July 19, 2023
Don: Welcome. You’re listening to Design and Prosper, episode 85, and today we are asking the question, are you scaring clients away? Be sure to listen in because you might be doing it without even realizing it.
[Intro Music]
Kris: Hey, welcome everybody.
Don: Hello, welcome.
Kris: So today we want to ask the question, is your brand too intimidating? Because we are seeing it time and time again and designers are scaring their clients away. So you might be thinking, no, no, that’s not me. I’m so lovely. But if you look at it, we’re going to break it down for you today in this episode. But there are lots of ways we are seeing designers scaring people away. They’re outsmarting themselves. Absolutely. Time and time again.
Don: At times we see them being so focused on aesthetics that they’re losing touch with who they’re targeting and who they need to be communicating to. They’re designing for other designers, essentially.
They’re like, we need to be great. We need to be cool. We need to have that amazing designer aesthetic, but that might not be who they need to be talking to. That might not be their dream client. Or their target audience. So we are seeing that time and time again communicating to the wrong audience.
Kris: Yeah. It’s like either aesthetics that they’re too focused on or trying to be too clever.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: And that’s what we mean by outsmarting themselves. And you see it all the time, even with advertising, right? Like you see the most bizarre ad that’s just so stupid because they’re trying to be really conceptual, but it’s actually just annoying. Yeah. And it’s not helping the brand,
Don: Yeah. They lose the plot and they and they lose the audience. Yeah. Just because they’re trying to be too clever. Yeah. So, yeah. So we see what we see happening. There’s a whole list of things we see happening, so, we’ll, we’re just going to go through them now so that you can go, oh, is that me?
You might, you might, hear yourself in here somewhere.
Kris: So what we’re going to do is we’re going to say what we are seeing designers do, and then we’re going to sort of, we’re going to unpack what the client is feeling Yeah. As well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Don: Absolutely. So too cool.
Kris: Too cool for school.
Don: Yeah.
And so the client’s thinking, you know what they are way too cool for me. That’s not my brand. That’s not who I am. That’s not what I need to transform my business. So yeah, they’re too cool. So they’ll skip past you.
Kris: Yeah, exactly. Too clever. And so the client is thinking, I don’t understand what they’re talking about. What do they do? Like, what can they do for me? And so too clever can appear like you’re trying to be too highly conceptual on a website, for example. You’re trying to sound really intelligent. Yeah. And you probably are.
Don: But it’s lost on the client. You might be using terminology that is just completely superfluous, not required. Just keep it real, keep it conversational, and speak to your clients and speak to your clients with their language. Know how they talk and the type of language that they need to hear. Again, not talking to other designers or other creatives because we, we’ll look at your website and go, oh, they’re cool.
That isn’t that clever? Yeah. But we are not your target audience. So your cleverness is getting lost on the people that count.
Kris: Yeah. It is really hard not to design for other designers. Oh, it’s really hard.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: Yeah. You always have that in the back of your mind. Yeah. You know? Is this like, Really impressive. Yeah. You know what other designers think, this is amazing. Yeah. But clients don’t see it the same way.
Don: When I said that before, your cleverness will be lost on people that don’t really count. That’s not completely true. We want conceptual, we want clever, but we want it to be targeted to the audience so that it’s clever for them and really speaks to their industry and their transformation. So that, You can be highly conceptual and really clever. Really clever, as long as you’re speaking to the right audience.
So clever design and, and clever lingo that is appealing to other designers or the wrong market is going to be lost on an audience that won’t get it if it’s not their industry, if, if they don’t understand the jargon or whatever.
Kris: Yeah. But if you’re trying to be too clever and you’re not succeeding, then that’s slightly different.You’re going to actually confuse everybody.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: And they’re, going to shut everybody down.
Don: That’s so true. Now, another way you could be being too clever is with the functionality perhaps of your website as well. We see a lot of designers want that beauty and that gorgeous cleverness with a website. But the clients don’t know how to navigate their way around that website.
Can I just see what they’re all about? Can I see how they’re going to help me?
Kris: How do I find the contact page? You know, what, what is this weird pointer? And, um, how do I, how do I click around? You know? It’s just like all this stuff coming at you, you know?
Don: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have been on websites where they are stunning, like gorgeous going Oh wow.
It’s almost like screenshot piece of art. Yeah. But do you think I can find ways to work with me? I cannot find that. So if a discerning designer can’t find ways to work with you with ease, and remember there’s research about this, and I’m not sure of the actual numbers now, but we know for a fact it’s mere seconds. Seconds. That you have to capture anybody’s attention. So if you are too clever on your website or any of your communication for that matter, you’ll lose the target audience. They’ll, they’ll go because they can’t work out. Where the work with me button is.
Kris: Yeah. So the message is simplify. Less Is more because if you’re too tricky, you will, lose people left, right, and center. And I think that ties in with, I want it to be different. I want it to be conceptual, but mm. Is the user experience there.
Don: That’s right. That’s right. And we’re not saying simplify the look and feel we, and less is more with that be because it will really be dependent on the aesthetic that you have.
But what we’re saying is simplify the process for me to work with you. So clear communication, make it clear, make it easy, make it immediate so that people are not moving on before they get a chance to find out all about you.
Kris: Yeah. So another one is being too sophisticated. So we see this a lot.
Don: Yeah. We do see it like, so clients are potentially saying, wow, these people are so polished. I don’t know if I could afford them. Yeah.
Don: They look way too expensive. You know, my budget won’t stretch to that high end look and feel.
Kris: Yeah. And we’ve seen this with businesses who are actually quite affordable. So design studios that are affordable, who are looking so sophisticated, they look unattainable.
Don: Unattainable. That’s exactly right. And another one, which is very similar to too sophisticated is too high end. Yeah. So again, unattainable, the client’s feeling like, I’m not sure that I’m good enough. My business is good enough to work with these people.
Kris: I don’t know. Yeah. I just don’t know if I’m like up to up to scratch.
Don: Up to scratch for these guys. These are next level.
Kris: we can actually speak to this from personal experience where we referred a client to another design studio because we were winding down the design part of our business and they actually said, So this client said, oh, aren’t they a bit ladda or something like that, aren’t they?
A bit like, you know, and we’re like, no, they’re not. They’re, they’re wonderful. It’s a wonderful studio. Absolutely. Go with them. And so that’s, that’s interesting that that perception was there,
Don: The most, down to earth, beautiful open-hearted beings, but they were positioning themselves as aloof and out of reach for a lot of people.
Kris: And so that doesn’t mean don’t showcase your stunning work because this design studio does stunning, stunning work. Right. But it’s just about the language, the messaging, making sure you are, um, offsetting that some, you’ve gotta have a balance, right? Yeah. Between having beautiful, sophisticated work.
Yeah. That’s not the problem. No, it’s the problem is that, People don’t feel like the door is open to them, so how do you open the door?
Don: I absolutely clear communication. I think that’s going to be the key with a lot of these things that we address today. Clear communication, really clear messaging. Yeah. Making sure that the, the user has a, a clear journey to ways to work with you to understanding how they can make that happen.
Kris: so another one is being too offbeat. So I guess this is a bit like you’re really quirky and that’s, it’s, this is aligned to user experience. Again, it’s just like, it’s too convoluted.
I don’t know. Whether I’m up or down here, like I don’t know how to, again, I don’t know how to work with them. It’s just, yeah. You know, and that might be a really fun expression of your brand and your personality being a bit offbeat. But once again, make sure that the pathway is clear.
Don: Yeah, there’s space for the offbeat, there’s absolutely space for the sophisticated, like Kris was saying before, there’s space for that, but it really does boil down to the pathway being very, very clear.
Kris: Yeah. All right. Another one, being perceived as too big. Yeah. So, oh my goodness, this is a huge team. I don’t think my business is right for this. Yeah,
Don: yeah, yeah, yeah. absolutely. A lot of designers think I’m a solopreneur. I need to make sure that I sound bigger than I am. So, I’ll, I’ll use we and we’ll talk about what we do, and we do this and we do that, and they can make themselves seem bigger than Ben Hur.
Kris: Yep.
Don: and then people will think, wow, they’re too big, they’re not intimate enough. I don’t know that I’ll be able to be dealing directly with this person, so I’ll just move on. My business isn’t big enough for this business. You know, all of the perceptions that are just unfounded. Yeah. But. They’re a reality.
Kris: Yeah, so if you want to be perceived as bigger because you want to grow and all that sort of thing, just make sure there is an approachability there, an approachability factor. You’re warm, you’re welcoming, you’re opening up the door.
So you can, you can have that goal, that’s fine, but just make sure you’re not pinching yourself off from potential work because of that.
Don: Yeah. So another one, this one’s a big one and this happens a lot where a designer. Is focused on themselves.
It’s a tiny bit egotistical, you know, like, look at us. We’re great. I’ve done this, I’ve done that. I’ve won this award, I’ve won that award. I do this, I do that. And we, we get that. Yep, you’re very good at your job. You are really, really great. But when we see language that is, we focused instead of client focused.
The client doesn’t know how you can help them. The client’s in it for themselves. The client will pop their egotistical hat on and go, well, yeah, I don’t think you can help me. You’re not talking about how you can help me. You’re not talking about how you can see me or will see me, and I don’t know whether I’ll be heard amongst all that noise.
Kris: This one’s a messaging problem, isn’t it? It’s like you want to help the clients and so you think I need to tell them how good I am. Yeah. So that they will want to work with me.
Don: Absolutely. We made this mistake in business. Yeah. Yeah. It, it was like, we want, we want them to know that we are winning awards.
We want them to know that we are doing all these great things. We want them to, we’re the best. You’re making a good decision. We wanted to affirm the good decision they would be making to work with us, but what we’d lost in that, Was that they needed to be the hero in this, not us. They want to be the hero.
They want to be seen and heard and know that that’s what we’ll do for them and we’ll transform them. So once we made that shift in our business, it was a whole different playing field just to shift the focus onto the client, which is exciting.
Kris: Yeah, there’s a really good book that dives into this concept called Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. So get your hands on that one if you want to understand this concept better, I think it’s a really good book for graphic designers
Don: It’s a great book. Get your hands on it. It’s on our, um, resources, books we love within the academy. And I think it’s one that gets accessed a lot.
[Birthday Announcement]
Kris: Hey everyone, Kris here. We’ll get back to our chat in just a minute. But if you’re listening to this episode prior to the end of July, 2023, We’ve got something really special for you. It’s our birthday. Yay. And we are celebrating with a week long birthday festival.
We’re going to have seven special offers, one released each day from Monday 24th of July. So we’ve got a shop bundle in there. We’ve got special VIP coaching offers, a few different ways to work with us one-to-one. And we’ve got some new group training offers as well. So to join the party head to designandprosper.co/birthday and see what it’s all about.
Okay. Back to the episode.
[Back to Episode]
Kris: Okay. Another one being too vague. So you might have all the basics on your website, for example.
Mm-hmm. You might have all the basics on your social media, but you’re just a bit vague. People don’t know exactly what you do. Yeah. They don’t know exactly how to work with you. They’re like, what is this person doing? Are they, are they a designer? Because you might have some sort of bigger picture title or bigger picture kind of, this is what I do.
It’s like you’re trying to be, it could tie back into being a bit too conceptual or being, maybe you just haven’t thought it out enough about somebody comes along, they might not have had experience with the designer before. Are they going to get it? Yeah. Because we want to, we don’t want to dumb things down, but we want to make sure it’s easily digestible.
Don: it. Clear communication. Really map out the pathway to work with you, and that’s a pro tip for this entire episode.
Make sure you have clear communication and the pathway to work with you is clear, evident and easy. Yeah. We don’t want any blocks in the road. Yeah.
Kris: We want to have very clear steps. Yeah. How do I contact these people? That’s a basic one that designers sadly miss all the time
Don: And we, we get the, that might be a bit of a, a mindset thing. Like, you know, it’s like, oh, I’m a little bit too scared to put, put that step in there that actually will get people to contact you and you will have to show up. You will have to be accountable. You will have to, you know, run the show once they do so often it’s like a little bit of an, um, a shy thing, you know?
So they’ll like, oh, they’ll find their way to me. No, they won’t. Yeah. They’ll miss you all together. Make sure that there’s a really clear step on how they can find you
Kris: Yeah, I feel weird putting it on my website three times how to, how to contact me or how to, how to get on a clarity call or whatever it is. But no, you can have it on repeat
Don: On repeat.
Kris: Yeah, don’t be vague about it.
Don: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Kris: Okay, so another one is being too unrelatable. So somebody’s thinking, I can’t see how they could design something that represents me.
So this again, could be a messaging problem. You might have a stylistic niche. In our last episode was all about niching, so if you haven’t listened to that, be sure to listen to it.
Especially if you are in a, in a situation where you need clients in the door. Yeah. Are you being relatable? Are, are you too unrelatable? can the broader population of business owners see that you could fit in with them
Don: And specifically your target market. Can they relate, can they see themselves working with you? It’s definitely communication. Really is messaging and communication. All of these, that’s the, that’s the common thread. there’s generally a common thread, and with this one, it’s all about not having to leave yourself behind, not losing yourself. You don’t have to lose yourself. Absolutely not.
You can have your own style, your own approach, but you just need to make sure that the pathway to work with you is clear. What you do is clear and how you are going to help your client is clear.
Kris: So another one is being too beautiful. Yeah. So it’s pretty, yeah. But how does this work? Yeah.
Don: It’s aesthetics over functionality, which is similar to one of the other ones we talked about
Kris: Yeah. Yeah. It, but it’s, it all comes back down to, um, messaging, functionality, ease of use, user experience. Is it good? Is it, is it seamless? We don’t want to do aesthetics over function ever. Ever. Yeah. Because they need to be in alignment there. There’s a balance there.
Don: there. They can coexist. Yes, beauty and functionality can coexist, and that’s our job as graphic designers to make sure that that happens. But what we are finding, as with all of the things that we’ve mentioned here today, is that designers are really great at marketing for others, but when it comes to themselves, they pinch themselves off to get the sale, to get the transaction, to get that person to click through to want to work with them because they stopped themselves short with that clear communication. So we, what we want you to do is to address those key areas. So let’s recap the key areas. Kris, I think I loved how you were just listing them off. Maybe we make a list of them.
Kris: So it’s making sure your messaging is clear, making sure it’s functional, so the steps are there, and making sure the user experience is easy. Yes. You’re not convoluting it, you’re not making it all. Like too confusing and nobody can figure out how to, do a basic thing like get in touch with you.
Don: All roads lead to contacting you.
Kris: Yes.
Don: All roads. Now we seem to be talking a lot about website. But this applies to social media as well, but where we are really talking about the shop front for your business is generally a website. That’s why we’re sort of referring to that quite a lot, but, this is on your socials as well. You can confuse and conflict and, and alienate clients on your socials as much as you can on your website
Kris: Oh, yeah. So just so the imagery you’re using, exactly. The language you’re using
Don: Yeah, yeah. So it applies to all of the things.
Kris: Yeah. And so, So many designers are so beautiful. Yeah, so gorgeous. Yeah. You know, actually we’d say all of them are.
Don: All of the ones we’ve been working with, they’re just so amazing.
Kris: Down to earth, funny,
Don: quirky, loving,
Kris: that sort of thing, you know, and it’s, really important that you’re actually portraying that. To potential leads and not intimidating the crap out of them.
Don: Yeah, exactly. That’s bottom line.
Kris: yeah,
Don: That’s it. Don’t lose yourself aesthetically, like we want your aesthetic to come to the fore, but remember, it has to coexist with clear communication. Yeah. You want business. Yeah, we want, we want that for you.
Kris: So here’s some things to consider, some takeaways. So if you have a minimalist high-end brand aesthetic, which is perfectly fine, soften it back, soften it, and bring it back down to earth with a friendly brand voice, like a really warm and welcoming brand voice. So if your visuals are a bit cool, a little bit cold, austere, you know? Yeah. Just soften it, soften it back. Yeah,
Don: Yeah, absolutely. That goes with all aesthetics, really. I think that engaging voice needs to be ever evident in all brands, because depending on your particular brand, style and voice. But generally we want that warmth to come through and that then gives you full permission to do whatever the hell you want with your aesthetic.
Kris: Yeah, yeah. Like you might have a really bright, loud pattern, heavy, whatever it is. Aesthetic. So then what you’re going to think is, how do I make this easy? How do I make it easy to digest? Because it might be like, Ooh, like a big party happening visually. Yeah. So how do I make it super clear.
Don: Yeah, clear, concise. Speaking to your client. Now you will have to do a little bit of work. You’ll need to understand the way that they like to be spoken to, and you’ll need to make sure your messaging is a match for your ideal client.
This is work that we dive deeply into in inside the academy where we make sure we know who we are and what we do, and then we also make sure we understand who our target audience is and what makes them tick. We get into a little bit of the psychographics of that, so we’re making sure that our messaging is on point all the time, so that way we get to be who we want to be aesthetically because our messaging.
Makes sure that we’re cutting through, so we’ll be cutting through speaking directly to our client’s hearts.
Kris: Yeah. The messaging is fundamental. It needs to be on point. That’s why we get designers to do it first before focusing on the aesthetics. Yeah. And as designers that might seem strange. like, oh no, I want to focus on the aesthetics. I’ve got a vision for my brand. But messaging first always, because it will, it will speak to the visual.
Don: Yeah, absolutely. It will inform the visual.
Kris: So hopefully you can start to see if there’s any gaps in how you’re presenting yourself out into the world and how you might be scaring clients away unintentionally. And, make sure you’re ticking all those boxes.
Don: So in conclusion we just want to say, don’t lose the humanity in your business. Yeah. We want you to make sure you tap into that. Make sure that it’s evident in all of your touch points. It’s really important that your potential clients can see the, the person behind the business can see the people inside the business, not just this front For a business. Yes.
Kris: This austere, kind of exterior facade. It is a facade, like who are you really? Let it come out and make sure it’s easy for the person to touch base with you. Make sure that is easy.
Don: Yeah, absolutely.
Kris: Okay So before we leave, we just want to ask you to do a favor for us. If you love the podcast, we would love it. If you could subscribe, subscribe to the channel
Don: Yes, please.
Kris: it helps the podcast.
Don: That’s clear communication. Kris, please go and subscribe
Kris: Please go and subscribe and we would love, love, love if you could leave us a review.
Don: Thank you. That would be lovely.
Kris: We read every one of them and, it just makes our day. Yeah. When we read the reviews. So yes, please if you could do that.
Don: Yes. And one more. Whilst we are being so clear with our communication, Kris, um, we would love you to head to our website and if you have a specific question about the business of Design head to our website.
We’ve got a lovely little audio functionality on there for you to just leave your question as a voice memo.
Kris: Yeah. Oh my goodness. We would love to hear your voices. Because we’re going to be doing some futura episodes where it’s an ask Kris and Donna type episode where we’re going to be answering your questions. So please, if you have a burning question, something that’s coming up in your design business, if it’s coming up for you, it’ll be coming up for others as well.
So go to our website, it’s our podcast page. Go to design and prosper.co/podcast and you’ll be able to find where you can leave us a message.
Don: We love that. I love the idea of being able to hear your voices. Yes, that would be so great. So with that, thank you so much, have a fabulous week.
Kris: Okay, bye
Don: Bye.
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