Your Business, Your Baby
It’s here! It’s finally arrived! Having a brand new business, product or message for all the world to see is exciting. You’ve played through scenarios, read the books, observed the trends, and want to manage it all. You suddenly find yourself faced with questions and uncertainty about what’s best for your business, unsure of who to ask for help, and stuck trying your best to come up with solutions. Put your mind at ease and learn why it’s okay to ask the professionals for help. In the case of visual identity and establishing your brand, here are a few lines of reassurance to help you along on your journey.
It’s okay to love your business.
You dreamed it. You run it. You watched it grow. Or, you’re starting out and have big plans for its success. There’s no shame in being proud of your achievement. You want the very best for it when you show it to the world. Whether it’s a grand opening or a total rebranding, what you display to the public is the face of your business.
It can be easy to get absorbed in the excitement of a nurtured idea coming to fruition. This is what can make it so challenging when it comes to creative consulting. You’re handing over nothing less than your pride and joy to a strange group of people, a team made up of strategists, designers, and copywriters. At some point in the conversation it’s suggested that your logo should lose the drop shadow and gradient. Oh, and that webpage is something from 2010 and definitely needs to be made responsive.
Wait, what? You were only asking for a flyer design. What are they talking about? You love your business. You just came for a check-up. Isn’t it perfect and healthy? Fear not. A good advertising team doesn’t just care about the quick project. In fact, it’s their role to understand your business and everything it isn’t saying, much like a pediatrician must understand both what a parent relays and what their child is inadvertently communicating. It might not be through familiar language, but a dated website can turn away potential customers. A good advertising team wants to advise what’s best for both you and your business. So don’t worry. Change can be good.
It’s okay to not have any direction.
First time business owners! There’s no shame in having absolutely zero creative direction. That’s precisely why creative professionals are here to take the reins. Through consultation, a good team will help you establish everything from what you want your business to say, to how it should be said.
It’s okay to not have everyone’s say.
Everyone has advice to offer. It can wear an idea thin, much like a parent trying to leverage advice from the entire family. Likewise, taking a design proof to a committee might be a necessary step in office politics, but having several people weigh in on copywriting revisions and design elements is not productive. At the end of the day you’re exhausted with feedback, and your designer has become little more than a keyboard and mouse. Developing trust with the creative team is the key to success here. Go to one source for one solution to one creative brief. Working together as one with a clear goal in mind, they should both provide you with and take direction, allowing for effective, quality execution. In short, it’s more resourceful and practical to work one-on-one. Skip the committee. Designate a member of your team as the go-to for creative approval, preferably someone with a background in marketing, and leave the creative direction to the professionals. In all areas of effective design, less is always more.
It’s okay to let someone else be the problem solver.
You’re stuck with getting your message out to customers. Your site isn’t bringing in traffic. You’re too busy to manage social media. You want to do everything to nurture your business and it’s left you exhausted. The good news is you’re not alone on this bumpy road. A good team will even pave the rest of the way for you! Social media specialists will monitor your Facebook page and more, while a radio and print campaign will help reach people at home and on the road. Bring your concerns and goals to the table and let a creative team assess your problems. They might not be as big as what them seem.
It’s okay to have your dream (re)interpreted.
Nightmares happen. Things don’t always pan out as envisioned. Dollars invested in advertising haven’t garnered the sales needed, and you’re in a bind. Sometimes, a new set of eyes and ears are what’s right for your business. After careful consideration of business affairs, a new creative strategy may be in order. Encompassing everything from a rebranding to a media blitz campaign, a drastic shift in image can revitalize your business. And it might not even need to come to that. A simple change in advertising can lead you out of a bad dream, allowing you to focus more on growing your business. Your creative team is there to hear your struggles and develop visual solutions to lead your brand out of the fray, letting you rest a little easier at night.
It can be unnerving to watch someone else handle the image of your business, but having a relationship with a solid team of creatives on your side will allow you to better manage your goals. Everyone you meet will have strategies to share, someone they recommend, and words of advice. A good image starts with the right team to guide, support, and direct your brand and advertising goals. Don’t be afraid to take the hand of a professional. Your success is their success!
