When your business is in the market for a new business logo you want to find a professional logo design agency to work with. But in today’s market there are so many design possibilities and so many ways to get your logo designed that it is important to start with what your options are. Here are the most common paths to hire a logo designer:
- Just design your logo yourself
- Hire a logo designer from a plethora of freelancers online
- Hire an Unlimited Graphic Design service
- Hire a logo designer in-house
- Hire a full service marketing agency
- Submit a request to create a logo in an online contest
Because your logo design is so important and so personal, before we offer you some guidelines for selecting a full service marketing agency to design your business logo, let’s narrow the field to which of these options best suits your needs.
- No one should just design their own logo.
- Freelance designers are great if you can communicate clearly and accurately your brand and your vision for the logo, and if you can get back to them with quality feedback for editing quickly, and if all you want is a logo.
- An Unlimited Graphic Design Service is going to be overkill for most small businesses unless you do a lot of different print jobs on a monthly basis.
- An in house graphic designer could work if you already have one, but do not hire someone just to design a logo.
- Join an online design contest if you love surprises and are cool moving on to another option if you don’t get anything you like.
Which brings us to the question of the moment, when does it make sense to hire a full service marketing agency to design your business logo?
Hiring a Marketing agency is a step you want to take especially if you need more than just a new logo design. In fact marketing agencies can help you with almost any advertising need. You want to hire an agency especially if you are looking to establish your brand, rebrand or complete a brand discovery workshop. Marketing agencies will advise, guide, walk with you or just take your advertising ball and run with it. You will team up with a project manager, an account manager, a graphic designer, and perhaps others to ensure that everyone completely understands the full scope of how your brand and your logo and everything else you do to market your business will work in tandem. Oh, and to ensure that you absolutely love your final product!.
Your participation will be essential. These kinds of projects require lots of communication. In fact a Branding Workshop is highly recommended if your brand has not previously been identified. There will also be meetings, Zoom calls and email threads going back and forth. An agency must thoroughly vet you for all the information you can provide in order to connect their work to your vision and brand and to deliver what they promise.
Full service marketing agencies also employ website/app developers, print connections, radio/TV/billboard expertise and other resources that you may very well need after establishing your brand and logo.
Questions to ask when Selecting an Agency
When you choose a full service marketing agency you’re not just getting a professional logo design agency you’re getting a plethora of other services. And for these services there will be a greater commitment of time and money. But if you have decided to go this route you will get a fantastic range of top of the line professional marketing services at your disposal for now or for later. Let’s look at how you can make a wise selection for your marketing future.
1- Review the Quality of an Agency’s Work
Because you have chosen more than a professional logo design agency you want to take some time to review their overall work, who they have worked with and whether the design quality of all of their products meet your expectations, personal taste and approval. Any reputable agency will have a variety of samples of their work on their website for you to view. Do a little research of the overall quality of the work of each agency before selecting one to work with.
2- Does this Agency Offer Branding?
Whether you want Branding as part of your package or not it is important to know whether the agency you are choosing has expertise and offers branding in their services. The reason for this lies in the overall importance of brand to all marketing services but especially to “brand”. You will want to feel confident that your selected agency understands the importance of brand, of understanding how branding works and of how to incorporate your brand into the logo design they will be designing.
3- Do They Deliver On Time?
Once you get working on your logo design you are going to be excited to get to the finished product and put your new logo to use. Ask any agency you interview what their record is on the timely delivery of their work. They should communicate with you that they have a great track record of timely delivery as long as they are able to get timely responses back from their clients regarding all previous marketing materials, edits to their mock ups, and final approvals. Timely delivery should be understood as a two-way street with clear communication occurring between your business and the marketing agency. Getting the logo right is first priority, getting it on time should be a close second and will require both teams’ full participation.
4- What Else Does the Agency Offer?
If you choose to select an agency when you hire a logo designer, you might as well discover what other capabilities the agencies have. Do they design and build websites? Are they capable with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Have they worked with marketing through Social Media? What is their print advertising experience? And what else do they have experience with that could help my business grow and expand?
5- What Will My Responsibilities Be?
A top quality agency with experience will be sure to let you know what they expect you to be responsible for in the process. If you ask them, “What will my responsibilities be?”, they should have a quick and ready response and perhaps even a document outlining their processes and where in those processes they will need your participation, feedback and approval. When selecting an agency make sure the agency can clearly delineate who’s responsible for what.
6- What is My Budget, What Do I Need, Can I Compromise?
Your final questions should also be questions that your agency asks you in the interview process. Understanding what your budget is and what that can provide you is vital. Clarifying what exactly you need your agency to provide for you with the end product or products is essential for getting the logo you absolutely love. Through the process of interviewing and selecting your agency you may need to ask yourself questions like:
- Can I afford this?
- Can I compromise?
- Can I afford to compromise?
You will know your business needs and capabilities better than anyone else and the final selection rests in your hands so as you weigh all the possibilities, the pros and cons, and the vision for your business keep these selection criteria in mind.
Final Thoughts
Logos are powerful marketing tools for your business, they encapsulate the universal and the personal of your business, and they communicate what mere words cannot. Selecting a professional logo design agency is a vital step towards getting your logo right the first time.
Here at zo agency we are creative experts with decades of graphic design experience, which we use to create your unique logo that accurately and visually delivers on the promise of your brand. We generally follow a multi round logo design process. So, we will go through a logo questionnaire series to dig into feedback and history right from the start. Next we go through multiple steps depending on the depth of the project (basic logo all the way to brand messaging framework and guide). We are extremely hands-on with the development of each logo and pride ourselves in providing everything you need to absolutely adore the logo that embodies your brand.
We work to build long term relationships with our clients. We call it Tribe!
We will work diligently to discover your vision, your passion, your needs, your hopes and dreams for your business and then will create an overall marketing plan that meets your needs and fits your budget. Visit us today at www.zo.agency
