The computer is a great tool, and it makes it easier for small business owners to create their own fliers, brochures, postcards and even websites. So why would you want to use the services of a professional graphic designer? Here are seven reasons why small business owners are best served by hiring a design professional to create their marketing materials.
1. You don’t have time.
Small business owners have a lot on their plates. That means you may put off doing a new marketing piece, even if it is something you really need. Hiring a designer to help means you can get that project done and begin using it to make you more money.
2. You can’t afford not to.
By the time you learn how to use that page layout software that came free with your computer, you may have invested several hours. Couldn’t that have been used more productively? If you could have paid a designer $500 and used your time to earn $1,000 for your business, you have not chosen wisely.
3. You are trying to uniquely brand your business.
Now, not every small business needs to stand out. If you’re a locksmith in a small community, for example, it may be enough to just show up in internet searches and be in the phone book. But if you’re in a market with a dozen other locksmiths, you want to stand out. You don’t do that with a clip art logo or canned flier that looks the same as 10 of those 12 competitors. Using marketing materials that are unique and stand out are a way for people to remember you. And if they think they’ve seen you before, they are more likely to choose to contact you for your products or services.
4. You want to keep your look consistent.
If you use different logos, different fonts and different messages everywhere, it’s going to be hard to look professional – never mind standing out in a potential customer’s mind. Designers know how to watch those little details and ensure that every piece of marketing communications fits with everything else. Sure, your customers may not notice if you used “Times New Roman” in one ad and “Calibri” in another, but the subconscious mind picks up details and uses them to form an overall opinion of your business. You look and seem more put together if everything does, in fact, fit together.
5. You save yourself a lot of headaches.
Let’s say you do put together something yourself, and send it off to the printer. When the proof – or worse, the finished product – comes back with problems that you didn’t anticipate, fixing or reprinting will take even more time and money. Designers know what to do to make sure a file prints out correctly.
6. You get a brand new source of ideas.
Designers are generally pretty creative folks, and they like to help their clients get the most out of every project. Hiring a designer is likely to mean that you’ll end up with a better finished product than you could have put together, even if you’re skilled at making things look good. His or her ideas may lead to a more eye-catching, more appealing and more polished piece than you would have created – thus leading to more attention from potential customers and more sales.
7. You take more pride in your marketing materials.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had an ugly or boring business card? Were you less likely to hand it out? If that brochure is outdated and uses a weird color scheme, you may just keep it behind the counter instead of displaying it. All your marketing materials should be the best they can be for your business, or you’ll have some hesitation in presenting them to new customers.
