Ideally, you have a good sized marketing budget when starting a business. Getting clients is what starting a business is all about…it’s a given that you can do the work or provide the product, or you wouldn’t be starting a business. You need to market your business.
These days, it’s harder to get a business loan. Some people are starting that business because they were laid off. Maybe the timing is off, but you have to start that business now. What do you do if you have “no” marketing budget? How can you make your startup look professional?
As a graphic designer, I’ll share some insight and tips to give you the bare minimum to get off the ground. I wouldn’t suggest doing design yourself, but you can hire a graphic designer and not break the bank.
PART I: LOOK PROFESSIONAL…The minimum.
Do I need a logo?
Yes, but don’t sweat it. Simple type with a simple tagline is fine in a pinch. Avoid exploring a “mark” - you won’t have the budget to get to the point where it doesn’t look like clip art. A full logo design process should take a minimum of 20 hours of design fees. I bill $85 per hour, so that’s $1700. Choose an initial logo that can be executed easily and look professional.
Here’s a simple logo for “ScrapCo” that look me less than a minute to put together. Sure, it’s not blowing anyone away, but it looks professional and took little of your budget to design. If this was on a business card or in a website it presents you as a professional company. My logo is “just type” but I hired an outside designer to do it for me. I was wasting time trying to communicate so much about my business in a logo that I lost focus of it’s basic function…showing your business’s name.
My tagline isn’t “making the world a better place,” but it’s “graphic design | marketing.” By simply listing what you do in a concise manner, you complete the logo. Your logo and tagline should do the same thing…State your name and what you do. People think of taglines like “Coke, The real thing.” Coke is not a startup. Everyone knows what Coke is. A good first tagline for Coke would be “Coke, A Cola Soda.” Isn’t the Coke logo just a type treatment?
Also, choose your company color. Better yet, have a designer do it. As you see, ScrapCo went with a blue and gray combo.
Do I need a website?
Hell yes! These days, your website is your most important marketing tool. Buy a URL (web address) and set up a website. How can you have a website with “no” budget? Use a template or have a designer build a simple site. Incorporate your logo and colors.
You can host a site on WordPress, a free blogging site. There’s an upgrade so you can have “scrapcoindusties.com” instead of “scrapco.wordress.com.” This blog is hosted on WordPress and I’ve upgraded to have my own URL.
Google, GoDaddy and lots of other hosts provide a click-and-build website package.
If you go with a template, I would still have a designer look at it. You’ll want custom images and colors so that your site won’t feel like a lame template.
What about business cards, envelopes, and letterhead?
Printing business cards is cheap. You can use an online printer like VistaPrint and get a ton of cards easily. I’ve never had envelopes and letterhead printed. I have my documents formatted to print my logo and info as part of the document. I run my envelopes through a printer to address them, so I “print” the envelopes as I need them. Don’t spent money on that stuff if you don’t have it.
PART II: REAL MARKETING
Ok, so how do I get customers?
This should be your main concern! The logo, the website, the business cards don’t matter without clients. Without a budget, it takes more work. Perhaps it is better to think about marketing yourself to get business as an activity rather than waiting for your marketing to build business. You play an active role.
Hit the phones. You have your minimum pieces in place to back you up. Direct prospects to your website for more info, or send them a letter and business card to follow up.
Hit the internet. Register your site, blog, comment on blogs, and yes, social network. Join LinkedIn and connect to everyone you can/know. Direct traffic to your site through your networks. Put links to your site in your signature when you comment online.
Email marketing. Build a database and send out emails. You don’t have to pay printing costs or postage costs associated with direct mail. Plus, when the prospect receives an email, you can link them to your website or blog for unlimited information.
Once you are off the ground and have some success, go ahead an give your company the redesign it deserves.
I have to take my own advise as well. For instance, I hate contact forms on a website. Contact forms just make me feel like someone is collecting email addresses, avoiding giving me their real email address, afraid to use a telephone, and giving me no idea when I will get an answer (if ever). Now, I advise my clients to use contact form despite my personal point of view.
The answer is simple…The page is for 
My wife is a high school English teacher. From time to time, she asks me help her check papers handed in for plagiarism. 90 percent of the time, I find the original source online in under a minute. It may be a song lyric, a poem, or a news story, but the lazy student thinks he or she can get away with just stealing it.
