It's only gonna get tougher

[Colin]

When I learned of 99Designs about a year ago, I felt that it might really take a bite out of the little logo design work there is out there, but now I see their ads all over the internet; freekin' everywhere.

What do you think?

 

[Patrick46]

sounds to me like their own advertising department is doing a good job!!

 

[Jack Knight1979]

I feel ya. To be honest I'm so sick of bad news. You are right. It blows for sure. All I see is shut down sign shops, new equipment for sale by banks.

I feel like crawling back into my hole.

I'd like to hear some good news for a change. It can't get tougher for me to be honest. I'm almost broken.

 

[Colin]

I feel ya. To be honest I'm so sick of bad news. You are right. It blows for sure. All I see is shut down sign shops, new equipment for sale by banks.

I know things are tough overall, but I was thinking mainly in terms of logo design, and how easy it is now for a potentially local customer of mine to go the crowd-sourcing route of 99Designs, and it's cheaper to boot!

Some of the work done there is very good too. Lots out of Malaysia etc.

 

[Brandon708]

This seems like a great service for the consumer.

 

[Gino]

Probably his little brother and some Indian guru makes up the design team and he's the marketing department.

No need to worry about them.... most people getting their stuff via internet are not the kinda customers you want to begin with in this business.

 

[Colin]

No need to worry about them.... most people getting their stuff via internet are not the kinda customers you want to begin with in this business.

I can't see the logic there Gino.

 

[R08]

I feel ya. To be honest I'm so sick of bad news. You are right. It blows for sure. All I see is shut down sign shops, new equipment for sale by banks.

I feel like crawling back into my hole.

I'd like to hear some good news for a change. It can't get tougher for me to be honest. I'm almost broken.

Hey Jack.
Try not to look at the bad news especially if you're already feeling hit.I know it sounds sappy but read some positive posts and keep your chin up.

 

[Rick]

If I was a designer in a third world country, this site would make me hundreds! There is some decent to very good original design coming out of these sites. I simply can't compete with someone who's yearly income is 10,000k a year, that that is doing really good for people in their country... so I won't.

I'm trying to get clients where they are looking for something different than what crowdsourcing and most sign shops are doing. I simply ignore this stuff and pay attention to this....

http://helmsworkshop.com/work-and-play/project/8/

 

[The Vector Doctor]

There are more, logotournament is another. Look at the number of entries. That is alot of people doing work for free hoping that they get paid

 

[Colin]

Hey Jack.
Try not to look at the bad news especially if you're already feeling hit.I know it sounds sappy but read some positive posts and keep your chin up.

Yes. Things are slower right now for most of us. Do some "shop tidying" to keep your spritis up.

 

[mikey-Oh]

http://helmsworkshop.com/work-and-play/project/8/

awesome, i ate at frank last month during acl fest. fine artisian sausages and tasty beer too!

just say no to spec work!

 

[Dan Antonelli]

This only serves as a further opportunity to distinguish your work and your offerings versus theirs. The question is - what is your shop doing to differentiate your service from one of these off-shore logo mills? What are you doing to attract the right client, not the one who thinks they can get good branding for $99.

Stuff like this is fine with me, not my market, and not who I'm going after. I love using them as examples of how we are different than them.

As per Rick's example, here's a few examples of how we distinguish our branding efforts via our case studies page:

http://www.graphicd-signs.com/case-studies-timos
http://www.graphicd-signs.com/case-studies-millers
http://www.graphicd-signs.com/case-studies-courtesy

Or, for all of our examples:
http://www.graphicd-signs.com/successes-image-makeover#all

 

[Gino]

Thank you, Dan.

Colin, that's my reasoning behind what I said. Your post #7.

 

[Colin]

Thank you, Dan.

Colin, that's my reasoning behind what I said. Your post #7.

You said:

No need to worry about them.... most people getting their stuff via internet are not the kinda customers you want to begin with in this business.

I fail to understand your reasoning, as you are suggesting that the customers who might have hired me to design their logo but now instead use 99Designs are not the "kind" of customers that I would want if 99Designs didn't exist. That makes no sense whatsoever. They are the "kind" of customer who would have payed me, and those are the kind of customers that I want. If you are speaking about the person who is more loyal to their local designer than 99Designs, then that's a whole other thing, and I suggest is becoming rarer as time goes by.

While Dan has done well, my point is still that this crowdsourcing - especially now with such a massive advertising blitz, is indeed having an effect on the amount of logo design jobs I (and I imagine others) get.

 

[Gino]

You said:



I fail to understand your reasoning, as you are suggesting that the customers who might have hired me to design their logo but now instead use 99Designs are not the "kind" of customers that I would want if 99Designs didn't exist. That makes no sense whatsoever. They are the "kind" of customer who would have payed me, and those are the kind of customers that I want. If you are speaking about the person who is more loyal to their local designer than 99Designs, then that's a whole other thing, and I suggest is becoming rarer as time goes by.

While Dan has done well, my point is still that this crowdsourcing - especially now with such a massive advertising blitz, is indeed having an effect on the amount of logo design jobs I (and I imagine others) get.

Sorry. I guess its over your head. I just don't have the strength to explain it. :Sleeping:


No, I thought I was saying the same thing that in the people on the internet looking for cheap $99 designs, logos or layouts are generally not the kind of person you want coming through your doors. Perhaps, I misunderstood that much of your business does come in this way. In that respect, I guess you do need the internet people.

Please remember, I'm very old schooled and almost all of our business is by telephone, word of mouth and walk-ins. Not very many of our existing customers or potential customers come in via the internet. Hence, why those are not the people we want in our shop. Also at our shop, if someone has mentioned the cheap stuff you can get online.... we show them examples of our work and have the customer compare them to the stuff they see online. It usually isn't the same quality price-wise or technique-wise. You need to show or be able to tell people why your work is better for them instead of the 'off-shore logo mills' as Dan put it. You also need to get this point across almost immediately.... again with samples of your work. Then... and only then, does your work speak for itself. That's when you'll own that customer.

Sorry it didn't make sense, but to me we were saying the same thing. Guess mine was in my head and when Dan spelled it out..... I thought, that's exactly it. :Oops:

 

[Dan Antonelli]

I know what we do is different than most here since we don't produce any actual sign work, but recession or not, this year we've sold more logo design than any other year previously. I expect total sales to be about even or 5% up depending on next 45 days.

But I focused very hard on that line of business and marketing it. We also raised our prices on logos which may have helped us do less volume but more per sale.

 

[The Vector Doctor]

Sorry. I guess its over your head. I just don't have the strength to explain it. :Sleeping:


No, I thought I was saying the same thing that in the people on the internet looking for cheap $99 designs, logos or layouts are generally not the kind of person you want coming through your doors. Perhaps, I misunderstood that much of your business does come in this way. In that respect, I guess you do need the internet people.

Please remember, I'm very old schooled and almost all of our business is by telephone, word of mouth and walk-ins. Not very many of our existing customers or potential customers come in via the internet. Hence, why those are not the people we want in our shop. Also at our shop, if someone has mentioned the cheap stuff you can get online.... we show them examples of our work and have the customer compare them to the stuff they see online. It usually isn't the same quality price-wise or technique-wise. You need to show or be able to tell people why your work is better for them instead of the 'off-shore logo mills' as Dan put it. You also need to get this point across almost immediately.... again with samples of your work. Then... and only then, does your work speak for itself. That's when you'll own that customer.

Sorry it didn't make sense, but to me we were saying the same thing. Guess mine was in my head and when Dan spelled it out..... I thought, that's exactly it. :Oops:

Actually there IS some very good work on there. Unfortunately for every job on there, that means several hundred people did work on spec in every instance

This type of business affects freelancers and the self employed more than sign shops. You may not be saying the same thing in 10 years as more and more people do their shopping online

 

[Marlene]

especially now with such a massive advertising blitz

I haven't heard of these guys until your post, where are they doing their ad blitz?

 

[GraphixUnlimited]

... i LOVE this site... makes me realize i need to charge more hahahaha! no doubt there is some nice work but usually we re charging only 300 to maybe 450 for a logo design here... canada.. gotta love it. You yanks have too much money lol JK

cheers eh!