How seriously do you take your business?

Recently I came across an Irish website called tweak.com where customers can buy logos and brochure templates online. Quick and easy – you pick an image, insert your company name, pay and you can download your logo. Or you buy a PDF for a brochure or newsletter and just insert the text.

A lot has been written about crowdsourcing, templates and instant online logo creators. I have to admit - it looks tempting to someone who just started a business on a low budget. It might be the right thing for someone who doesn't care about longterm strategies and solid brand building. But using these services can have serious consequences.


Just a few thoughts:

How sure can you be that one of your competitors doesn't buy the same logo / brochure / newsletter?

Did you know that you can't  trademark a logo that has been created through that website?

How sure can you be that the logo ideas, which are sold on this or other crowdsourcing websites are unique enough to prevent any legal trouble later down the track?

Are your copywriting skills so good that your brochure will stand out? That it can sit next to the same brochure (with all the same colours and the same images) at a business event? Only that the other brochure is for a completely different company? Or worse – your competitor?

How good are your marketing skills that you can change a generic brochure template into a personalised and effective marketing tool?

Can you afford to spend hours online to go through all templates, download the template, insert your copy which you've written earlier, find a printer and deal with the printer?

?

Or do you prefer to work on your business and leave the rest to specialists? And use your spare time on the weekend for nicer things?

I've used the word 'customer' in the first paragraph on purpose, because customers buy off the shelf or from a catalogue.

Clients get into a meaningful working relationship with their designers and marketing professionals. That relationship is not a one way street, but a dialogue and work in progress. Professional designers know their clients' businesses and their marketing and advertising needs. They know the market and last but not least they know how professional design can help their clients to grow their business. 

It's not about costs, it's about investment.

photos: www.sxc.hu ; www.istockphoto.com

Comments

[Lucio]

Naja, im Zeitalter von "Geiz ist Geil" ist halt alles ein Frage des Preises.
Weshalb sollte es Designern und Grafikern besser gehen als Fotografen?

Du nutzt doch sicherlich auch Mircostockagenturen und kannst Dir nicht sicher sein, ob der Konkurrent Deines Kunden, nicht zufällig auch gerade dieses Foto ausgesucht hat.

Die Zeit von "meaningful working relationship" ist zumindest hier in De so gut wie vorbei.

LG Lucio

[Astrid]

Hi Lucio

Thanks for your comment - I hope you don't mind that I reply in English as most of my readers don't understand German.

Of course I also use microstock agencies every now and then if I have to, although I try to not use the same images as others - the trick is to not pick images from the first 2 or 3 pages, if teh iamges are sorted by 'downloads' - which is often the default setting.

You ask why it should be different for designers than for photographers. It isn't. I'm sure most designers and photographers have recognised that crowdsourcing and cheap stockimages and clipart are here to stay.
So it's up to the designers and photographers to offer more to keep their clients and get new ones. Better service, for example. Or special knowledge (Blair Enns has a lot to say about that - check him out).

I don't see that ALL clients tend towards getting things done as cheap as possible - maybe it is different here. I don't know, I haven't worked in Germany for 11 years.
I've noticed here over the last months that more and more clients are not happy with crowdsourcing results.

In the long run it will always come back to quality.

Cheers
Astrid

[website programmer]

This is really easy quick to create that business.. Excellent ways to get a new business.. Thanks for this information..

[Lucio]

Hi Astrid,

I'm absolutly with you, but the reality (here)looks different.
Ask your former colleagues.
-----
So according to your experience - there may be hope :-))

Saludos
Lucio

[United Gold Direct]

I have read your post and sounds like you have a great knowledge in affiliate marketing. Please keep on updating your blog. Great info! Thank you for sharing! :)

[Astrid]

Thank you :)