Stop Buying Logos and Websites
(formerly titled “How to Build a Great Logo and Website”)
Usually once every week or so, I get asked the same question,
“Can you give me tips on how to create a great logo and website?”
This question typically comes from entrepreneurs that are just starting to venture out on their own, or from business owners who are finally starting to pay attention to their marketing efforts.
When I dig into why I’m getting asked the question, I learn a lot about what the entrepreneur or business owner needs and most of the time it’s not a logo or website.
The problem is there are entire businesses built around selling you logos and websites, whether you need them or not.
And they’d love you to give them your hard earned money to build you something pretty. They can give you all the tips you need to make sure the design is current, evokes the right emotions, and aligns with the personality of your business. They can talk about best practices and can ask you great questions that get you to think about your business and what you want it to stand for and how you want to represent that with your branding.
That’s all well and good. But it’s quite possible that you may have bigger priorities that you should be focusing your time and energy on. You could spin your wheels and waste time getting logos and websites built, and all the while your business is being ignored or other priorities are put on the back burner. Before you go out and hire someone to tackle a specific task like this, you should be getting advice on what you should be prioritizing for your business from a marketing perspective.
Every business needs clearly defined marketing priorities that align with the current state of their business.
To get clearly defined marketing priorities you either need to understand marketing yourself or you need to bring in someone who does. Someone that can get under the hood of your business and figure out what’s important for you short term and long term.
In marketing especially these days, there is an abundance of specialists with varying levels of expertise and experience that serve a wide expanse of marketing channels. There are graphic designers, web designers, web developers, facebook ad managers, Instagram growth coaches, search engine optimization specialists, email marketers, click funnel builders, social media managers, content creators, copywriters, and a infinite ecosystem of digital marketing specialists, consultants, and agencies. Figuring out who is qualified to do a job is hard enough. And then you take the plunge and you have no idea if any of it was worth it.
Now don’t get me wrong. We need specialists and experts and practitioners across all the digital marketing ecosystem. But make sure you have a strategy first. Don’t hire someone to do a job without considering if that job is even necessary for the business. Many times there is no grand strategy. It’s just tactics and execution.
I’ve heard of people outsourcing their Instagram content creation and posting, and there was never a discussion if that channel should be the first priority for the business or if that money was better spent elsewhere. There was no discussion about audience growth, hashtag strategy, messaging, performance metrics, or what the overall content calendar should look like based on their product priorities. They were happy to take the money, post pretty photos, and collect their cash. And three months and thousands of dollars later, the business is no better off than when they started.
By the way, if you have no following on social media, barely anyone is ever going to see those pretty photos on Instagram.
I’ve heard of people spending thousands on their logo and website, or they’ve tried to do it themselves and spent weeks and months trying to get it just right. All the while, they never got started validating their business idea and prospecting clients. They wanted all the “branding” to be just right before they went to market.
If you don’t have clients and you haven’t sold anything, you don’t have a “brand” that needs a logo or a website.
You are your brand. Get out there and find some customers.
Get out there and build a reputation with amazing work and customer service. Find some customers that are thrilled with your work and can’t wait to refer you to their friends. Build and build and build.
Creating amazing customer experiences is the best branding you can do when you are getting started. When you check that box, you can take the next step which is to collect as much feedback as possible from your customers. Get input on what you can make better, ask for referrals if they are happy, get testimonials that you can use later.
If you want to go even further, record some of the work you do and some of your happy clients and start building marketing assets to use later. Film your process, film your happy clients, film your story, and capture everything and anything that makes you special and different. People want to know who they are doing business with and what it’s going to be like when they work with you. They want to see relevant work history. They want to see industry expertise and experience.
Once you get some momentum and your business is moving along, you can start to put time and effort towards marketing tactics like a website and logo.
Even then, bring in someone to give you advice on what the strategy is behind the website and on your overall look and feel. You can put up a simple brochure style website, but you wouldn’t be using this asset to it’s full potential. That’s okay if you just want to put something up as a placeholder. You can get it up in a week with some simple information on how your customers can reach of you.
And then work on round two with some real strategic insight around how to use a website to build your business and support your current lead generation and customer service. Talk to an expert on how best to tell your business story, how to hone your product offerings, how to create marketing messaging and copy that inspires people to take action.
Try to think of logos and websites as business assets.You need to invest in them as tools that move your business forward.
You want to build them to be as effective as possible at reaching your goals. To build a strong asset, you need to have a plan. A plan takes time to develop and it takes strong collaboration between the business owners and the marketing professionals they hire. If you want amazing outputs, you need to give amazing input. Everything you build will only be as good as the direction you provide. So choose your partners carefully and make sure you have the time to be thoughtful about your business and provide good input.
If you get through all that and you still want my advice for creating a logo and Website here it is:
- Logo: Keep it simple, get lots of submissions, and don’t overthink it.
- Website: Build quickly, get expert advice on the business functionality of the site, and then iterate and revise as you update your goals.
And then get back to running your business!
And when you get to the point where you want to invest time and money into marketing beyond just a website, that’s when the real fun begins!
Check out my Free Online Branding Checklist to get tips on how to get your business found online!
Brandon Birkmeyer is the host of the Brands on Brands on Brands Podcast. I believe that building brands that matter today is the only way for a business to thrive tomorrow. Brands that are true to a purpose. Brands that put people first. Brands that build real connections.