If you’re looking to promote your small business and bring in revenue through design or video, shouldn’t you hire an expert who knows more about marketing than you?
I have friends who are videographers, marketers, and creative professionals. They’re great people and honestly, there are a couple of them who are darn good at creating art. But you’re about to learn that art, unless you sell art, won’t help you attract more customers and grow your business.
This article uncovers some striking truths about small business owners throwing large sums of money away by hiring videographers and creative professionals who aren’t business savvy or experienced in marketing.
Videographers and graphic or web designers with no business expertise are risky investments at best. In fact, as creative as they might be, there is no way I would pay them to film an online promo video or design my marketing and advertising materials if I was a business owner. Admittedly, this is harsh—I know. However, if you own a small business, dental practice or medical practice, stick with me—by the end of this article, you might agree with my stance on who best to hire
“Investing money in videographers and creative professionals hasn’t worked for me.” That’s what Maria told at a small business networking event in Phoenix. Maria is a businesswoman, a fairly successful one at that. However, she’s had to learn the hard way something you’ll know after reading a few more paragraphs.
As I got to know Maria, I learned that she’d worked with a video production professional and branding expert who created her company identity, collateral materials, website and online YouTube promotion video. Despite all of this, she wasn’t getting good return on her marketing investment.
“I just don’t understand it, everything looks good but nothing is happening.”
True enough, the work looked aesthetically fine but I asked her one simple question, “Did your video production professional or branding expert ask you about your marketing strategy, your ideal target market, competitive landscape, and your business objectives?” She shook her head “no” with a puzzled look.
“They just created something that looked good. Should they have asked?” she responded.
Damn right they should have. But video production professionals and branding experts aren’t necessarily savvy marketers and business people. It doesn’t even occur to them to ask about niche, buyer persona, and marketing strategy. Hiring a video production professional or branding expert who has no expertise in marketing or business is like purchasing a new Infiniti from the car dealer and later finding out that it doesn’t come with an engine: the car looks nice but it doesn’t do a darn thing. It just sits there and looks nice. Similarly, if you invested a load of money in an online video or marketing project that looked nice but didn’t have a positive effect on your revenue, would you think you made a bad investment? Yep, I bet you would. Still, otherwise intelligent small business people, dentists, and medical professionals throw thousands of dollars away on video and marketing projects created by creative professionals who don’t know the first thing about marketing.
Design without marketing focus is just art, and this is what most artists do, they just create art. Unfortunately, art isn’t going to separate you from the competition and it sure as heck won’t add to your bottom line. Don’t get me wrong, business owners need art; they hang it on the walls of their office – and that’s all it’s good for.
Design – marketing strategy and focus = art
Successful business owners know they need more than art in their marketing and advertising efforts. Having a clear marketing strategy integrated into their design projects is the best way of maximizing their investment.
It’s a demanding world out there. Life is moving faster; your prospects and potential customers have more choices available to them and less time and attention to give, and competition is downright fierce. So what does that mean?
Work with video marketers, graphic designers, and branding experts who are also marketing experts. These specialists not only know how to create something that looks great, but they understand the psychology of outreaching and attracting the customers that you want. They know how to integrate a clear, hard-hitting marketing message into your marketing initiatives—by doing this they increase your odds for success astronomically.
Hiring a creative professional who creates based on what he/she feels is cool or clever is like shooting at a target blindfolded and hoping that you’ll get lucky and hit it. When it comes to the success of your business, you don’t want to rely on luck.
If this article’s got you thinking, that’s good. You wouldn’t hire an accountant that didn’t know current tax laws, so why hire creative professional who knows less about marketing or advertising than you do?