Who are you? Your sales, marketing, or internal teams find themselves under resourced occasionally. This is rarely an ‘if’ as much as a ‘when’. It will happen, and may already be happening now. When it does happen, it will be last minute and you will be struggling to make everything come together efficiently. This doesn’t need to be the case. People often say “I have a great mechanic” or “I know a really good roofing company”. You may not need these every day – they are maintenance driven. Your car needs a tune-up, you’re not struggling to find someone you trust (my mechanic is incredible by the way). We see value in knowing “a really great _____”, and want to tell our friends about it. They come up in conversation more often than we realize. We love sharing our resources. Very rarely does someone say “I should find someone who knows how to prepare a nice looking ____insert marketing thing here_____”.
Meanwhile, back at the office, or small/medium/growing business – you’re operating on a last-minute, late-decision-making, reactive, pivot-paced, panic driven model when it comes to some of the most important components you need to thrive in an environment where everyones stuff starts to looks the same because everyone is getting Bill over in paper-pushing to whip up an ad for an online web property at the last second because Carol in C-Suite woke up with a great idea and it must-be-done-NOW! Sorry Bill, you’re great at pushing paper – but you’re not a designer. Carol, you have incredible ideas and passion – but, take a deep breath and consider a new strategy. The reality is you may be ’streamlining’ operations in order to meet the bottom line, but there is a hidden cost. Your ‘marketing team’ is over extended, your brand is confused and you need guidance. But, you don’t know what that looks like.
When you realize you need a designer, it’s usually last minute and you think it’s too expensive, especially because Bill knows word, and Carol has ideas. And, it is expensive. But here’s a little philosophy: “I’m too poor to buy cheap shoes” (thanks Louisa). Finding a trustworthy graphic designer with a few years of experience means finding who can relate to your struggles. Someone you can rely on to jump on a call with Carol to discuss that big marketing idea and provide insight as to what that looks like, what is involved, and how graphics can best support the campaign for that big idea. Leave Bill to paper push (Bill’s great at it!), and bring the designer in to a discussion with the marketing team. Hey maybe Bill is the marketing team. This may be an occasional freelancer, or a full time team member. Maybe you just need a consultant who can review your needs and provide a game plan. When your company or team is growing, it needs to start acting like it.
The point is communication. Graphic Design goes beyond churning out pictures with word on it. Graphic Designers provide insight into best practices, smart moves, brand considerations (I mean does Bill know that pink and neon green may not suit the Law Office aesthetic?), and sometimes will even provide advice on editing copy (here’s a free one – cut the text by 50%. and then cut it again. Yeah yeah – I should take my own advice.) for that magazine, brochure or social post. Graphic Designers are advisors. They are thoughtful individuals who can bridge communication between a company and internal or external resource. We can help sales teams understand that as much fun as it is do run a social ad the night before the big event, or whip up a presentation during a flight to the big meeting – it’s more effective to prepare in advance, so that they can get a good sleep knowing the messaging and graphics are pre-scheduled to post to socials, and can watch an in-flight movie instead of worrying about what’s in the presentation. They’ll already know, and they will be prepared. Let’s face it. Sales teams often operate outside of the marketing structure, because they are not made aware of what’s possible and the steps needed to get there effectively, efficiently.
Look. We don’t have all the answers. But, if you ever feel like you need to grow beyond the last minute, broken system, panic mode operations that has been just moving the needle enough to make you think that “everything is fine – I’m fine!”. Then, maybe it’s time to dust off the rolodex and stick a fresh card in there. Maybe that card is Calling Tomorrow.
*this post was written by a human person on a laptop computer while listening to records in the living room on a Saturday afternoon. Known water consumption: 1 8oz glass. Also coffee. That’s water too.