Planning budgets are necessary for running a successful business—that’s a given. But, there are always areas in your business that deserve greater financial and time investments than others. One such area that demands these investments is your brand story and logo. If you’re looking to rebrand or have a new logo designed for your business, it’s essential to consider a pool of highly experienced branders or graphic designers.

Your business is your child. You nurtured it from the ground up and are willing to do anything in your power to continue growing. But, what many business owners fail to realize is that one of the worst things you can do for your business is associate it with a horrible image—or logo, in other words. A bad logo can mean fatality for your business.

A graphic designer or business brander who is ill experienced can create a crippling image for your brand—a risk that could cost you years of agony and stress and loads of money to repair.

Do it right the first time. Get a professional graphic designer or brander who brands your business correctly. He or she might cost more, but the investment is well worth it if his or her qualifications match the pricing.

Here are four tips for finding the best graphic designer or brander for your business:

1. Do your research on- and offline: Don’t immediately go with the first brander or graphic designer who appears in search engine results or the first graphic designer you see advertising in the paper. They might not be a good fit for you and might be overpriced.

Once you find a handful of designers you are interested in, research the going rates for high-end graphic designers and branders. Many times, designers won’t put pricing on their website as their pricing depends on the scope of work each client is looking for.

2. Look at sample work: Sample work is always an effective way to get a feel for the style of the designer and the quality of his or her work. If he or she does not have samples or a portfolio, this might be a key indicator that the designer doesn’t produce superior work. Obviously, if the designer’s site appears under construction, the absence of a portfolio might just mean the portfolio has not been added to the website yet. In this case, email the designer and ask to see some of his or her sample work.

3. Talk to previous clients: Samples in a designer’s portfolio almost always have a company name or client associated with the design or image. Visit the websites of these clients, and contact them regarding their work with the designer.

In this email to previous clients, introduce yourself, tell them why you are contacting them, and ask them questions about the designer. Questions could be, “What was your experience like with this designer?” and “Would you recommend this designer to others?”

Keep your questions to a minimum of three. You don’t want to take up more time than necessary from the individual you are emailing. If this individual enjoyed his or her experience with the designer, it will most likely be expressed in his or her responses to just a few questions.

4. Speak to him or her to get a feel for his or her personality: If the designer passes all of your above tests, it’s now time to contact him or her. Send an email asking if you could set up a time to speak about your specific needs.

When you speak with the designer, get a feel for his or her personality and work ethic. Speaking for 15 minutes with this designer can give you a fairly good first impression and better aid you in your decision to hire him or her.

After you speak with a handful of designers and narrow down your favorites, compare their prices. Don’t immediately eliminate designers just because their rates don’t fall within your budget. They might do phenomenal work that could provide much greater results for your business than a designer who is less expensive or less qualified. I’m not saying overpriced graphic designers and branders aren’t out there. They are. This is why doing your homework is essential in finding the perfect graphic designer or brander for your business.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in our comments section.

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Businesses often assume that marketing their less-than-mediocre blog is better than not marketing a blog at all. Yes, it’s best to do something, rather than doing nothing. However, I would have to wholeheartedly disagree.

When you market a blog that is in bad shape and lacks a clear purpose, it’s a poor reflection on your business.

A poorly made blog makes for a bad business image. Before marketing your blog, make sure it’s ready for the spotlight by following these 7 steps:

Step 1: Write down your blog’s purpose:

Marketing a blog that lacks a clear purpose is a huge waste of your time and energy. When you’re not clear on the purpose, it’s nearly impossible to gain even a minuscule number of followers. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of this blog? Where do I want it to fall in the sales process? For whom is this blog?

Step 2: Outline your blog’s target audience:

Understanding your target audience is essential before you begin blog marketing. If you’re marketing to the wrong audience, you can be sure that you won’t receive any positive results from your tireless efforts. Ask yourself the following questions: What does my target audience do for a living? Where do they live? What are their hobbies? Where do they dine? Where do they go to get their news? Once you’re clear on who your target audience is, you can direct your content to those specific people. This ensures that your readers will feel more connected to your brand and your content.

Step 3: Implement effective blog design techniques:

Your blog design should be in line with your brand image. Design includes a handful of elements such as colors, images, and layout. When deciding on images and colors to use in your blog design, ask yourself the following questions: What feelings do I want the design to evoke in readers? What colors accurately portray my brand?

When it comes to the layout, ask yourself, what action do I want my readers to take? For example, if you want your visitors to sign up for your newsletter, be sure to put a newsletter sign-up box at the top of your sidebar in an obvious location with a proper call to action.

Step 4: Organize sidebars and interior pages:

Your sidebar(s) and interior pages provide interactive tools for your visitors to use in order to connect with you on social media, subscribe to your RSS feed, find additional resources, and learn about your brand.

Some essential elements to utilize on your sidebar include blogroll, links to your social media profiles, RSS feed subscription button, newsletter sign-up, YouTube videos, categories, popular posts, and more.

When deciding what interior pages to create on your blog, keep in mind the purpose and target market of your blog. Interior pages could be About This Blog, Meet the Team, Contact Us, Portfolio, Samples, Services, and more.

Step 5: Create an editorial calendar:

Avoid hasty blogging, topic searching, and poor optimizing by creating an editorial calendar in advance. Choose the days and times you want to publish your posts, and stick to this schedule. Create an editorial calendar with a list of detailed topics around these planned days and times. When deciding on post topics, be sure to keep your blog purpose and target audience in mind at all times.

Step 6: Have a month’s worth of posts published:

To avoid wasting your time promoting a blog that isn’t properly developed, it’s wise to have at least a month’s worth of posts published. This way, when you start to promote your blog, visitors will have some valuable posts to read through and be more willing to take the action you want them to take—whether that action is to leave a comment, sign up for your newsletter, call your company, or send you an email.

Step 7: Develop effective calls to action:

At the end of every single post, there should be a call to action encouraging readers to take some form of action—without sounding salesy. In your calls to action, you can ask readers questions and ask that they respond, suggest readers subscribe to your RSS feed, recommend that readers connect with you on Twitter for instant updates, or suggest that readers sign up for your newsletter. The possibilities are endless.

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As the title says, growing your business online is not all about SEO and driving traffic. In fact, you can attract all the prospects you want to your website, but once someone lands on your site, does your website copy do enough to entice them to purchase?

Your marketing message plays a vital role in keeping visitors on your website and getting them to take action. It’s often difficult to look at our own marketing message and see what’s really being communicated. When you’re too close to a project, it’s easy to get caught up in what you think needs to be said, rather than what prospects want to hear.

If you are looking to revamp your website copy or are struggling writing your copy, you want to be on my upcoming webinar.

I’m excited to announce my first webinar and first call on website copywriting. “7 Website Copy Tips Guaranteed to Convert Prospects to Clients—the Power of Your Website Message and Why You Should Care” will show you through examples how to craft a website message that will increase conversions. This one-time event happens Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 1 – 2 pm EST / 10 – 11 am PST.

Register today.

On this webinar, you will learn how to …

• Speak to your target market.
• Write client-centric copy instead of company-centric copy.
• Inform customers of what products / services you offer.
• Let your business personality shine while still sounding professional.
• Effectively encourage prospects to take action.
• Create a business message that shows transparency and authenticity.

What we cover in this info-packed webinar also applies to your business blog!

Not only will you be able to ask me questions, but I’m also offering special gifts to a few lucky listeners, but only to those who attend the LIVE webinar.

I’m accepting a limited number of people on this call. Register today. This webinar will be recorded, but you must be registered to see it.

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As companies constantly grow, shrink, and evolve, new business systems—from customer service systems to new service policies, return policies to changes in hours of operation—need to be put in place to ensure the business is operating efficiently. But by no means should your business systems compromise customer service and satisfaction.

A quick fix is one of the worst things you could do for your business when trying to implement new operation guidelines.

Be open about new systems / policies with your customers. Doing so will help build their trust in you. Inform customers via your website, in an email or letter, or in person (if applicable) about changes in business operations that may impede their purchasing decisions.

For example, if you own a shoe boutique and are employing new return policies, inform your customers with a sign on your front window or on the checkout counter, and also inform them of the change verbally.

Too many businesses put changes in fine print on receipts, their website, and their marketing materials, which customers most likely won’t take the time to read through.

One such business that has caused me great distrust and frustration with new company policies is Blockbuster.

In an effort to stay alive among fierce competition, such as Netflix and redbox rentals in grocery stores, Blockbuster has been trying to nail down ways to enforce appropriate return policies. However, they’re going about it in the wrong way.

Over the past few months, they have changed their return policy on me one too many times—without ever telling me. The result: I no longer want to rent from them. In fact, every time they changed their policy and I argued that I was never informed of the new policy, they told me it was on the receipt.

Why on earth would I read the receipt every time I rent a movie? And for that matter, why should I have to ask them every time I rent a movie, “What’s your return policy this week?”

Thanks to their constant and hasty return policy changes, I lost . . .

• Money.
• Customer satisfaction.

And they lost . . .

• My trust.
• My respect.
• My business.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: company transparency is essential.

Whether you’re trying to find new ways to beat the competition or want to renovate a current policy that doesn’t seem to be working, it would behoove you to ask customers what they would like from your business and what changes they want to see implemented. Are they satisfied with your services? Are they satisfied with your policies?

Once you have a thorough understanding of your market’s needs, it’s time to create business policies based on their thoughts and opinions—and stick to them. Don’t keep changing your policies behind customers’ backs because you were hasty and need a quick fix. It loses clients’ trust in your business.

Share your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on our blog or tell us your thoughts on our Facebook discussion board.

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Keys to Charleston Real Estate has chosen the Sumer team to help them create a strategic online promotion and marketing plan. Keys to Charleston Real Estate is owned by Caroline Ragsdale and Saida Russell, two native Charlestonians who specialize in historic Charleston SC real estate, Charleston luxury real estate, waterfront property, and investment property in and around the Lowcountry.

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Places has chosen copywriter Michelle Salater to write marketing collateral, including brochures and a rack card. In 2008, we wrote website copy for the Charleston real estate firm, and we are excited to be working with the firm again. Places is the expert in Charleston, South Carolina, luxury homes, Charleston real estate, and the Lowcountry’s most sought-after communities.

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Michelle Salater launches her second online PR bootcamp, created to show companies step-by-step strategies on how to successfully streamline online promotion and marketing efforts in a way that ensures the most effective and efficient use of time and delivers results.

“Influence Your Online Market: Engage, Connect, and Grow Your Business” 6-week bootcamp begins January 12, 2010 and runs through February 16, 2010. Spaces are limited and this will not be offered again until late 2010.

Learn more or register today: http://www.marketingonlinebootcamp.com

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Join Michelle Salater on a free telecall Tuesday, December 8, 2009 (2-3 p.m. Eastern), as she interviews Larry Fiel, president of Precision Analytics Group, on The Secrets to Using Landing Pages to Engage Prospects, Increase Conversion, and Track Your Success. Precision Analytics Group is located in Charleston, SC.

To register for this free call, click here.

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Marketing blogger and owner of DSC Web Services, Inc., Doug Stewart, interviewed Michelle Salater about growing a small business using PR 2.0. To listen to the podcast, visit Doug’s blog, Power to Fight the Big Boys.

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