In marketing and web development it’s not about fast, cheap, or good. It’s about rushed, inexpensive, and perfect.

In a recent post titled Why aren't you (really) good at graphic design? Seth Godin discusses why good design “Is as important as driving. But easier to learn and do, and requiring less talent.” 

He throws designers a bone with, “…hire the very best in the world when you need a breakthrough. But you don't have to pay for better-than-mediocre design. You can do it yourself.”

We have a rebuttal.  And we will preface it with a clear admission that we know we have nowhere near Seth’s level of acumen or expertise.  But we do have good heads on our shoulders and have been doing quite well for our clients and ourselves for many years now, so we feel we have a right to chime in.

Our sensitive side wants to go on about how his post "relegates design to an ultimately worthless skill because anyone could conceivably learn to do it" and thank Seth for setting us back even further as we try to earn graphic design the respect awarded long-standing practices. 

Instead we will focus on the positive.  What Seth says is true but, using that same rational, you could make your own clothes, or paint your own car, or put a new roof on your house, or... well, you get the point.

What it comes down to is that if you really want to succeed, you should do what you do best and hire out the rest.  We didn’t invent this concept, but it makes sense and what’s more, it works.  You get more from your time and energies, and avoid a lot of frustration.

Most people really can't create attention-grabbing design, or craft effective copy, or build a solid marketing plan, and that's okay.  There are people who can do that for you.  It's not necessary to take a DIY approach to every last aspect of your business.  Instead, exploit your strengths and get help with the rest.

Two recent news items about companies that changed their brand identity got us thinking about the necessity of such changes.

One is Pepsi’s new logo.  Greeted with some admiration but mostly angry backlash over the million-dollar budget that produced a logo only slightly different than its predecessor, the new logo begs the question, Was this necessary?

The other is the new Tropicana packaging, which was also met with dismay by consumers and industry folks alike.

Interestingly, both of these projects were done by Arnell Group, and we’re really curious to know one thing: Did they ask Pepsi and Tropicana customers if they wanted a brand redesign?

To our thinking, both new product identities look generified and are in no way improvements over what had been in use for years.  But it doesn’t matter what we think, as design professionals.  What matters is what we think as customers – us and the millions of other Pepsi and Tropicana customers.  And we think Arnell Group didn’t bother to find out.

All too often companies want to change their look, get a new website, or update their logo “just because.”  Because they’re tired of looking at it.  Because their competition did.  Or because their ad agency suggested it.

But none of these are good reasons.  And in fact there is only one good reason to undertake such a task: Because your customers want it.

We’re all guilty of putting the cart before the horse and charging down Marketing Lane without first getting the input and approval of our customers.  Lucky for us smaller businesses such moves are rarely disastrous, because we can easily change back and don’t have a client base of millions to potentially piss off.  And make no mistake, people are emotionally invested in their favorite brands and get mighty pissed off about changes to them!

Regardless, now is a good time to re-learn the lessons of “look before you leap” and “if it’s not broken don’t’ fix it.”  And lucky for us, we can learn these lesson vicariously through Pepsi and Tropicana, rather than first-hand.

I was pouring the Pepsi, looking at the bottle and reading the packaging (like I always do), and I saw an announcement that said something like, “Sharp new bottle, same great taste!”  And I thought to myself, “Is it ever good to have to tell your customers that you’re still you?”  Sometimes I marvel at how many instances I see where people – marketers, mostly – contradict one of my favorite rules, If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It.

The next day I noticed a wonderful application of that same rule: The Mickey Mouse Club.  Since the show’s inception in 1955, each episode ends with Mickey or a cast member saying, “See ya real soon!”  My mom heard it as a child, I heard it as a child, and now my daughter hears it.  It’s a modern tradition, and endears Disney to us.

At the end of the day, isn’t business all about endearing yourself to your customers so they keep coming back and recommend you to others?