According to a recent survey (featured on MarketingProfs) by UPrinting, which has skin in the game of small business promotion, one third of small business owners consider designing their own materials to be “scrappy.” The objective is to lower their marketing costs. 

Of course (or unfortunately), there’s no definition of “scrappy,” but if you’ve ever seen materials that make you wonder, “Whoever approved that?” you’ve probably seen an SMB’s DIY effort. And you’d probably remove the letter “s” from the front of “scrappy” to describe it.

AI for Artistic Ineptitude
Usually, your average person, business or not, will readily admit that they can barely draw a stick figure, let alone do respectable graphic design. It would seem as if this 33% thinks they can. Or thinks design doesn’t matter. Or taps into the capabilities of Figma or Canva with their seemingly endless catalog of templates. Yet….

There’s a difference between picking something an owner likes and choosing something that reflects the character and positioning of the business. Or an approach that, more importantly, motivates customers to pay attention. That’s the key to generating any interest from people who might care about the products or services you sell.

Melody and lyrics
An equally critical consideration goes beyond how you “look” to what you say. That’s where marketing communications can get really painful. All those people who say they have no artistic skill may well be the same ones who believe, “Anyone can write.” They’re wrong. 

The effect of words and pictures working together, reinforcing one another, and creating the desire to want something is not a casual endeavor. Nike didn’t rely only on its signature “swoosh” to attract athletes. It combined it with “Just do it” (and with great ads that showed the footwear in action) to generate demand. DeBeers didn’t need action. It simply needed alluring photography of its gems to persuade people that “A diamond is forever.” 

Better directions make journeys shorter… and cheaper
This all comes down to perspective. Are marketing materials expenditures or investments? If they’re done badly, either in-house or by designers and copywriters who haven’t analyzed the perceptions, expectations, and needs of the business’s buyers, it’s a cost. Done correctly, it provides an ROI that greatly exceeds the up-front expense. 

Rather than think “What can I cut?” to save money, it’s wiser and, ultimately, more profitable to ask, “Is this conveying the right message to my most likely buyers, and will it convince them to try what we’re selling?” Figure that out first, and the professionals you hire will know exactly what they have to do, why they have to do it, and do it far better than business owners who should be focusing on their core business responsibilities.

Those insights and creative direction will drastically reduce the time (and cost) required to produce great work and increase the number of qualified responses. Think of it as quality over crappity.

The government will let you down. Any government, but especially ours in the United States. It’s nothing new. 

Mark Twain was insightful (or observant) enough to say, “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself.” True then, true now.

Most of you reading this have had to prove yourselves to get your job and to retain it. If you hold positions in accounting or engineering or law or medicine or finance, there are exams you have to pass to practice your profession… honorably, at least. 

Objective proof
Contractors have to be licensed in most states, and electricians and plumbers have to be in many. Great chefs train in the kitchens of other great chefs or get diplomas from culinary schools. Law enforcement, emergency service, and firefighting personnel almost always have to demonstrate their aptitude after training for their jobs. Teachers? Absolutely.

Politicians? Nope. They don’t have to prove any qualifications to anyone. There’s something wrong with that. 

Unfamiliar territory
The current situation in this country involves elected officials who are not intimately (or even casually) familiar with the Constitution, the separation of powers, or the role of the three branches of government. They seem to consider that laws they don’t like don’t deserve to be enforced… unless it might harm someone they don’t like.

Imagine if an accountant ignored the Internal Revenue Code and told you that only idiots pay taxes. Think about whether you want to have spine surgery performed by a pipe fitter instead of an orthopedic surgeon because they both understand structural stability. Consider whether a court stenographer is a suitable choice to initiate a lawsuit against a supplier suspected of fraud on a global scale.

Not interested? Good. 

Inmates who run the asylum
So why, if government legislation and regulations affect so many aspects of your business and your life, aren’t there any minimum requirements for holding elective office or being appointed to a public one. Shouldn’t those people be credentialed or, at the very least, be able to pass the test that applicants for citizenship must pass? 

Shouldn’t they demonstrate familiarity with economics, history, trade, diplomacy, the justice system, education, employment, environmental science, and any other discipline they’ll be in charge of directing or overseeing? 

Your life is on the line; pick up
That doesn’t seem to be asking for much when those individuals will be making decisions that affect your livelihood and wellbeing. And it doesn’t seem to be asking for much when, because truth-in-advertising laws don’t cover political advertising, candidates tend to… what’s the word… lie. They make outlandish statements about what they will do, can do, and for whom. So back to Sam Clemens: “We have the best government that money can buy.” 

I don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth. Lobbyists, I’m sure, would disagree.