Other people make similar judgements, too. Businesses cannot afford to be thought of as cheapskate in their marketing.

You know that most of your mail goes straight in the trash, and it may grieve you to spend four times the amount, just for it to be thrown away.

Think of it this way. Every communication you send is an advertisement for your business. You have a marketing budget. Think of the design of your logo and company stationery as marketing, as an investment in the future of your business.

It is possible to design a logo yourself using free or very low cost software, you can even design a logo online, but the results are immediately and obviously amateurish. A company website must be immediately recognizable with the company logo, colors and other graphic elements.

It is far better to pay the price and have a professional job done. Your company image is a vital part of your marketing and if the company logo and image are scrappy or amateurish, who is going to buy from you? Would you buy from a company that had a logo that you recognized had been done using standard graphic fonts such as Wingdings?

A graphic artist will design a logo from scratch, using leading edge software that can achieve color blends not achievable using lower specification software. Your artist will incorporate your logo into a unique set of company graphics that will come to be associated with your company over time.

How do you find a graphic artist? Ask friends and fellow business people whom they used. Searching online is another. Elance is an excellent place to start looking for a graphic artist. You can invite bids for your work and negotiate with the graphic artist of your choice.

You should always ask to see samples of previous work. The company should be able to give you a wide choice from work they have completed. Be wary about making a payment before you see any results. Specify the format that the work should be given to you. You need to have software that will open the files, so you can make simple amendments in ten years time.