Whatever stage of the business life cycle your in a great way to get new direction and clarity around your business is to reinvigorate your logo and brand.

There is nothing more uncomfortable than handing over a card that looks like your kid printed on his laptop. Conversely there is nothing more satisfying than being super proud of a new business logo you helped create, always itching for the opportunity to show off your card and blush at the ensuing compliments.

Undergoing a brand and logo overhaul will provide a solid return on your investment not only in marketing but also your sales results. Its likely that you put off agressively marketing your business due to the nagging feeling that your brand wasnt quite strong enough. And you would have been quite right delaying any major marketing spend.

Using the example of sending out an email offer linking back to your tired old site is a good illustration of how poor branding directly affects sales outcomes. In direct marketing campaigns where 1% is good and 0.05% is a failure, the difference between a reputable international business logo design and a home made logo will make or break a campaign. In fact there are many examples of split test campaigns that prove that even such minute detail like a different color scheme can increase strike rates enormously.

One of the biggest challenges and usually a major stumbling block for action is simply where do you start when you want to outsource your new brand? Do I ask Peter down the road or is he just a webdesigner? How much will it cost? What if its not my taste? And so on.

Ensure that you choose someone that agrees with your take on whats appealing in logos. Style is important in getting a good match.

How do you tender a company for logo design services successfully? Making your goals and aspirations for the brand crystal clear from the start is critical. Most importantly give yourself and ‘out’ and choose a brand identity provider that will offer a money back guarantee at least to the first concepts stage. This way you get insurance in a worse case scenario yet your not asking them to refund a whole project. This ensures the logo designer has some accountability outside of just getting your business and is aware of your expectation.

Their past work is also very important. Try and get an email of their latest works. Also ask who they have on the design team and give them as man examples as possible of logos you like so that they can match a designer with your taste.

In terms of price anything under 0 is not worth looking at in most cases. This amount will not cover the cost of any decent designer no matter what part of the globe you target. The point at which a good designer can work and be proftabale is probably $350+.

So I would be looking for design firms that charge around $350 and more, asking to see a portfolio that’s current, asking for a money back guarantee to concept stage and also tell them that a competitor offered a full stationery package including business card and letter head design and ask if they could match it. Most design companies are flexible with design inclusions but less so with price.

All in all do your research and try forums for recommendations and ensure you’re protected. You don’t need to spend 00 plus for a seriously good brand but you will need to put in some elbow grease to get close.