What To Do When You're Not Ready To Hire A Designer
If you’ve been around here for some time, you’ll know that whether you are an established business or an entrepreneur just starting out, we believe that good design is always worth investing in.
But what do you do if you’re not quite ready to make that investment yet? Don’t waste your time wishing you were farther along in the journey. There’s still plenty of things you can do right now to move your business forward until you’re ready to hire a professional designer!
Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?
Here are 4 things you can do if you’re not ready to hire a designer:
Establish why you're not ready.
First things first: you need to establish why you are not ready to hire a designer. Are you in the beginning stages of determining what your business is? Is it strictly budget? Are you saving towards the investment? Are you feeling anxious for this big step? Maybe you’re not feeling ready to hand over your baby that you’ve poured your heart and soul into and you’re not sure anyone else will understand your vision. If it’s any of these things, that’s okay. It’s important to ask yourself these questions first, to understand where you’re coming from. Once you understand where you’re coming from then you can begin to take the next steps.
Determine your brand's purpose, vision and values.
Take the time to determine your brand’s purpose, vision and values. Establishing these things can take time and effort on your part. But doing it will bring cohesiveness and consistency to your brand, especially if you keep them in focus as you DIY your own content. Having these determined before you hire a designer also means, when you are ready you’ll confidently be able to communicate the who, what, and why of your business.
Know your target audience.
Do you know who you are trying to reach? Do you know what they like? Where they shop? What they like to do in their spare time? If you know the ins and outs of your ideal client, then you can research what they like and what they respond well to. Diving deep and determining which colours, fonts, or even what CTA’s (Call to Action) they gravitate towards can be helpful information for you as you make visual and verbal decisions about your brand.
Research Templates and Guides.
There are lots of designers out there that are willing to help you along in your DIY journey with freebies or affordable templates. Spend some time on your favourite designer’s website and social accounts to take advantage of the tools and resources they offer. Now seems like as good of time as ever to let you in on a little secret: V&CO will be offering some helpful tools and resources to equip you this year! Stay tuned!!!
Keep in mind, that no matter how much background information you have on your company, who you are, what you stand for, or who your ideal audience is, it can be hard to translate all of that information into design if you’re not experienced in design. In order to avoid letting bad design cost your business more in the long run, think of branding as an investment that your business will see a return on! Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. But in the meantime, have confidence in yourself. Implementing all of these things means you’re already on the right track! You’ve got this!
Let us know if you found these tips helpful! If you want to be the first to access our resources when they become available, sign up for our newsletter. And hey, when you are ready to hire a designer, reach out to us, we would love to chat!
