On being somewhat annoyed by the "I paid all that money and only got 1 logo" comment, I decided to have a look into why and how we put value on things?
Quite a lot of interesting things came up - not least someone suggesting money was "symbolic energy"!!! I don't know about you but I don't find money symbolic, or energetic!! Or is that just me??
The basic suggestion from a variety of blogs/forums etc was that things need to have value so we can trade them, which is why we put a value on something!
The part I found hardest to ascertain was the 'how' we put value on something.
For example, take 2 leather handbags, both made in Britain and finished to particular standards, one is £120 while the other is £540 - (I'm not going to name names) the only difference is their logos.
So, this got me thinking - again... Branding, and the value of it?
A really fascinating article from The Guardian last year brings up this question for universities - who are relatively 'new' to the world of branding...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/apr/03/branding-universities
It raises the point of synergy in marketing and branding - a point that many people think irrelevant! What some people may also not realise is the productivity and pride that comes with a solid, distinctive brand. This in itself is worth hundreds of thousands!
People think they can design their own stationery, leaflets and brochures and they can market themselves, and to some extent they can. But to add that value to their company takes expertise - expertise that have been gleaned through years of education, learning and experience.
So, that's where the value is, but I'm still struggling with the how we value something.
It's a tough one - the problem is that great design looks effortless. Someone once told me that they'd created a full marketing strategy for a client, only to be told by the client "well I could have come up with that"!!! So why didn't they come up with the idea?!?
This is where the problem lies with valuing creativity.
I'm not saying everyone is like that - thankfully a lot of people aren't, and they realise the potential of creative input and the value it can bring to a project.
I wonder if I'm flogging a dead horse, trying to explain the value in creativity...
If someone doesn't see it in the first place, I don't think they ever will and that's such a shame - some people, I guess, see value as getting the most of something for next to nothing. It's a good job everyone isn't like that - Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nics would have gone bust years ago!
I'd love to hear other people's experience on being valued, or how they value something, such as creativity, ideas etc....
It's a very good point. I've come to realise that there will always be those that do and those that don't value *insert service/product*.
ReplyDeleteI try to weed out the ones that don't value what I offer by asking questions up front and setting my prices at a certain level. It can be hard turning projects down sometimes, in fact it always is hard, but I know that in the long-term turning down projects from clients that don't value my time allows me to focus on those that do.