If you are looking to have a logo designed for your handyman business, you may have already heard of the website 99designs.com. The site uses the power of crowd-sourcing to provide customers (business owners like you) with quality media design for a lower price than what you would pay for a typical branding designer. It’s simple, fast, and effective with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It doesn’t really get much better, folks.
However, there are several bad reviews of the website where people didn’t get a design that was acceptable to them. I don’t totally understand this because they have a 100% money back guarantee, but there are bad reviews nonetheless. These are probably the same people that just hosted a project with little thought or effort and thought a good logo was just going to pop out of thin air. 99designs.com is easy, but not that easy.
I believe that if you follow the following 5 tips when having your handyman logo or any other media designed with 99designs.com, you will be singing the website praises all the way the bank. You will end up with a great logo the differentiates you from other handymen.
#1 – Explore the site before you begin your contest.
In order to better understand how to host a successful contest and get dozens of design submissions, you need to get a feel for the site first. I recommend going in with the mindset that the logo designers themselves would have.
The first thing most of the logo designers are going to look at is the prize amount. It’s pretty obvious that a bigger prize is going to attract more and better designers.
The minimum prize amount for a logo design is currently $295. I highly recommend you consider uppin’ the ante a little bit. Take a look at what most contest prize amounts are by clicking logo design, browse projects, the open contests tab, and then sort by package. By setting a contest prize of a little more than most, you’re likely to get more submissions. Look at the logo design contests that are in your price range and see if the quality is up to par. If not, you’re going to have to reach a little deeper in your pockets to get what you want.
#2 – Write an attractive title and subtitle.
After you have set your contest price, you need to enter a title and subtitle. This is an important step and you don’t want to sound like a boring company that isn’t going to be successful. Try to market to the designers desires so they are attracted to your contest. Remember, these are up and coming designers that want to put their stamp on something successful. Take a look at other titles and subtitles and see what stands out to you. Chances are, it will also stand out to a designer.
#3 – Write a quality design brief.
The design brief is the section where you explain who you are as a company, what you sell, and most importantly, what you are looking for in a logo. The better you describe what you want (and don’t want), the better the results will be. Take some tips from other contests and make sure to include the following:
- What will the logo be printed on? Chances are you are going to put this on your work vehicle, business cards, website, uniforms, and brochures. Provide lots of detail and don’t assume they know anything about a handyman business.
- What is your target market? Be as descriptive as possible. If you aren’t sure yet, back up and read my post on targeting the right customers.
- What services do you offer? If there is something that makes you different from other handymen, you’ll want to mention that here.
- What colors do you envision for your handyman business?
- Are there any features you want in the logo such as a hammer?
- Make sure to mention anything that you don’t want. Sometimes, this can be just as important as saying what you do want. This will save the designers and yourself some time.
If you are totally unsure of what you want in a logo, go check out logopond.com. There are tons of great logos to sift through. If you like any particular logos, you could paste the links to them in your design brief and explain what you like about them.
#4 – Guarantee the contest
As a default, you have the ability to just walk away without paying a dime if you don’t get an acceptable logo. Once you have a few decent logos submitted to your contest, you should consider guaranteeing the contest. This simply means that you will choose a winning design and somebody will get paid. This is a huge incentive for designers to continue to work on your logo as well as attract new entries.
#5 – Check in regularly
I recommend checking in every day and providing feedback on the entries that you have received. This will allow the designers to refine their designs to something that suits your handyman business better. Try to give constructive feedback and tell them what you like and dislike about certain logos. The more information they have, the better they can serve you.
Bonus Tip (optional)
Here’s another way to enhance your chances of getting a great logo. Search the site for designers that produce logos that are similar to what you’re looking for. You can then invite these designers to submit entries for your contest.
Hosting a contest on 99designs can be an exciting and effective way to get media designed for your handyman business. As long as you put a little effort up front and keep the perspective of the designers in mind, you will get a logo that works for you. I have yet to see an easier way to get a professional logo (unless you personally know a branding designer).
