Is the Start-Up Right for me?
One of Freckle’s founding beliefs is that quality brand design should be available to businesses of all sizes, and not only those with a £10K+ budget to spend. That’s why we designed The Start-Up, an intensive style service as an affordable way to get start-ups off the ground, without breaking the bank.
First things first, what is a brand intensive?
The Start-Up is a week-long, streamlined branding process that sets you up with the essentials you need to launch your brand, at a wallet-friendly price and a speedy turnaround. Together we’ll establish a brand that you can feel proud of, laying strong foundations for future growth and giving you the clarity you need to launch with confidence.
Unlike most other boutique studios, we don’t offer a one-day branding solution as we like to give ourselves the space to create and our clients the time to reflect and sleep on things before they’re locked in.
What’s the difference between The Start-Up and The Scale-Up?
Since The Start-Up is condensed into a week-long timeframe, the process contains fewer deliverables than our regular process. Here’s how the two compare:
Is The Start-Up right for me?
The Start-Up was designed with a particular business owner in mind, and as such, won’t be suitable for everyone. We’ve put together a few key signs that it would be a good fit for your stage of business, but if you’re unsure then feel free to get in touch and we can schedule a free consultation to discuss your particular needs.
1. You’ve been DIY-ing your brand design
While we love a hands-on entrepreneur who wants to be involved in the creative process, to achieve a strong brand you do need to call in the professionals (no shade…!).
The first reason for this is purely practical - there is a limit to how many hats you can wear as a founder (trust us, we’ve tried!) and since you’re no doubt already sporting a dashing Heads of Sales sombrero, CFO beret and Head of Marketing bowler hat (not to mention HR boater, Social Media cap and Operations fedora), you realistically won’t have the time, headspace or expertise, to add the Designer beanie to the mix.
Secondly, and it goes without saying, but unless you’re trained in design, the result will generally be, ahem, somewhat unrefined. Particularly if you’re spending money on producing packaging or other items of brand collateral, it makes sense to feel really confident in your design before spending money on printing.
Thirdly, one of the main features of any strong brand is consistency (you can hear me blather on this more here). If you don’t have a solid foundation to work from, you’ll likely be creating new visuals every time you need to post on Instagram or work up a sales deck. Investing in solid visual foundations will give you that consistency and free up the time you spend on chances are you won’t be creating a consistent brand image which will be impacting your brand awareness and revenue.
And lastly, if you DIY your own brand visuals, you’ll be more tempted to follow design trends that you see in the market and/or on Pinterest, rather than having a more strategic approach that focuses on what the customer is looking for.
So instead of scrolling aimlessly on Pinterest and doubting your designs on Canva, outsource design to someone who can look at it objectively and strategically and create something that will resonate with your target audience and have more long-lasting impact.
2. You’re still figuring things out
If you’re just starting out with your business, there might still be a few unknowns around e.g. your brand mission, target audience, or sales channels. You might feel like you want a bit of time to road-test your product and gather some initial feedback and insights before developing the brand further.
Through the in-depth client questionnaire and subsequent kick-off call where we got through your answers, the brand identity will be grounded in strategy, giving you the ability to grow and evolve the brand when you figure more things out about your business and your audience.
The benefits of The Start-Up is that we can help you define your action plan a little clearer and build the foundations of a brand that can tide you over until you’re ready to expand.
3. Don’t quite have the budget for a more comprehensive branding project
Since there are fewer deliverables in The Start-Up compared with The Scale-Up, the price point reflects that. If you’re just starting out and don’t have big budgets to blow, it’s a good way of getting off the ground without breaking the bank. You can always evolve the brand further more down the line through a VIP day or two.
4. you’re able and energised by the idea of a fast-process
If you like to take you time when it comes to decision making, we would generally recommend The Scale-Up as it gives you a few days to deliberate and provide feedback at each stage. With The Start-Up you’ll need to be available throughout the week to provide prompt feedback, otherwise we may not be able to fully wrap up your project. If you have multiple decision-makers, The Scale-Up may not be the best fit.
5. you’re on a tight timeline and looking to launch, like, yesterday
If you’re raring to go and looking to get off the ground quickly, The Start-Up is our speediest solution! It’s a week-long process where you’ll be the number one studio priority, with a different design task assigned to each day of the week, from confirming the Creative Direction on Monday to exporting the final file suite on Friday.
6. you like our design aesthetic and are willing to trust us creatively
Since The Start-Up comes with fewer design options for you to choose from at each stage, it’s important that you like our general design aesthetic, showcased in our portfolio projects. While we always tailor each project to the specific needs of the client, we gravitate to clean, premium and playful designs. If you have a particular visual direction in mind, let’s have a chat and we can advise as to whether we’d be a good fit.
4 Signs that The Start-Up isn’t a good fit for you
You’re struggle with making quick decisions and need time to reflect (or you realistically don’t have the time or headspace to be available for quick feedback)
You want help understanding your USP, positioning, target audience, messaging etc.
You want to explore various creative routes before committing to one
You’ve got investment secured and have big ambitions for your brand - you want all assets in place from the start so you can launch with a bang and scale quickly
Ultimately, in an ideal world, you’d hire a designer to wave their magic wand over every one of your brand touch-points, as it can make a big impact on your business, increasing your brand awareness and sales, heightening your perceived professionalism and trust and creating deeper connections with your audience. However when you're still in the early stages of your business, chances are you might not need all the bells and whistles yet. Sometimes it's better to start with the basics and then develop the brand later on in the business journey when there’s more clarity around the product and more money in the bank.