A few days ago someone in a Facebook group made a claim that they were working really hard on marketing their boutique but still weren’t getting any sales and “didn’t understand why”.

Upon inspecting their website and social media, it was pretty clear that they DIY’d everything.

Their product photos were taken with an iphone in little to no light and appeared super unprofessional, they had some drop shipping products mixed in with handmade products, no clear branding or logo, no brand message or tagline, and no specific niche.

And those were only the obvious things. Some less obvious things included no SEO and a site that experienced a few issues on mobile devices.

Being the type of person I am, I took it upon myself to educate this individual on why they should invest in a branding strategist and web designer to help solve their problem. I even provided a photo of a competitors brand for reference because ultimately the competition out there nowadays is TOUGH and sometimes people need to see what they’re up against to get motivated to “go the extra mile”.

After seeing all the love my comment received the original post creator eventually asked if I could assist in that area of expertise, so of course I provided a link to my site.

Unfortunately the post creator replied stating my “prices are far too high and are one month’s worth of a paycheck”.

They aren’t wrong about the paycheck part but they are wrong about the way they are choosing to invest in their business.

They can continue pouring time and money into marketing but without the right branding or a quality website, that money is going to waste. Let’s not forget it costs about $100 a year or more depending on who your host is just to keep a website up and running. It also costs money to make the products that aren’t being sold.

In short, you can market yourself alllllllll day long BUT if the branding isn’t there and a quality website isn’t in place, don’t be surprised when you don’t see a profit.

As branding strategists our prices might not be the “cheapest” option out there but we solve a problem that can determine the survival of a business.

We are an investment in your businesses FUTURE.

Today we have so many things at our fingertips from Canva to SquareSpace we seem to think we can do it all… ourselves.

The reality is it’s easy to start a business but it’s not easy to start a successful business. If you aren’t willing to invest more than a $100 into your brand, don’t expect a thousand dollar profit from your customers.

~ It takes money to make money ~