Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

It kind of depends on your marketing strategy. How do you expect people to find you? If you think they'll find you through an online search, then you really need great landing pages, and the name is less important.

Let's start with a clear definition of your primary target audience. Who is your target? Where are they located? What exactly do they want done? What search terms did they use? How do they select a designer?

A person who needs photo repair could care less about whether you design business cards or not. Best to not even confuse them with that tidbit of information. Just let them know that you do what they need done. Period.

Give us more information, and we'll get you a great name.

Thanks for the feedback. Really at this point, it is just a "word of mouth" marketing strategy. Start with people I know, making a Facebook page, using things like Etsy, etc. I will probably make some of my own brochures, flyer's and business cards and eventually, gradually, work up to larger marketing ideas, as my business expands and grows. I don't really expect anyone to solely put what they want done in a google search and have my business land on the first page, although as my business grows I may be interested in doing so.

As far as my primary target, there is no set age range or gender that I am targeting. As for location, since I am going to primarily be doing this online, even for those who are local to me, anywhere in the US works for me. I provide unique, personalized, high quality, products and services, which are completed in a short period of time at competitive rates. As for search terms, personalized gifts, customized invitations/brochures/business cards, Photo retouching, photo manipulation, unique gift ideas, unique personalized designs. Since I do such an array of things, this list could be ENDLESS.

As for confusing people with the many services I offer, that is exactly why I want help. I don't want somebody to look at my name and automatically assume that just because it is called one thing means that that is all I offer. I also do not want the name to revolve around on specific area, and cause people to think I have that as a primary service/product, and that the other things I do are not as important.

As I think more on your questions, other brainstorm ideas come to mind. It needs to reflect that I can do MULTIPLE TYPES of design. I don't want to carve out one little niche and be stuck there.

I hope that this helps!

How about "Designs by Angie Green".

No matter what happens in the future, you will always own your name as a brand.

Angie Green is obviously your name, not a color preference or environmental message.

You can always add a slogan or tagline as you see fit.

Covers all design areas, even those you did not mention.

I agree 100 percent with Steve. Keep your name simple. Just tell people who you are and what you do.

I've earned a good chunk of my living as a graphic designer for 27 years. As much as I applaud you for wanting to do so much, unless you're going to outsource a good deal of the work you hope to be attracting, I caution you to research the areas in which you'll attract the most business and that you then offer services in those sub niches first and that you branch out from there slowly.

With the whole laundry list of things you want to produce, and with, as you've said, a list that is possibly endless, you'll be spreading yourself too thin, too wide, and too far. Likewise for offering services to people from all over the world. The whole world is not a market you want to serve: in the beginning, stick with local traffic and go from there.

Unless you have offset litho equipment and the necessary print finishing skills to help you set up and trim things I strongly suggest that you avoid printing your own business cards, leaflets, and flyers in-house.

Although it's tempting to run things off on a color laser printer or on a desktop inject printer, unless you're using top quality stock, and unless you're printing at 300 dpi, the results will look cheap and amateurish. There are far too many good quality print shops out there, all of whom can help you look fantastic and for really, not a lot of money. The DIY route is tempting but it's a mistake. I know because I've done this myself. I wound up throwing out the cards I'd created and printed myself because they just looked so wretched.

I also suggest you invest a little time and effort in creating a super simple website. You can do this through Weebly or Tumblr for free. I suggest you also buy a custom domain to go with your site, and that you then write short, key-phrase rich articles to help your SEO and that you link your Facebook presence to your site.

I built the following site in Tumblr with no prior web design experience. https://garybloomerdesign.tumblr.com/

Is the site going to win any major design awards? No. But it's not supposed to. For the time being it's simply there to help showcase my abilities. Over the next few days the site will change to a custom domain name.

I'm suggesting all this because at the moment, I'm in the process of doing something very similar. I'm not done yet and the results so far have been mixed. However, I'm learning that by offering fewer services, I can do a better job.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Why not simply "Celes Graphic Design"? There's no reason to focus on what specific things you offer in your name - just target those that are likely to need your services.

Gary - I really liked what you said. Rest assured though, I am fully aware of the bad side of "in house" printing. I plan to outsource the actual printing to other companies/ print shops.

Another thing that I have been toying with was "Refined & Designed Custom Solutions"


Jay - I do like the idea, I just don't want to become too "cookie cutter out-of-home business" I am afraid using something like that wont appear very professional and will deter potential clients.

Thoughts?

I have been putting so much time and energy into trying to think of a name... more then I guess I should. I see how a simple name can be beneficial instead of trying to over-think it.

Jay- You hit it out of the park with me. My clients will appreciate what I do, not the time and energy that I put into some "professional" sounding name.

For everyone else - Thank you so much for your input!