Wildfires

Wildfire Marketing Group asked:


Let’s say I wanted a cake. I really like the big fancy cakes you see at the bakery, but I can’t justify spending all that money on one. After all, it’s just a matter of mixing up a bunch of ingredients and cooking them, how hard can that be? So I think to myself, I’ll just make my own cake, it will be just as good, cheaper, and no one will know the difference.

So I get some flour, milk, eggs, sugar, water and a few other ingredients that I found in my pantry and start mixing them vigorously in a big bowl. How much of each? I don’t know. I just put in what I felt like putting in, because how important could it really be? It’s just a cake, right? Ok, so everything is mixed up pretty well but I feel like something else could be added, and why not? It’s my cake. Well, I like steak, which I just happen to have left over in the refrigerator, along with some tuna casserole, a half of a quesadilla and a handful of peanut butter cups, so I toss these into the mix and stir it some more. I like them all, so my cake should turn out great!

Now it’s time to bake my glorious cake. I set the oven to 250 degrees and toss my masterpiece in for about 30 minutes or so. In the mean time, I’m thinking to myself how it’s ludicrous that these bakeries charge so much money for something that is clearly so easy to do. Look at me, with not a single cooking class under my belt I’ve created my own recipe on the fly, and in less than an hour I will be enjoying my very own scrumptious cake.

It’s been about 30 minutes, so I take my cake out. I had totally forgotten that I had some friends coming over, but what a perfect opportunity to share my newly learned skill. So, plates in hand I start passing out my confectionary ambrosia to each of them. They each take a bite and inform me that if they hadn’t already eaten, that they would certainly stay and eat more of my wonderful cake.

Well, it’s been a good day. I saved some money and learned how to make my own cake, which I then shared with my friends. They loved it and they told me so.

In the real world, baking a cake can be a lot like graphic design. In my previous example, I chose a random list of ingredients, mixed them together and then cooked them, which is surprisingly similar to what happens when most people do their own graphic design. You see, graphic design isn’t just about knowing what to put in and why, it’s also about knowing what not to put in and why. It’s a delicate balancing act that takes years to master.

Graphic design, like baking accounting or just about any other skill, is something that you can do yourself, but you’re going to have to take the time to learn the skills necessary to be effective. As in the example above with our retched cake, simply going through the motions is not enough. The proof is in the results. You can show your marketing materials to your friends but most of them are just going to tell you what you want to hear. In business, the only opinion that really matters is that of your clients or customers, and they’ll let you know what they think with their wallets. While it may seem like it’s too expensive to invest in the services of a professional graphic designer, sometimes it can be too expensive not to.



VINCENT

Wildfire Marketing Group asked:


Graphic design may seem like a pretty simple, straight forward task. Rip open the shrink-wrap sealed copy of Photoshop, install it on your computer and jump into designing your own web sites, business cards and ads. Just to be sure, once you’re done, you run your new designs by a few friends or family members, who as it turns out, just happen to love them.

So now you’ve got a brand new web site and business cards that you designed all on your own, saving yourself a boatload of money by not hiring any graphic design companies to produce them, and now you’re ready for the orders to start flowing in. But they don’t. Days turn into weeks, then months and you can’t figure out what went wrong. Simple put, effective graphic design is far more complex than it seems.

On the surface, it may appear that graphic design is just playing with images, text and colors until you get the look that you want. In reality, there is a tremendous amount of though that goes into an effective design. Plus, your personal taste in art has very little to do with the image of your company. After all, you are trying to appeal to your target market, not your own ego.

Simply having access to a particular piece of software and going through the motions does not make one a professional graphic designer, nor does it make the finished work graphic design, any more than running on the same track with Olympic athletes makes you an Olympic athlete.

While many small business owners have handled their own graphic design successfully, a majority of them have experienceda completely different outcome. Unlike many of the other professions, such as law or accounting, were an unsuccessful approach can be immediately devastating to a business, graphic design appears to be a field where an unsuccessful approach can go unnoticed for quite some time. Nothing could be further from the truth. Poorly executed graphic design will not land your company in hot water with the IRS, nor is it likely to expose your company to any significant legal risks. But it will present a poor image to your prospects, who will in turn, choose your competitors over your company. The effects may not be apparent for quite some time, because unlike a situation such as a lawsuit, which is an active consequence, poor graphic design, which motivates your prospects to do business elsewhere, is an inactive consequence.

Another potential challenge in handling your own graphic design is that it often will take longer than turning it over to a professional designer. A professional has the knowledge and experience, along with the ability to utilize the necessary tools, quickly and efficiently, so you can generate revenue sooner.

You have to determine the value of your time. If you’re starting a business out of your spare bedroom with a few hundred dollars from your savings, then you’ll probably need to design your own marketing materials. On the other hand, if you’re running a business, chances are that you time is better spent focusing on running the business instead of trying to do everything yourself. If you’re the expert in your field, don’t you deserve a chance to get in front of your prospects so that you can help meet their needs while earning a profit? A professional graphic design company can help you present the image that will let you earn that chance.



EMERSON