PowerBand Graphics LLC – Creative Branding and Graphic Design for Small Businesses in Nebraska.

This month’s Client Showcase features Dr. Alex Kallio and his company, Comfort Chiropractic. Comfort Chiropractic is an award winning Lincoln based Chiropractic facility. They have won the 5 Star Quality Service Award by Integrity Management for providing their patients with the best in service and value. After getting to know Dr. Kallio and his company a bit it was clear he provides extremely high quality work. The business provides more than just a place to go when you’re in pain, it’s a place to go to when you want to feel good and stay that way. They promote preventative wellness, modern techniques, community involvement and personalized care.

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Recently I’ve been writing quite a few design proposals for clients. They cover the costs involved with their particular project, the time involved and what kind of work is included with the branding or web design project. It’s occurred to me though that perhaps it would be better to talk a little less about what the cost is and talk a little more about what small businesses could be missing out on by not taking the design of their brand more seriously? What kind of revenue and customers could you be missing?

Do people even know what you do?

Think about the services you offer, when you show someone your business card or when they see your logo on your store front, can they tell what you do? How often do you have to explain it? “First Impression” is such an overused cliche but it’s true! Are you evoking the right emotions with the first things people see about your company? Can they trust you? Are you a long time local asset? Are you fun? Are you smart? Proper branding, including logo design and identity, can make or break these first impressions.

Great, they’ve found you! How professional does your business look?

Having a website is not an original concept to small businesses any more. Many businesses, however, rely on something that was created years ago, or have let their domains expire and simply not renewed them. Just having a website isn’t enough any more. Don’t just be found, give your customers a reason to visit your site! Introduce some interactivity or capture their attention with a clean, professional user experience. I’m not saying that you need to take advantage of every new technology that has come down the pipe in the last 5 years but online aesthetics changes just like fashion. You aren’t still still rocking a mullet and pinch rolled jeans, are you?

How much more time can you spend not having a well thought out brand? How many more clients will you miss out on?

The cost of having a professional designer or creative agency work with you can pale in comparison of the income you are missing out on. This lost income comes from people that:

A). Don’t know you exist because you are one of a dozen similar companies that doesn’t take their brand seriously.

B). Decided to go with a competition because they just looked more professional.

C). Know your business but don’t know your services or just can’t find you. Design is great but without content that’s relevant to your business, it’s just meaningless decoration.

Focus on your strengths as a company. Design is about perception, if your business is having a perception problem then change it. Start thinking creatively, be open to new visual ideas and you can capture the attention of your customers and keep it! Your business relies on it.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted information about recent cover designs for Strictly Business. Most recent is November’s cover showcasing Lincoln’s Best Dressed event put on by Strictly Business.

October’s featured business for the cover was SuperSaver.

And for September, the magazine showcased Cornhusker Bank and PowerBand Graphics created a design that best used the branding and aesthetic that the bank is already known for.

As always, it’s great to work with the crew at Strictly Business. Their commitment to businesses in Lincoln and Omaha is incredibly as well as their tireless efforts to promote them. If you don’t know of them, check them out!

This month’s Client Showcase features Denise G. Scholl-Serrett, The HR Lady.  The HR Lady provides Human Resource Consulting for small and medium sized businesses. Denise strives to make Human Resources fun, energetic and if you’ve ever met her you’ll know in an instant that she’s passionate about what she does and capable of undertaking any task. The HR Lady helps businesses with establishing strategic planning, human resource compliance & training, benefits planning and much much more. If you are a business owner who not only wants to hire the right people but make sure they are treated right, you need to call the HR Lady!

Denise has a fantastic brand concept. By building her company around herself and establishing herself as the expert, she created a very memorable and unique image. As anyone who’s visited my blog can attest, creating a personalized brand with your company is a smart technique. No matter how much your competitors may try to emulate you or your services, one thing they’ll never be able to duplicate is you!

Her original business designs were solid but they did not fully capture that fun and personality that The HR Lady exhibits. Here’s an example of how they looked. It’s straightforward and to the point but nothing about it screamed “HR Lady”.

After some talking she decided that it was time to leverage her look, company name and personality into a new brand. PowerBand Graphics sat down with Denise and discussed what qualities she wanted to promote and what areas in her field she thought needed to be improved upon. She wanted to change the perception that Human Resources is something in business that is troublesome or painful. Denise wanted to highlight the fun and problem solving abilities that her profession can provide. After researching her field, concepting ideas and working with her on revisions, we finalized her new brand.

“Human Resources Made Simple” while it’s true there’s nothing simple about what she does, The HR Lady works to make things simple and fun for her clients and their employees. Once her logo was established we created basic design and identity components. This included everything from business cards to letterhead and envelopes. All of those pieces working together should be professional, clean and highlight the core themes of the The HR Lady brand.

The HR Lady has become a recognizable face around Lincoln even without creating a brand around her. This kind of design will help make her that much more memorable. It’s easy to implement, iconic and is an investment that will be worthwhile for years to come!