The Dangers of DIY: 5 Reasons to Hire a Professional

If you’re running a small to medium sized business, or just starting out, you may feel it makes sense to save money by designing your logo, website, and marketing materials on your own. This DIY approach has been made more popular with drag-and-drop website software, cheap logo and design templates, and myriad free or inexpensive WordPress themes.

Not only do we feel your business or organization deserves better, there’s many reasons why DIY is damaging to your brand:

1. You may be too close to your business to properly strategize your marketing. We’ve found that newer businesses often have a hard time determining who their target audience is, especially if they create a product or service that they themselves would need. An outside perspective will help you discover who you need to reach.
2. By using a generic template or crowdsourced design for your marketing materials, you won’t be differentiated from your competitors. While it might be tempting to save money by using a do-it-yourself approach to your branding or web presence, you’ll look exactly the same as every other business that uses the same (non) strategy. Worse, cheap crowdsourced designs have been known to contain intellectual property violations and copied designs. A professional can help you develop a brand strategy unique to your business, so you stand out.
3. While you might see learning how to use design software as learning a new skill, it’s really just taking time away from your real focus and expertise. You didn’t start your business to struggle through HTML or Photoshop. Nor will you be able to quickly teach yourself these skills at a level where you can successfully offer design services. (Keep in mind, most credible college design programs are 3 to 4 years, full time.) Your time is better spent perfecting your service or product, or managing your operations.
4. How much do you know about website security? Or scalable vector graphics, Google Analytics, mobile website optimization, or press-ready PDF files? You might go into a DIY design project thinking it’ll be a piece of cake, but there are often unforeseen complications. By working with a professional, you’ll gain access to their expertise to ensure your projects run as smoothly as possible.
5. Lastly, it goes without saying that if you’re not a trained designer, your efforts won’t have a professional quality standard. Even if you’re using a nice looking free template, you won’t have great typography or a well balanced layout. If the visual design isn’t polished, you won’t be making the best possible first impression with potential clients and customers.

If you’re tired of struggling to market your business on your own, get in touch. We’re happy to help you achieve your business goals through strategic branding and digital design.