agreed on a final design that you’re happy with, the real work begins! Your designers should have some great ideas about how to apply your logo to stationery – you also need to start thinking about your marketing literature, your website, emails… the list goes on!

So you see creating the right image is about so much more than little Johnny on his computer. It’s about creating a design that makes your clients say “wow. Where do I sign up?” and has your competitors reaching for the Kleenex!

Entrepreneur and working mum Fiona Humberstone owns the award-winning Guildford printing.com print and design franchise. Fiona and her team specialise in creating corporate identities and marketing that really works for small and medium sized businesses. Call her on +44 1483 401 818 or email fiona.humberstone@printing.com