Great Marketing Needs Great Graphic Design
It’s safe to say that we’re all aware graphic design is desired in most organizations. Although do we truly understand the importance of graphic design in business? If you believe that your business can survive without compelling communications, think again. In one way or another, you’ll need to visually communicate your product or service’s features, benefits, and differentiators to your target prospects and customers.
The vast majority of companies’ products or services that we’ve used in the past remain undiscovered or are still completely ignored because they all lacked one crucial marketing element, the element of great graphic design.
We’re going to talk about how great marketing needs great design. So you might be asking yourself, why does design matter? Good marketing is all about effectively communicating the value of a product or service, the problem is, it’s just a whole lot harder to communicate this value if something is poorly designed. A lack of design shows a lack of care and a lack of care hardly invokes the positive feelings you need to make a sale. These are feelings like trust, pride, accountability, and respect for the consumer, and of course confidence that the product will actually do what it says it will.
Five reasons why graphic design needs to be an integral part of your marketing strategy:
#1 First Impressions
Your brand, your company’s design, is normally the very first thing a customer will notice and immediately sets the tone for your entire marketing message, this is why good design is absolutely crucial. The all-important first impression is no different with a brand and it is for a person, like it or not. We are judged based on our appearance and that judgment often happens in a split second. The beauty here is that you can use this to your advantage to effectively set the stage for your company. What you do, what you stand for, and what you represent, and to positively influence the impression you give off.
#2 Lasting Feelings
Good design lasts way beyond that initial first impression, while boring or bad design does not. All of the emotions and feelings we sought to conjure up through the first impression can last for hours, days, and even weeks after seeing great design when done right good design makes people feel better about you and your company.
#3 Recognition
There’s perhaps no more famous example than coca-cola and McDonald’s. While certainly not beacons of health their colors logos and design are recognizable worldwide I’m not saying that you need to mold your company into a global brand, in fact, even small local businesses can reap the rewards of consistent and amazing design across all of their marketing channels. Over time, the recognition does add up to form long-lasting brand impressions, which is also why it’s so important to make design an intentional part of your marketing.
#4 Easy To Use, Navigate & Understand
Good design helps people move from point A to point B seamlessly, easily, and without pain or distraction. The key to this is to first decide what point B looks like and then to make sure you do everything you can to help get your customer there as quickly and as easily as possible.
#5 Encourages Social Sharing
social media is everywhere there’s no hiding from it so it doesn’t even make sense to try instead embrace social media and create design that’s worth sharing talking about and interacting with there are very few examples out there of companies that can’t find some way to embrace the shareable properties of social media to help spread their ideas.
Graphic Design is a Form of Communication
Graphic design is more than just aesthetics — it’s a form of communication between your business and your audience. Businesses use graphics in every stage of the marketing funnel to inform, engage, and eventually persuade prospective customers to make purchases or take a desired action.
A flyer design can inform local audiences about an upcoming workshop. An attractive e-blast or newsletter can upsell new services to current customers. A well-designed sales page can effectively announce your new product.
From branding to digital marketing, graphic design can be used by any business to communicate messages and ideas visually. In a competitive world where business is done online, and on the street, great design can set even a small business apart from a major brand. You only have to look at Instagram to see the creativity pouring out of small businesses or brands promoting their products and services to create their following.
Graphic design is essential for any business these days, not only to create impressive marketing materials like brochures, stationery, websites, and social media designs but also to effectively communicate the message to the target audience.
