What is the cost of bagel? Fifty cents? Buck fifty? I’m not sure, I’m watching my carb intake. But whatever it is I’m sure you have never haggled for a bagel. The price you see is what you get. I can’t walk into Timmies and say, “Well, I don’t want to pay $1.35 for that coffee. I can get a coffee cheaper somewhere else. I want to pay seventy-five cents.” You just don’t do it. When you walk into Tim Hortons you know what your getting and you know how much it costs, and you pay for it. The same goes for most products (were not talking used cars here folks). Whether it be a bagel, an oil change or even a trip to the dentist, you never ever ask for the price to be lowered.

Why then is it o.k. to do this with a design studio or agency? They sell a ‘product’. Not a conventional, off the shelf gizmo, but a product none the less. That product is knowledge, experience, know-how and talent.

“I can get a logo down the street for 50 bucks. Can you match that?”

“Websites online are going for $199.99. What’s your cost?”

“Can you just show me how to use the programs you are using so I can do it myself?”

These are just some of the questions I hear as a marketer, Creative Director and small business owner on a weekly basis.

Here are my answers;

The 50 buck logo:
What are you looking for? Do you want a logo? Or do you want complete design and marketing solutions? Do you want a brand that tells your story to others the way your able to tell it to me? Do you want effective tools to hit the market right, the first time? If so, then I guarantee the guy down the road charging 50 bones for a logo is not your best option. “Apples to Apples” my grandpa use to tell me. I didn’t know what he was talking about when I was six, but I get it now. You can get a Tim Hortons coffee, but if what you really need is a Starbucks, get the Starbucks. And don’t ask Starbucks to drop the cost to $1.35.

Cheapy Websites:
A website is more than an online brochure. It’s a tool  to use as a business to help promote your service or product on the interwebs. When someone gets to your site, are you providing them with the same brand experience as you would if you were to meet them in person? You better. Template sites can range from free to $199.99 and upwards. Where are these sites being built? Are you supporting the Canadian economy? Is there an actual brain behind the scenes caring about your business and coming up with innovative solutions for your website? Is this what you want out of a website? Then maybe the offshore company building your site for $4 an hour isn’t your best option.

Teach me how to fish:

Someone asked me this the other day. I was stunned. My partner, Jenn, actually made a really good analogy; “If you take your car in to get fixed, and don’t like the price, you can’t ask the mechanic to show you how to fix it yourself. For free!” That mechanic went to school. Mastered his trade. And now is making a living being an expert in his field. When you hire a marketing company, design, firm, graphic designer, illustrator etc, you are paying for their knowledge. That’s their brain. That’s more than a logo. That’s more than a template. And that’s way more than a cup of coffee.

Are you still with me? Good.

My point: Apples to apples. And don’t haggle the bagel.

Chris Farias – imaginitarian + partner

About the Author: chris
These are the musings about a business brainchild contained within a creative confectionery of a mind. His blog entries often look at how making friends and building your brand online is a lot like making it on the playground.

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