What Should You Invest In First: Branding? Photography? Website Design?
Starting a business is such an exhilarating time – you’ve got the idea, you know what service or product you want to provide and you know who your ideal audience is. You have all the key ingredients and now it’s time to make that cake (visually speaking!). The tricky thing is that you don’t know where to start exactly AND the price of some of these investments have you freaking out just a tad.
But don’t fear! Each of the investments I am going to list are 110% worthy of the investment and will bring endless value back to your business – however I do believe there is a more ideal* order to begin in.
*Every service provider will probably have a different opinion of this, but as both a brand and website designer…
This is my most recommended roadmap for successful business investments:
Brand design – begin by getting the overall visual look for your business, so that it can influence every other investment to come after it
Print/packaging design – If you are a product-based business, next I recommend getting started on the print/packaging design so you have this all ready to go for the next stage
Brand photography – this can also run in tandem or directly after your branding design. If you work with a photographer who can take the same details you’ve given your brand designer and run with it, it will mean your photos will match your branding. Or wait until your branding/packaging is done and then get your photos taken
Copywriting – This can also be done in tandem or directly after branding. If you can stretch to get a professional copywriter in
Website design – the very last step, the cherry on top, the new online home for your beautiful new business! This investment should come at the very end of the process as it will need every key ingredient you’ve been working on to be baked in.
There are a few other investments that I would say are great to have but definitely not a necessity – more of a bonus if you can stretch the budget. These would be:
*Project manager - I have had the pleasure of working on a few large scale (web+brand) projects with a project manager and WOW these projects have been the most streamlined, stress-free and coordinated I’ve ever had. PMs basically handle all the communication and act as the go-between for designer and client.
*Newsletter/email marketing guru - If your business needs to SELL and have a lot of strategic funnels directing customers through to purchase or sign up, hiring a email marketing pro can be a great investment.
*Social media manager - Most designers can create graphics/templates for your SM, but having a dedicated SM manager can help provide you with more targeted and strategic advise and action for your business.
*Some designers can also provide these services so definitely take advantage of this if your designer does. However a lot do not and I do often say going to a studio or service provider that has drilled down to specialise in this type of service can mean they are more focussed and skilled in this area.
So there we have it! These are my big ticket investments and how I think they should be ordered to mean the most seamless experience, followed by a few ‘nice to haves’ which can really level up your business. However at the end of the day whatever works for your business is what is best!
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