3 Tips on Starting Your Own Design Agency

Chris shares tips from growing his own agency to help you start yours on the right track.

If you’re ready to make the leap and start your design agency, you might have a ton of questions floating through your head: what services should I offer? Does having a cause help me to market my design services? What should I focus on: managing or creating?

There’s no doubt you want to start things off on the right foot. But if you’re not familiar with the business side of things, running an agency can become confusing. What’s the best way to start?

In this video, Chris answers questions from fans in The Futur’s Facebook group and on Twitter about starting a design agency. He lends 3 specific tips and advice based on his own experience growing Blind, a motion design studio turned brand strategy consultancy.

Tip #1: Start Simple

When you’re first starting out your design agency, it can be tempting to want to offer several services and diversify your projects. But here’s the thing: your prospects are information-rich and time-poor. They don’t have the bandwidth to search through your various projects and figure out what you do.

In the beginning, start simple and only offer one main service. Build your expertise in this one area and add layers to it over time. Show several examples of this skill to back up your claim.

When you show too many different types of projects, it can be confusing for the prospect. Start with one main service and expand on it with time.

Tip #2: State your Cause

Social causes are a great thing to support, but, as you’re just starting out, the biggest thing you want to focus on is establishing your expertise. That’s the main thing you want to tackle when you first start your design agency.

You don’t want to confuse prospects with what it is you actually do. If there’s a cause you stand for and want to support with your business, there’s a way to sprinkle that into your website’s copy, but don’t make it the main headline.

Tip #3: Have Only One Logo

If you’ve thought about creating different logos for the services you want to offer, Chris advises against this. The last tip Chris offers here is to for creative entrepreneurs to create one great mark for their business, and stick with that.

Making a logo is hard enough, so why make more? Sticking with on doesn’t just make things easier for yourself—it also avoids confusing prospects. Your services will range, but they’re all under the parent brand and support your agency.

ABOUT

Chris Do

Chris Do is an Emmy award-winning director, designer, strategist, and educator. He's the Founder and CEO of The Futur—an online education platform that teaches the business of design to creative thinkers.

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