How To Brand A Start Up During A Recession

Submitted by: Sue Collins

Designing your brand new Corporate Identity is one of the most exciting and inspiring moments for any aspiring start-up entrepreneur. But few really grasp the importance of laying sound foundations for your brand identity at this early stage, which will invariably set the tone for the way clients, investors and partners view your entire business.

But in these cash-strapped times for the economy when even the biggest corporations are watching their pennies, making an investment in professional graphic design hardly stands apart as your top priority. Managed sensibly however, you can enjoy the benefits of top-notch identity design without breaking the bank. By following some of the simple tips we will move onto later, proper planning and foresight, you should easily be able to address branding and corporate identity creation in your business plan.

Entrepreneurs by their nature are not afraid to splash the cash, and rarely shy away from spending money where they believe it pays. The deciding factor in any business decision is not always the bottom line and the expense – but is always to do with value for money, whether parting with any particular sum proves worthwhile in real, everyday terms.

So the big question is; will good identity design and branding help your business? Here it pays to rely on your own instincts and beware the advice of agencies and other parties. Only you, the start-up or SME owner, are in a position to judge the value this could add to your company’s prospects. The answer will invariably concentrate on SALES, being the lifeblood of any small business.

Start by asking yourself some straight-forward questions – When you consider your strategy for getting the business off the ground, who will you be targeting? How will you approach these individuals, and what impression do you want them to form about you and your fledgling organisation? Who are your competitors and how do they attract sales?

These will help you decide what your budget should be. Next you need to map out your requirements, covering at least the first year of operation. When it comes to engaging designers or a creative agency, focus on the first piece of the jigsaw. Make sure you invest substantially in your first design manual. This document, often called a ‘House Style Guide’, contains design guidelines and branding instructions for any designer(s) picking up your creative work down the line, saving unnecessary expense replicating jobs which should only be done once. The manual can be supplied in soft-copy digital format to reduce costs and will usually include a few design templates. These need to cover every item you foresee a requirement for, from business cards to newspaper ads.

Most of all, ensure that you spend your start-up funds wisely. Work with the right people and spend on ‘creatives’ once wherever possible. One of the most common mistakes business-people make is cutting corners on design. As a Dubai design and print agency, we come across countless requests for business cards to be re-created from scratch using a scanned image of a colleague’s card. With no template and no editable design files to hand, the work involved in replicating the artwork accurately is huge. This happens each time an individual’s supplies run out, incurring design charges time after time – exactly the type of false economy you want to avoid as a new business getting established. Engage the right design company, work out your long term goals and requirements, then make sure you obtain the deliverables that make all the difference in your first few years – guaranteeing greater efficiency, flexibility and speed of delivery. This will also help maintain consistent design and lay the best possible foundations for your prized new brand.

About the Author: mecs is a Western-owned design firm based in Dubai, UAE. Specialising in print design and production, mecs is unique in the Arabian Gulf region in providing HD-print at 70% above the standard 175LPI resolution. Making mecs the leading commercial print company in Dubai,

mecsdubai.com/

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