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Hub You - Hiring the Right Graphic Designer for Your Small Business
It has been often noted than small businesses are the driving force behind the large number of innovations that contribute to growth of a national economy through employment creation, investments and export. But the fact that they don’t have the money or the bandwidth to carry out strong marketing programmes has always kept them in the dark corner of an economic society. Comprising nearly two thirds of the enterprises in India, small businesses have never been given the opportunity to come into the limelight. As India becomes the playground for the world, these small businesses across various industries now seem to be ignored much more than ever before. Suddenly with the liberalisation of trade and the opening up of our economy we all seem to have started talking the ‘brand language’. The Guccis and the Sonys of the world is all what we hear and read across the
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of yo
If you were to start a business the ‘right' way, you would have at least tens of thousands of dollars available for 24 months of living expenses, start-up costs, inventory and marketing.A more typical situation is this: you have a passion in your soul and you know you can make a business from it. Other people have done it and are making lots of money; why can't you? So you either got laid off or quit or your kids are now in school and you start your business.You quickly realize you need to do ‘marketing.' But marketing costs money and you don't have much, so you study guerrilla marketing. You learn that you need to do so much – you need a web presence, you need to network, you need to write. You need a blog, PR, search engine optimization and published articles in print and on the internet. You need to do internet radio, internet marketing, publish an email ne
In a highly competitive marketplace, hiring an expert graphic designer can mean the difference in whether your product or service stands out and gets noticed or in having it lost in the fanfare generated by your business rivals.
Now, more than ever, hiring an expert to create your marketing and communication materials (also called collateral materials) is one of the most vital ingredients in the success of your small business.
Hiring the right graphic designer -- a true expert -- is a bit more involved than just randomly choosing someone from the Yellow Pages or hiring your third cousin because he is creative and owns a new computer.
If you are not careful, you may find yourself hiring the wrong person for the wrong reasons, which may cause more harm than good to your small business.
This is a big deal. After all, this person will be creating the look and identity of your small business seen by all of your prospects and customers. It is essential that you don't just hire anyone.
Here are five things you need to do in hiring the RIGHT graphic designer for your small business.
Number 1: Understand that graphic design is an investment, not an expense. This investment will pay huge dividends for the image of your business and in determining its future success. You need to be willing to invest in hiring a qualified, experienced professional, rather than hiring the cheapest person you can find. The old adage that...you get what you pay for...is genuinely true.
Naturally, your budget is an important issue in choosing a designer. I am not saying you need to fork over thousands upon thousands of dollars to the person you hire. But, if you hire the cheapest you can find and shop on price alone, I promise, you will get exactly what you pay for.
Number 2: Not all graphic designers are created equal. Just because someone says that he/she is a graphic designer doesn't mean that the person is necessarily worth his/her salt. The key here is to examine that person's portfolio of work.
Graphic design is more than pretty pictures or cool graphics. It is a visual means of solving complex business problems by communicating the essence of your business message and personality. Therefore, when you are looking at the designer's portfolio don't just take a quick look. Dig in and ask many questions about the work.
What was the design problem? How was it solved? What was the concept behind the design solution? Why were the colors chosen? Why was the format chosen? What were the results? Was the client satisfied?
If the designer can't answer these questions or answers with "I did it this way because it looks cool..." or "I used yellow because it is my favorite color..." move on.
Number 3: Hire a designer with experience. Someone fresh out of design school may be enthusiastic about working for you, but may not be the best investment you can make.
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of you
The concept of using personal branding to spread the word or market a product is one that can be traced back many centuries. During ancient Roman times, leaders were known for decorating money with their faces plastered across the outside of coins. Today, where would KFC be without the Colonel or Wendy's without Dave Thomas' freckle-faced girl? Personal branding has without a doubt become an easily recognizable approach towards marketing a business, product, or service.Throughout history, the technique has garnered widespread recognition and respect that has been used to capture the attention of the public. Successful individuals are able to also get what they want out of life and any business pursuits they may approach. Personal branding may also be used to boost the sales of a product, especially when their name becomes associated with a particular approach or system. Th
If you are not careful, you may find yourself hiring the wrong person for the wrong reasons, which may cause more harm than good to your small business.
This is a big deal. After all, this person will be creating the look and identity of your small business seen by all of your prospects and customers. It is essential that you don't just hire anyone.
Here are five things you need to do in hiring the RIGHT graphic designer for your small business.
Number 1: Understand that graphic design is an investment, not an expense. This investment will pay huge dividends for the image of your business and in determining its future success. You need to be willing to invest in hiring a qualified, experienced professional, rather than hiring the cheapest person you can find. The old adage that...you get what you pay for...is genuinely true.
Naturally, your budget is an important issue in choosing a designer. I am not saying you need to fork over thousands upon thousands of dollars to the person you hire. But, if you hire the cheapest you can find and shop on price alone, I promise, you will get exactly what you pay for.
Number 2: Not all graphic designers are created equal. Just because someone says that he/she is a graphic designer doesn't mean that the person is necessarily worth his/her salt. The key here is to examine that person's portfolio of work.
Graphic design is more than pretty pictures or cool graphics. It is a visual means of solving complex business problems by communicating the essence of your business message and personality. Therefore, when you are looking at the designer's portfolio don't just take a quick look. Dig in and ask many questions about the work.
What was the design problem? How was it solved? What was the concept behind the design solution? Why were the colors chosen? Why was the format chosen? What were the results? Was the client satisfied?
If the designer can't answer these questions or answers with "I did it this way because it looks cool..." or "I used yellow because it is my favorite color..." move on.
Number 3: Hire a designer with experience. Someone fresh out of design school may be enthusiastic about working for you, but may not be the best investment you can make.
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of yo
A number of welfare and development programs can be organized with the help of non-profit fundraising events. Fundraising activities are normally undertaken by school fundraisers, college fundraisers, and church fundraisers, or by the youths for various activities.The purpose of fundraisers varies depending on an organization's interests. This includes collecting funds for poor children, daycare centers, and hospitals. When raising funds, the process needs to be monitored efficiently to eliminate chances of money laundering or misappropriation. This establishes a fundraising organization as a non-profit organization.Fundraising activities are quite a challenging job and require a great amount of planning on part of the fundraisers. In many cases it is a feasible option to form a committee and discuss the prospects in a planned manner. There may be some fundraising e
Naturally, your budget is an important issue in choosing a designer. I am not saying you need to fork over thousands upon thousands of dollars to the person you hire. But, if you hire the cheapest you can find and shop on price alone, I promise, you will get exactly what you pay for.
Number 2: Not all graphic designers are created equal. Just because someone says that he/she is a graphic designer doesn't mean that the person is necessarily worth his/her salt. The key here is to examine that person's portfolio of work.
Graphic design is more than pretty pictures or cool graphics. It is a visual means of solving complex business problems by communicating the essence of your business message and personality. Therefore, when you are looking at the designer's portfolio don't just take a quick look. Dig in and ask many questions about the work.
What was the design problem? How was it solved? What was the concept behind the design solution? Why were the colors chosen? Why was the format chosen? What were the results? Was the client satisfied?
If the designer can't answer these questions or answers with "I did it this way because it looks cool..." or "I used yellow because it is my favorite color..." move on.
Number 3: Hire a designer with experience. Someone fresh out of design school may be enthusiastic about working for you, but may not be the best investment you can make.
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of yo
Anyone who says you cannot brand a small business have never studied how Franchise Companies start and grow in their communities and then end up taking out the competition for regional domination. Sure you can brand a small business, heck I did and within a 8-year period I took my well-branded small business and turned it into a much larger business in 23-states, 4-countries, 450 cities and 110 major markets, it can be done.Many marketing consultants and gurus say that marketing brand for small business cannot be done. Others agree that it can be done. I am in the camp with those who know it can be done. In this camp some say that; Branding is about your reputation. Indeed that is true, but to single out that one concept and say that is branding is way too simplistic. You see branding is much more than that; not just reputation, but what comes to mind when you see the bran
What was the design problem? How was it solved? What was the concept behind the design solution? Why were the colors chosen? Why was the format chosen? What were the results? Was the client satisfied?
If the designer can't answer these questions or answers with "I did it this way because it looks cool..." or "I used yellow because it is my favorite color..." move on.
Number 3: Hire a designer with experience. Someone fresh out of design school may be enthusiastic about working for you, but may not be the best investment you can make.
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of yo
When Enron bought up energy contracts and install them back to the state of California for five times their face value, it one of nearly bankrupt the state, it did bankrupt one major energy supplier. Yet, Enron is perfectly allowed to do this, based on the laws of deregulation of the energy industry passed in California. When California settled to pay Enron only 2 and a half times the cost, Californians were still hurt. In almost every trade journal, they talked about increasing energy costs in California for small, medium and large businesses. But Enron was not the only person did this; I remember reading about a company in Portland OR, a steel company that had a three-year contract to buy energy from a hydroelectric power plant in the Dalles in OR. Seeing that the energy contracts was for a low amount of money, any open markets were paying quite higher prices due to Enron manip
You should hire a designer who has, at the very least, three or more years of real world experience under his/her belt.
The more experience a designer offers, the better he/she will be able to steer you away from potential headaches and pitfalls. An experienced designer can suggest ways to handle your project that you may never have thought of before.
A seasoned designer will also have a good idea of what works and what doesn't work, such as the best way to format a direct mail piece or which colors and fonts work best in conveying the message and feeling you are trying to communicate.
Experience relates back to the first point I made. Hiring an experienced designer is a better investment of your marketing dollars.
You probably wouldn't feel comfortable hiring someone with little experience in medicine to perform surgery on you...the same can be said for hiring a designer. Essentially a designer is performing surgery on your business by constructing the look and feel of your design project.
Bottom line: real world experience is priceless.
Number 4: Check references. If the designer you are considering has done a stellar job for previous and/or current clients, that professional should not hesitate in giving you names of people that attest to that fact. No references should be taken as a big red flag.
When contacting references, which you should, ask questions about the overall experience with the designer.
Is the designer a professional? Would you use the designer again? Do you feel you got your money’s worth? Did he/she deliver the project within the timeframe and the budget upon which was originally agreed? Does the finished piece solve your problem? Ask, as many questions as you think will apply to your particular situation.
Number 5: Honestly discuss your budget. Budget is usually the proverbial 800-lb gorilla in the middle of the room. Most everyone has a budget in mind, but not many want to discuss it.
If you have done steps one through four, you will be close to hiring someone that is not a trained sales killer and is not just interested in taking all of your money, so you can be open and honest with them.
Having a candid discussion with the designer about what you can practically afford is vital, because:
First: It lets both of you know, right off the bat, whether you can work together. You won't waste time wondering...how much is this going to cost me or do I have the money to hire this person?
Second: It will allow for a discussion of what you can expect in exchange for the money you will spend.
Obviously, the key is to hire a designer that can work within your budget.
To do that, you MUST have an honest and open discussion about money. No one wants a last minute surprise about what it will cost to work together.
One last thing...
You should view the graphic designer you hire as your strategic business partner and an invaluable member of your team. Sure, you can hire a pro just once to create only one specific design solution, but hiring a graphic designer with a rich breadth of capabilities and experience that you can tap into repeatedly is a much wiser investment.
As a small business owner, you have a vision, opportunity and direction for your business. The designer’s job is to come along side you and develop the best visual solution to fulfill that vision, opportunity and direction.
It is your brand. It is your image. It is your business message that the designer will be communicating visually. Make sure whomever you hire aligns with these key points discussed.
Hiring the RIGHT graphic designer really is THAT important.
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