I’ll be using the blog space on occasion to post professional articles related to branding, marketing communications, and business messaging. If you’ve come here from theBreakerboy.com, welcome.

I love working with graphic designers for any number of reasons. Their ability to see and translate the world into visual messages and metaphors astounds me. I experienced this recently working with Beth Ford of Glib Communications. We partnered on a messaging and branding project for a growing IT firm. The goal was to keep things minimal, evocative, and light-hearted. Instead of writing dissertations on how they help relieve the frustration of working on a dying machine, we let Beth’s design do most of the talking – a man with his head crashed between two monitors, for instance.

I bring this up because, unlike the IT firm, many micro businesses and sole proprietors are finding it difficult to bring both a writer and a designer in on their projects. And while I love when the phone rings, I’m aware that design is often the default, since the right graphics and images will more often than not stop people in their tracks.

When choosing to allocate your marketing budget toward hiring a designer, it’s crucial that you as the client hone in on your words, to make sure the project is as successful as possible.

“CAN YOU WRITE IT FOR ME?”

Most designers I know secretly cringe when asked the above question. It’s not that they can’t handle it; it’s just that writing moves them out of a place of strength (design) and into an area where, while most likely competent, they’re not always completely confident.

Why do clients wind up asking their designer to pitch in on the words? Often they run into walls around creating “the right words”. Walls come in all shapes and sizes: not enough time, perceived lack of ability, old fears, etc. I’ve had naturopathic doctors, lawyers and architects tell me they still can’t get over negative feedback they received on an essay they wrote in junior high.

The client’s inability to create the words in a prompt fashion sends a ripple through the project. Their inclination is to turn to the designer. Editing and review soon becomes tag line brainstorms and creation, which becomes full pages of content. This can put the designer in a tough spot of having to decide how much time they can devote to writing that stretches beyond the scope of their original agreement.

While the businessperson in me likes to say, “I’ll take care of it,” the writer in me is more inclined offer some tips and tools to help people get started.

(more…)