You have your own small business, congratulations and good
for you!
Now, what are you going to do with it? What is your purpose? Your Goals? What is your branding position? Strategy? What is your corporate story? Identity? Why would customers buy from you? How are you going to sell your products or services? What are the tools in your sales and marketing arsenal?
Just a few key questions that you need to take into consideration and all of them relate in, around, through and about your corporate identity. The face of that identity is your first chance to make a good impression. It's how you dress your business for success and it includes your logo, color scheme, graphics you use, layout of various key pieces of collateral like your website or corporate brochure. But it should also include your message, how you tell your story, how you get your message in front of the right audience and how you close the sale.
Ok, so this is a book about design??? Actually, yes. Sales and marketing planning should begin before you begin the design process. It's embedded in everything that represents your business, every word, every graphic, every line ... each brochure, each page of your website ... it's a part of your identity.
So, if you're looking to hire a graphic artist to design your corporate identity, a programmer to develop your website ... ask yourself this ... "they're really great at
what they do, but are they also business people? Do they know how to
create these mediums in a way that will help my business generate revenue, attain new clients or increase my visibility?"
You may think to yourself "well that's my job" ... but is it? You have a job, running your business, managing your employees, overseeing your products and services ... if you're a very small business,
you may just be you. Your clients hire you to do what you do best.
When you look for outside help, look for someone that does not add to
your workload beyond the getting to know you and your needs phase. Better yet, if you can find someone who empowers you to take charge of your identity in a way that saves you heaps of money ... kudos!!!
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