Other than the prizes offered in the design contests, the possibility of landing clients is another reason people enter such contests. This is also why the contests are always swarmed with lots of new designers or the less experienced ones because they hope to win and attract new clients to jump start their design careers.

If you think of contests as a marketing platform, then you are very wrong and you will be disappointed at the end of each design contest. Especially if you are not among the winners, and this will be the case most of the times. To illustrate to you why it is not worth it entering the design contests, consider the following.

You risk not being paid

A typical graphics design contest will attract participants in their hundreds if not thousands. Most of the time, every participant will be required to submit more than one design, with ten being the average number for most of them. It implies that you will have to spend your time working on all the designs and submit them within the deadline. With the large number of participants, your chances of becoming the winner or even the first or second runners up are very slim.

Since these are the people who will be rewarded in the graphic design contests, there are no guarantees that you will make it to the final list. And if you are lucky enough to be among the winners, still there are no guarantees that you will be paid or get the designated prize for the winner. Therefore, there is no need to spend your precious time doing some great work, and ultimately get nothing for your sweat.

No other industry holds contests like the design industry

I know you think of the graphics design contests positively, but have you taken time to think if the same is happening in other industries? Would you go to five different dentists to fill your tooth then decide the one you will be paying? Or would you invite ten different plumbers to clear your kitchen sink then decide to pay the one whom you think did a great job in clearing the clog. Or, would you walk into a restaurant and order ten different dishes, try each one to find the one you enjoy the most then request to pay only for the one which you think satisfy you the most?

This is exactly what is going in with the design contests. Taking part in such contests is allowing yourself to get exploited by some ruthless people who probably don’t even care how your face looks like. It is only in this industry that it happens, and it should be stopped.

Design Contest makes the industry cheaper and also compromises quality

With the lack of guarantee of payment and the fact that not everyone’s design will be picked, there is a tendency for the participating designers to relax and not give their best in the design works. If you want clients to value your work, time, and skills in graphics design so that they can pay good money for your services, then you must stop thinking of contests as the best places to find such people.

Design Contests can be addicting – bad for the psychology

When you enter too many contests and you don’t win, you will get discouraged and disheartened and doubt your skills and abilities as a graphics designer. For many people, this is always the norm until they win one. When this happens, you feel very happy and elated so that you enter more contents, hoping to win again.

This creates a cycle of highs and lows in your psychology such that all your emotions and inspirations will be pegged around the design contests. Eventually, you will lose the focus needed to concentrate on your professions and develop your skills to become a better designer.

Lazy shortcut

Finally, the design contest is nothing but a lazy and time costly shortcut to getting clients. This is because nothing is required to enter the contests other than the click of a mouse, which you can do while sugaring your coffee at home. It comes with no obligations whatsoever, and you don’t have to do the designs if you don’t want.

The Solution

Get yourself out of those contests and work on proper approaches to enhancing your skills so that you can get high paying clients. Simply say goodbye to the contests.

Use these tools for color combination inspiration!

The post Is it Worth Entering a Graphic Design Contest? appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Logos are vital aspects the marketing for a business. Being the company’s major graphical representation, it becomes the brand of a company and the single most important manifestation of the company amongst its audiences. Due to this critical role, therefore, a great logo is imperative for the overall success of the company’s marketing.

Other than being the visual representation of the company amongst the customers, a great logo also serves a number of purposes for a business. So important is the role of a logo in business branding that there is virtually no business that operates without one. If you are wondering why, here are some of the purposes served by great logo to a company and why it is imperative for every company to have a logo:

“Face” of a Company

The main purpose of having a logo is to give the company a “face”. They are the graphical representation of the unique identity of the company as displayed through the colors, fonts, images and other symbols used in the logo. All these collectively are used to pass certain important marketing messages to the potential customers or consumers.

Logos are also a subtle way of referring to the company in the marketing and advertising materials. They provide a central focal point for fonts, colors and designs upon which the marketing materials of the company will be anchored.

Communicating the identity of the business

The need for brand identity cannot be ignored if a business wants to have a big and loyal fan base. Being the chief visual component of every business, a logo will appear in various marketing materials of the company such as business cards, websites, letterheads, email signatures, brochures, amongst other advertising channels.

Due to this reason, a great logo design can contribute immensely to the success of the business while a mediocre logo can appear less professional and make many potential customers refuse to deal with the business. However, there should also be a good coherence between the logo and other company’s visual representations. It simply implies that the logo should be consistent across all the marketing to create a consistent brand identity. In this manner, customers and potential customers won’t get confused each and every time they see the logo.

A great logo helps businesses to get high ROIs

As a business continues in its operations, the consumer numbers will continue to grow and so is the liking and developing of trust on the company brand. With time, the consumers will be more confident whenever they interact with the business logo and as a result, there will be increased sales for the business. Additionally, a great logo is an indication of professionalism and competency on the part of the company.

These are very two crucial attributes in winning new customers and clients since they will be convinced and satisfied that they are dealing with real and authentic businesses capable of meeting all their needs. Based on logos alone, potential customers will always choose a company with a great logo design as compared to one with poorly designed logos.

Distinction from Competitors

The other main purpose of a great logo design for a business is to distinguish the business from the competition. The world is full of dramatic distractions and getting and retaining the attention of potential clients and customers is becoming more difficult. Businesses are bombarding the same customers with different graphics to get their attention, and those that become successful are the ones with logos that can stand out from the crowd.

Such logos must be distinct, beautifully and professionally designed and they must also be easily memorable with a clear marketing message. If a business will not manage to achieve these with their logos, then standing out of the crowd and establishing a strong brand identity will not be possible.

Great First Impression

Just from the looks of the logo, a potential client can tell if you are a professional establishment worthy of their trust. If the logo appears to be professional enough, then the potential client will have the confidence to go ahead and try out your products and services. But if the potential client feels that the logo looks amateurish, they will develop cold feet and hesitate about doing business with you.

Great logos are therefore are a vital part in creating the right first impression. Remember, a potential client requires just a few seconds to decide if your logo is good and hence if they will be dealing with you. This is why it is imperative at all times to have great logo designs for your business.

These are some of the main purposes why a great logo is beneficial to a business. However, it is important to remember that great logos are works of professional designers and trying to get shortcuts by going for less experienced designer logos may cost you a lot in the business.

Check out these beautiful logos that have just one color!

The post The Most Main Purposes of a Great Logo appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Having a strategy for brand expansion is absolutely crucial for any company. From the perspective of the designer it’s extremely important to create logos that can help your clients to build on their brand strategy and to expand for the future. The rules for branding have evolved considerably in today’s digital age especially with the help of content marketing, social media and mobile optimization. Any brand strategy needs to change in order to compete in today’s digital world. As a result, creating a successful brand has become more challenging than ever before. Here are some of the top tips for creating an effective brand strategy for your clients with a strong logo and with even stronger branding materials.

Creating relatable concepts:

Any brand needs to be highly relatable today and creating a brand that’s a little bit too trendy or complicated can only work to turn a company’s shareholders and consumers against them. For a rebranding effort or for a start up company it’s very important that consumers know exactly what to expect out of the brand strategy. By losing strategic focus or by trying something that’s too out there, it’s possible that a branding strategy may not produce a return on investment.

Creating a relatable concept for brand means being deliberate with the identity of a brand. Branding in the future rollout of new branding materials needs to be calculated and straightforward. The idea of reinventing new branding strategies does work but it’s a risky concept. Ultimately the goal for any new brand or rebranding effort means creating relatable concepts that their target market will expect rather than something that will catch them off guard. Establishing trust with a market is important and knocking them off their feet often doesn’t produce the same effect as a brand that they will feel has been with them for years.

Continuous innovation and calculated execution:

Creating a single logo for a company isn’t enough to consider it fully branded. In order for a company to have a fully established brand it’s very important that they are constantly innovating their branding strategy. Many companies often fall short when it comes to implementing new branding strategies as well as improving new products and introducing marketing materials that will keep up with the demands of new markets as they emerge. An excellent example of companies that were unable to continuously innovate and execute new branding strategies as they were required would be Blockbuster, Volvo, Blackberry and more.

With the rapid rollout of new advertising and branding strategies in today’s digital marketplace introducing new packaging, logo and marketing materials requires near-perfect execution to capture the maximum return on investment. Establishing an early reputation for excellence and continuing to elevate a branding strategy through innovation is what is needed to stay relevant and to capture a target market.

Leaving a legacy:

In every element of your branding you should consider how it potentially serves other people and serves your target market. When a designer creates a logo they should be creating it with the thought in mind they could be part of a company’s legacy. This added responsibility will help to make sure that all of the marketing materials produced as part of a brand strategy are not only to develop the brand as a whole but to produce materials that will live on as a legacy for the company. When we look at some of the top branding through the years we can see how their strategy evolved but how the core components still remain the same. The Coca-Cola logo for example still bears many of the same elements from its original branding and marketing material from its inception.

When we think of the impact that branding has on a company as well as others we can start to think of the feelings that marketing materials stir up when we see them. A branding strategy is not only about increasing sales and improving the recognition of a company but leaving awake throughout history of how the company came to be. Every new change in branding can be a reflection of the time and a small footprint of the people that built that brand to the place it is today.

Inspiration:

Above all a brand needs to influence somebody’s state of mind and inspire them to learn more about a company. Branding can communicate hope as well as influence someone to respond to a brand message. The impact of a brand influence can resonate especially if branding is able to adapt over time to speak to different generations.

The average consumer today expects to be inspired by marketing materials and is not easily swayed with so much information available at their fingertips. Content marketing and execution needs to be heavily choreographed in order to inspire and this is why inspiration is such a big part of adapting a brand strategy.

Keep these top elements in mind when you are working towards the future of your brand.

Learn about how over delivering in your company can maximize your brand by following the link!

The post 4 Tips For an Effective Brand Strategy appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

Listen! Listen! Listen!

Listening is one of the most important elements of creating successful logo designs for your clients. In order to make sure that you can produce great work for a business it’s very important that you take the time to gather all of the information nd answers for some important questions to ask clients before logo design that you need to produce a successful logo design. Asking the right questions up front can save you countless hours of revision as well as make sure that your client gets a high converting logo that speaks directly to their target market.

Why did you create your business?

Asking a business owner why they are in business and how their organization formed can be a particularly important answer because it can help you to understand their vision and their corporate culture. Getting to the heart of what a business owner wants out of their business and why the company exists will help you to generate some quality logo ideas to help you build an image that will express why the company is in business from a visual perspective.

With your current resources what does your brand focus on?

If a business is just starting to expand it can be really difficult to create a focus for a particular brand. A good way to design a logo is to design it based off of the current specifications of a business. Organizations will often have a number of different goals for expansion but if a brand has an unfocused business direction it can lead to an extremely complicated logo that makes it difficult to showcase what the company does to fill a customer’s needs. Getting to the root of what a company owner wants their Brand to focus on can help you to identify various elements that you can focus on for the creation of the logo. To help a business owner to better communicate their needs for this question you could have them list down their top five goals and then rank each of the goals based off of the chance of achieving it with their current resources in the next year. By finding out the top goals of an utmost importance that are achievable you can focus in on the elements that will make up the current branding of the company.

What makes your company unique to your largest customers?

Large customers in any company have the option to turn to competitors in order to gain new advantages. Most companies will often have a number of large clients that keep them in business and help them to continue expanding. Thinking on the types of important strategic benefits that a company can actually provide for large clieat every designer should be asking their clients before even starting a designnts and their most loyal clients can help a company order to start understanding their target audiences and the various focal points and advantages that their service or company can offer to that target market. Answering how well an organization can meet the needs of its clients and with what resources will help you to define what makes a company unique. Understanding the unique selling point of a company can help you to add it into the branding.

Who is your target market?

Many early companies will often respond that everyone is their target market and that they are trying to target the widest possible net of people with their branding. The truth is that not everyone will love the logo that you come up with and although a company may want their branding to appeal to a wide audience it’s important that you focus in on some of the most loyal customers that the company has had thus far. By allowing the client to focus in on some of their most valuable customers and the demographics that they fall within its possible that you can start to understand the target market that you are preparing branding for. Overall, the logo and branding that you create should appeal to the target market mostly. A common rule in business that you may have heard is that 20% of a clients customers often contribute to 80% of their business. Marketing the branding to this 20% will ensure a steady stream of loyal clients through the branding that you create.

What is the big picture for your logo, branding & design?

Asking the client about some big picture concepts further logo can help you to gauge roughly the type of style that they are looking for. Think about the current business environment, their competitors, cultural trends, technology trends and new design solutions for a logo design. If you can consider all of these influences and bring them into a discussion about the big picture style for a logo or the places your client wants to use their logo you can start to picture your designs and how they will be effective for your client.

Keep these questions in mind and make sure that you avoid common logo design mistakes by reading through our Logo design mistake tips blog.

The post 5 Important Questions to Ask Clients Before Logo Design appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.