About half of all businesses fail within their first few years. One source of failure that is commonly cited by experts is sloppy or ineffective marketing. If your marketing materials do not stand out from those of your competitors, your sales will suffer.
The initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes new small business owners to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally “until they get a few clients” or “until they get started.” Unfortunately, designing their own marketing materials when they launch their businesses instead of having them professionally created will make getting those initial clients more difficult and may result in a business that will not succeed.
When you start a business, you need to create the quickest possible route to business success. A logo helps to create this by contributing to your business’s visibility and credibility, two factors that will help your business grow and achieve success. Contacting sites such as GraphicSprings can help you bring that logo to life and start to gain the visibility that you need. With a good logo in hand, businesses can start increasing brand familiarity by using their logo on their social media platforms and even on their work uniforms. Some businesses like to get custom embroidery clothing made with their logo and brand name, whilst some companies also ensure their logo is clearly visible at the top of every email they send out. It is important that your email marketing strategy is cohesive with the rest of your business, otherwise it might look like you have one team running the physical side and another team running the digital side of your business, which can be confusing for customers. If you need more advice on how to start or even just to perfect your email marketing strategy, why not take a look at some Email Marketing Resources which might be able to help you out. Having a strong brand identity across all your platforms can increase brand awareness even more for people who might come in contact with your business. That’s why it’s so important to have a good logo.
Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their businesses. It’s easy enough these days to design a business card at the local office supply store or online. Word processing software will also allow you to experiment with typefaces and layout. But if you do not have a good sense of what you are doing, you could cause more problems than you solve. Here are reasons why it’s not a good idea to put off a professionally designed logo and corresponding collateral materials:
Your business will appear unstable: Starting with one look then switching a few months later to a different logo and then perhaps a year later doing it again creates confusion for clients. Is it the same business? Did the store change owners? It can also give the appearance of a business that can’t make up its mind.
Your business will look amateurish: Using materials that are not professionally designed makes your business look unprofessional and might indicate that you cannot perform to or meet the standards required. Read more on Branding a Startup.
You will look unpolished: Not having a professional “look and feel” can make it appear as though your business does not matter to you. Customers may get the impression that you do not care about the way your business presents itself, which might indicate that you would not care about the quality of your work or the way that your work reflects upon their business.
You will look unfocused: Unprofessional, uncoordinated marketing materials can make your business look jumbled or confused. If you have a business card with one look and feel and a website with another, it can cause an identity crisis for a small business. Too many different designs might cause potential clients to think they are looking at two different businesses. It’s best to tie everything together from the start.
So while putting off your logo development may seem like a prudent idea from a cash-flow point of view, it could result in your business never getting off the ground. It can also lead to your business folding when it would otherwise succeed.
If you think that you can’t afford to design a logo when starting your business, consider the outcome. How can you afford not to?
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Feb 22, 2011 / Blog