Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small
business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials
professionally “until [they] got a few clients” or “until [they]
get started.” Designing their own marketing materials when they
launch their business, instead of having them professionally
created, will make getting those initial clients more difficult,
and may result in a business that will not succeed.
Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials
when they launch their business, especially by creating their
first business card. Or, they will have an amateur designer,
friend or relative create the design. There are several reasons
why this is not the best idea. An amateur logo design and
business card can make your business more likely to fail because:
* Your business won't look stable. It will appear to be more
likely to fold or to fail. Clients won’t have confidence in
doing business with you. Would you do business with someone
that seems to be on unstable footing who might not be in
business by the end of your project, or after you’ve purchased
an item?
* You’ll look like a very small business. Large, successful
businesses would never consider doing business without
professional, originally designed marketing materials. Using
materials that are not professionally designed (i.e., Microsoft
or Vistaprint templates) makes your business appear even
smaller, and can possibly indicate that you cannot perform
to or meet the standards required.
* You’ll look unpolished and rough. Not having a professional
look and feel can make it look as though your business does not
matter to you. Customers may get the impression that you don’t
care about the way your business presents itself, which might
indicate that you wouldn’t care about the quality of your work,
or the way that your work reflects upon their business.
* You’ll 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, this creates a confused and confusing look
and feel for your business. This can also cause an identity
crisis for a small business. When looking at your differently
designed materials, potential clients may be fooled into
thinking that they are looking at materials that represent
different companies.
About half of all businesses fail within their first few years.
One source of failure that’s commonly cited by experts is sloppy
or ineffective marketing if your marketing materials don’t
stand out from your competitors’, your sales will suffer.
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, credibility, and
memorability three factors that will help your business to grow
and achieve success. 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 don’t invest in your business, who will?
If you think that you can’t afford to design a logo when starting
your business, consider the outcomes how can you afford not to?
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