Branding is a huge consideration for a business, no matter how small it is. After all, you get one chance to make a good first impression, and that’s what your brand does: it makes an impression, or leaves a mark, in your prospect’s or customer’s eyes. Either that initial impression is good, bad or nil (meaning it doesn’t even register!). A cheap logo is a quick way to land in the bad or nil columns.

So after registering the domain name for Web Business Freedom, the next big action I took was getting a logo. First, I wanted something that was distinctive and classy. Second, since I was (am!) watching every penny in startup mode, I didn’t want to pay a lot for it!

I decided to use a web-based service called Crowdspring.com. It’s a site that lets anyone post a design project—which could be a logo, website (layout only; no coding), brochure or other marketing collateral or a custom illustration. Once the project is up and running, designers from around the world will compete for the chance to “win” your business. In essence, it’s a contest—with you as the judge and jury!

Here are the basics on how it works:

1. You start by entering in the project’s title, followed by details of what you’re looking for, known as the project or creative brief. You can upload supporting files, like Word documents or PDFs that give more details about your company or cause.
2. You set your project’s end date. I opted for a week with my logo, because I wanted to keep the ball rolling. Any longer than that, and I figured I’d probably get too many choices.
3. You indicate the types of files you will need for the final project. With a logo for example, file types may include .EPS, .PSD (Photoshop), .AI (Adobe Illustrator), .JPG or another type you specify. It’s important to get as many as possible. If you need letterhead or anything printed, you’ll want the .EPS and/or .AI files, whereas a .JPG or .PNG would be fine for web usage.
4. You name the price you’re willing to pay for the design. Crowdspring gives you an idea whether your bid is too low: “Keep in mind, logo projects with awards greater than $300 average 94 entries while lower awards average only 43.” I set the price for the Web Business Freedom logo at $200.To get even more entries, you can offer multiple “awards”—that is, more than one cash amount or “prize.” In theory, more designers will jump in, knowing they have a better shot at a paycheck.
5. Finally, you state the terms of the contract that will be binding on the “winner” of your project. Crowdspring makes this super-easy, by giving you a nice template. Or you can upload your own. Either way, it’s a crucial step that adds to the value of the process. You should own the copyright of your final design(s) and be able to do whatever you want to with them, with no legal strings attached. I opted for their standard contract.

That’s it. Of course, you do have to enter your payment information upfront. You don’t get charged until you designate a winner, and unless you get at least 25 entries in your project, you have the option of walking away and not paying.

Once you hit submit, the real fun begins. Within a matter of hours or a day or so, you’ll start getting emails whenever there’s a new entry in your contest. It’s thrilling and addictive to go back to the site to see what’s come in.

For each entry, you (and any others, while projects are “live”) can rate it on a 1 to 5 scale. As the project owner, you can also give feedback to each designer. The more feedback you give, and the more specific it is, the better. I found that the better designers were quick to respond in kind with additional questions to help clarify any changes requested.

When my project ended, I had 28 designs to choose from. Some were definite duds—they almost looked thrown in at the last minute to get me to the magic 25 number—but there were also several very solid designs. I wound up picking the one you see here on the site. In the end, the free-lancer who did it was a stay-at-home-mom, and she responded in a fast and friendly manner and made several tweaks to the design.

Overall, I was very impressed with the site, the process and the results. And here’s the real kicker—I have worked my entire career in advertising/design and marketing firms. Years ago, I never would have dreamed of running a “cheap contest” to get design work done. That’s not the way it’s been done, for decades! The lifeblood of agencies and designers is to convince you that doing something like a logo is a long, complicated process (and hence, costly). Indeed, most graphic designers I’ve discussed this with are either outright appalled or express displeasure at the very idea. No wonder—it’s a threat to their very existence!

I see it much differently. If I were actually a graphic designer, I’d view this type of service as a secret weapon. Instead of trying to kill myself coming up with tons of ideas for every project, I’d use Crowdspring or another service like 99Designs (which has a similar model) as a resource, to generate more ideas that I could take to my clients. Or, I’d run the contest in the background, paying minimal fees, then take the final product and either sell it as-is with a markup, or use my design skills to add my own “finesse” to it and, again, increase the invoice price to the customer. Fortunately, Crowdspring now has more “private” options than when I used them, making it easier for a designer, ad agency or corporation to do exactly what I’m suggesting.

To me, Crowdspring is another example of how tiny, self-funded entrepreneurs can now compete against wealthy, global entities. Even as my contest was running, there were in fact some big companies running design contests of their own in Crowdspring!

When you’re ready to launch your brand, check out it. When designers compete, you win!