Branding is an essential step to starting a business, and one that should be considered in the early stages of set up.

There’s a common misunderstanding that ‘branding’ simply refers to a logo, when in fact, creating a strong brand involves a lot more than just that.

Your branding is how your customers will recognise your business, and should be reflected in everything you do, including customer service style, staff uniforms, business cards, physical premises, marketing materials, advertising, right down to the experience your customers have with you from start to finish.

To help with creating your branding, it’s likely you’ll have to enlist the services of a graphic designer. But, before you do this, there are three essential questions you need to ask yourself to ensure you are ready to take this step.

3 Questions to ask yourself before hiring a designer

1. Are you prepared to invest your time AND money into building your business?

Creating your brand isn’t a one sided process, and it’s not something you can just outsource and walk away from. While your graphic designer may be executing the creative aspect of things, they will need guidance from you so they can get a clear understanding of what your business does, who your target market is and what makes you different from everyone else (this is often called ‘Brand Discovery’. Remember, it’s a collaborative experience and both sides need to be involved and dedicating their time to ensure a successful outcome. Additionally, while it can be tempting to go for the cheaper option while you are in the startup phase in order to cut costs, this can often result in a generic logo that doesn’t reflect your true brand. A good graphic designer will be an investment, but it’s one that is worth it in the long run.

2. Can you learn the technical skills and DIY your brand?

As a business owner, an important skill to have is knowing where your strengths lie and where you may need to outsource. Sometimes, our first instinct is to DIY everything – but this may not be the most effective course of action. Trying to juggle too many things can result in not enough time or attention being dedicated to each task and this is where mistakes can happen. As a business owner, your time is valuable. Are you better off spending a large portion of time trying to learn the skills required to complete your own branding, or is investing in a specialist who already has these skills better for your business?

3. Do you want to differentiate yourself from your competitors?

In an already saturated market, how are you going to make your products/services stand out from the rest? One way to do this is by creating a strong brand that your customers will remember you by. When it comes to creating your branding, you need to consider more than just what fonts and colours you will be using. It should be an accurate reflection of what your business stands for and what sets you apart from your competitors, including the qualities, strengths and ‘personality’ of your business. A graphic designer will help you to conduct this brand discovery and work these things into your branding.

Are you considering a new brand?

If you’re ready to reach out to a graphic designer, head over to my about page here to discover my philosophy and design approach. You can learn about branding here, or pop over to my contact page to reach out if you’d like to chat!