Contractors are tough stocks. But sometimes resistance can get you

in trouble.

Especially when you’re overly committed and could use a little help.

Too often, new business owners decide they don’t need to hire anyone.

external services. You know how it goes… “I can do this myself. How

hard can it be It’s just a simple direct mail campaign.”

Big mistake! Trying to do everything yourself…unless it’s your area of

experience… usually costs you more in the long run. And most of the time,

the work looks pretty unprofessional.

Here is the stage…

You are starting a consulting business. You decide you need business

cards, a logo, a brochure of some sort, and a website. Pretty basic. You

Imagine that you can hire the right people and manage these projects yourself.

You too. You brainstorm some names for the company, run them through a

some friends and select one for your business. Then you find a designer

whose job you like and meet her. You describe the services you will receive

bid and what colors you like and dislike. maybe you’ll even have

some sketches of what you think your logo should look like.

Then the designer (working with minimal direction) starts working. Unless

you have given them detailed information about your target market, your niche,

how you see the development of your identity, this designer has no idea.

But she comes with some designs. Once again, you go somewhere

friends and family for their comments. Based on the generals

consensus, you select a design (hopefully it will fit your business

name and what you do). Now you can leave it up to the designer

to get printing quotes for your business cards and stationery. or you can

do it yourself and get some price comparisons. you will have to know

what type of paper you want, paper weight, quantities, etc.

Next, you want to start with some type of brochure or brochure. you stick

with your logo designer? If so, you better make sure you’ve seen some

brochure samples you have made. Designers often specialize in one

product or other. I’ve worked with great logo designers who can’t do

another guarantee.

And your website? Can your logo designer also do

Web-page design? What about development? Not all designers are

developers. In fact, most are not. The best developers I’ve found started

like web people while my best designers stick to what they do

best – graphic design.

You also need to decide how many pages your site will have, what

are (the menu), how you want the site to be laid out (sitemap), whether

you don’t need a dynamic or static site, what elements should be

included etc

Are you still happy with your decision? Better make sure you nail the

costs in all of this so you won’t be surprised at the end.

Lastly, don’t forget the copy. You need something for your brochure.

You need a different copy for your website. are different types of

marketing tools and the copy should be written in a different style to

each. But everything must work together (be integrated) for you to be able to

don’t look like a fractured company. Your brochure and website should

they look the same… but the approach is different.

If you’re still handling this yourself, congratulations. especially if you have time

to do any sales or networking or research. because you have assumed

I work full time as a marketing person/project manager.

To think… you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and time.

if only I had called a marketer in the beginning. So

you would have a person who could manage all the above projects for you:

or work with the designer(s) and developers to make

sure everyone involved understood what you do and who you do it

or review, reject and/or approve designs before viewing

them

or written copy appropriate for each product

proofreading

o Monitor all vendors to ensure workflow is on track.

the hours and work is correct

…and only calling you for selection, fact-checking, or final decisions.

On the other hand, maybe you like a challenge. Or maybe you just need

micromanage everything. Cause by the time you’re done, you’re

You will likely end up with a disjointed marketing “program” (for lack of a better

word). And when and if he finally calls a marketing person to

review your marketing material, you will probably find that changing

all in the hands of a specialist, who does this all the time,

it has actually cost you less than doing it yourself.

At least you’ll know better next time.