August 17, 2007
Message First, Design Last
Stop with the font, design and logo obession already!
I know that in the beginning stages of your business, it feels comforting to have shnazzy business cards, a logo, business stationery and the like. It can give you a feeling of credibility, as if you've "arrived" and are a "for real" professional.
Ready for the mind blower?
You don't need them in the initial stages of your business. In fact, in the seven plus years of coaching, I've never once had a logo.
When I first started my nutrition practice I kept myself busy with this kind of stuff at the cost of not attracting any clients. It's the equivalent of "busy work." I fussed over the "perfect" business card; choosing the right font color, card stock, image… For weeks on end!
Client attraction is more about who you are, how you show up and the specific message you want to share with the world. You don't need the perfect tagline, logo or font style to do this. (Gasp!) But you do have to show up without compromising yourself. You have to be incredibly confident about what you're bringing to the world and what you stand for. (And yes, having marketing materials to match what you're about makes this process much easier.)
However, only when you are clear about what your message is, how you will structure your work, whom you will serve and what media you will choose to reach your audience can you focus on design, font, logo and a fancy pants website. Otherwise, you'll design something generic and it won't match the essence of your work. (I've seen this SO MANY TIMES) And besides, your designers will have an easier time matching your message when you know what it is.
So do your homework first. Spend time understanding what you bring to the table (leveraging all that you've got), get to know your target market really well, how you will serve and reach them and then proceed with the design work. (This is what I do with my clients) I promise the latter will come to you with much greater ease when you've got the language of what you're here to do nailed.
To quote the Info-Product Guy, James LaRoche, "Bottom Line Solution: Stop worrying about font, color and design. Give us an offer that solves our immediate problem in clear, plain English."
Here's to your professional expansion,
Karin
P.S. When you are ready for design work, check out this cool resource.
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Filed under Blog, Honing Your Message, Personalizing Your Materials by Karin
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Resource: Get Creative Control of Your Website with WordPress | The Marketing Materials Maven @ 1:49 pm
[…] before you start scrolling the WordPress templates, be sure to understand this: The content of your website comes before site design. Most people get this backward. How can your web designer ever match who you are and what you do if […]