We recently posted a thought provoking article on Facebook about branding for small versus big businesses. One thing the article didn't get into; however, was one of the major challenges small businesses face when it comes to developing their brand, and that is a limited budget.
How do you decide to allocate hundreds, if not thousands of dollars towards your logo and brand development when you still need to cover start-up costs, marketing/advertising costs, payroll, etc? It is a tough pill for small business owners to swallow, and many will try to do it themselves at the beginning, hoping to hire a professional down the road when they're in the black. Unfortunately for most, they quickly find that they're in over their heads and regret not spending the money to do it right the first time around.
Branding is More Than Just a Logo
There is a lot more that goes into branding than simply having a clever logo. You need to take time to study your target market, why and how you do what you do, what your goals are, what sets you apart and what story you want to tell through your online and in-person presence. It takes sincere thought to develop a brand personality that you believe in and are driven to stick with for the long-run. It takes research and a creative mind to come up with a timeless image and voice that will set you apart from your competitors. That's where we come in.
A Flexible Workflow
A full brand makeover is time consuming but Pixel Loon is going to walk you through every step of the way. To get started, we're going to sit down with you in-person or online and take you through a creative brief. This will help us get to know you, your company values, mission and goals and a history of what's been tried before and what you're looking for in the future. We'll dive into your target market and what's going to set you apart from your competitors. From all of that information, we'll help you nail down a brand personality and voice.
After the initial creative brief, you can let us do the heavy lifting. We'll research your competitors and see what's working for them and what you can do better. From there we'll develop a mood board to share with you and make sure we're all on the same page before developing some initial concepts. Then, let the feedback/revision process begin! Once your satisfied, we'll send the final deliverables. Depending on the project, this may be just the usable logo files, but more often than not, it will also include website graphics, business stationary files, branded documents, social media templates, style guides, etc.
Because we know budget can be an issue for small businesses, we'll always be open and up front about costs, what's included and what's going to run extra. We know that each project is unique and some aspects of the creative brief will be more relevant to some projects than others. We'll pick and choose what's necessary to make sure we're never wasting your time and working as efficiently as possible. Our goal is to provide you the best service at the most affordable rate.
Our workflow is flexible and we encourage feedback and collaboration during the entire process to ensure your end product perfectly brings your brand personality to life.
But How Can I Afford It?
Because we are a small business, we don't have the same overhead costs and layers of employees taking a cut. This allows us to charge sometimes as little as half of what large firms would cost you. You'll get direct contact with your designer without the middle-man. With this connection, you'll discover that you have someone on your side who is dedicated to working with you until you are fully satisfied with the end-product. Not only that, but you'll have someone a phone call or email away that knows your company and branding who can help troubleshoot down the road or develop other branded content quickly and affordably.
Another benefit to working with us is the fact that we're flexible. Need to develop your brand in phases? We'll take on your mini-projects throughout the year ensuring that you're still getting it done right and creating a consistent look and voice. We're a small business so we're not going to turn away others because their projects are too small.
Still not convinced that you can afford professional help developing your brand? Contact us today for a free project estimate.