Member Article

Start up advice on outsourcing work and copyright

Tricky decisions for a start up

When you start a business you have to make some tough decisions about what you can do in house and what you definitely can’t, you then have to consider budgets and if you can afford to bring in external expertise. One of the areas most start ups invest in is the design of marketing materials which may include a company logo, stationary, websites and strap lines. Once you have recognized that you need help you are then faced with the prospect of finding the right agency or freelancer to work with. This can be quite daunting at first until you develop your own connections with suppliers and gain experience in managing these kind of relationships.

How do you choose the right agency to work with?

I am no expert on the matter but I have spent significant time over the years with businesses who have gone through this process. With the right preparation and commitment of time you can ensure that you find the right match for your company. The DBA Design Business Association have some useful advice on the process which is worth checking out.

Five initial stages to help you in your decision making process

1. Reputation - I’m a great believer that if you are good your reputation will stand before you, this is definitely the case when sourcing an agency. Word of mouth and networking is a great starting point to get some initial recommendations.

2. Research – Spend some time researching the kind of agency you are interested in working with, look for examples of their work and experience in your sector. Ultimately you want to work with someone who will understand your business. This step can often be skipped but is critical – planning is key to a successful outcome.

3. Brief – Make sure you write a good brief, time and effort in this area is critical. There is lots of advice available and templates to help you structure your brief, check this website out for more advice and a free download.

4. Face to Face – Send your brief out to your selected agencies, then follow this up with an initial meeting to discuss the brief. You can then make a decision on who you would like to invite back to formally pitch for your business.

5. Intellectual Property (top tip) - often people avoid having the conversation about the assignment of copyright on their creative work. Make sure you know enough about the in’s and out’s of Copyright so you understand what you are asking for and what you want the end result to be (for more information on copyright have a look at the IPO website).

Protecting your Copyright from the outset

Discussing intellectual property and copyright transfer with potential suppliers can be a bit daunting but can be of huge importance. Own My IP, is a new online system which allows either party, buyer or creator, to request the assignment of or assign the copyright for creative work. It works by facilitating an email exchange containing an agreement, and listing the creative work, website, designs etc, the rights of which are transferred between an agency and a brand. The result is a formalised and transparent way to track IP transfer and ownership. The risks of not securing IP ownership are clear; the single biggest risk to a business in IP terms is not owning the rights to their own brand (logo, visuals, packaging, website, copy, even product design). Having an open discussion about copyright should be part of a selection process, transparency around this subject should help inform you decision making.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Craig Olugbode .