graphic design

Graphic design is crucial for your business. But it’s way more than just building colors on a site or designing an eye-catching logo. 

Creating your brand’s affinity with your customers and potential customers. It conveys trust and it provides a beacon of familiarity for your audience.

Perhaps if you’re thinking about taking on a marketing agency, you need some help planning what your brand is and how it communicates with your customers. 

For this, graphic design is crucial. Below are some of the ways graphic design can help your business.

Branding Strategy

It’s one of the most important but overlooked elements of branding. Planning your branding strategy before you choose colors or images is so important. 

Your brand reflects your company. 

So, how you talk to your audience, and how you are perceived by them is crucial.

Graphic design plays into this, reflecting how you want your brand to be perceived in the real world.

The visual elements of your brand show your audience the business you want to be, and how the design elements fit into the overall positioning.

And that’s another point. You need to understand your audience, their pain points, and what they want from the service or product.

Pre-built website templates are readily available, but most lack the personality and attention to detail that come with having a well-thought-out brand strategy.

Remember too, your brand identity includes things like flyers, business cards, and packaging. 

It’s not just a logo and a name. It’s both your online presence and your presence on physical materials.

Read Also: How to Protect Your Brand Follow These 5 Strategies.

Your Logo

Often, the thing that comes to mind first when we talk about branding is your logo.

It’s probably one of the most requested elements for freelance designers and agencies to create for their clients. 

Your logo must not only reflect your brand, but it must be the single thing that consumers recognize and associate with a particular set of values as soon as they see it. Even on a subconscious level. And you need those values to be positive.

Your logo and font choices must be recognizable, even by customers that don’t use your brand. It must be a symbol of trust, and it must inspire confidence. Your brand plays the biggest part in inspiring these emotions in your customers, but your logo design must communicate it.

The colors you choose, the fonts, and the style must fit your brand, delivering your brand’s personality through a high-quality, trendy logo.

Free Intro Video Maker With Templates

Looking the Part

You’re a professional. Your business is professional. Therefore, you need to look professional. 

Having high-quality graphics and images on your site, in your marketing campaigns, and on your assets is vital. The image is huge. First impressions count.

The clichés are true.

People make a decision about how they feel about your business in seconds. Even if you’re the best in your field if your business image doesn’t match it will cost you. 

Stock images and stock graphics stand out from a mile away – for the wrong reasons. They are flat and look impersonal like they could be used across loads of business websites. And they probably ARE being used across loads of websites.

Think about going to the store when you were a kid and buying a new pair of shoes. Then you show up to class and half the other kids already have them. They lose their luster a bit when they’re all over the place. That’s what having stock images is like. You lose some of the luster of your brand.

Extra Marketing Power

When you’re in business, you need to market yourself. Creating eye-catching campaigns with graphics that generate action from your prospects is vital to be successful in marketing.

On top of this, good graphic designers know how the design should be applied to user experience. 

Graphics should guide visitors through the site, creating flow and space that makes using your website so easy the customer finds it appealing and sticks around. 

Having this proper understanding of user experience can dramatically change the conversion rate on your website. Even a single percent change can be hugely profitable.

Finally

For your graphic design to win, it needs to be goal-driven and have a purpose. That comes from planning your strategy beforehand.

Keep your designs clean and clutter-free. Your audience will thank you for it. And remember, consistency is so important when it comes to branding. You want your customers and employees to believe in your branding. You want them to champion it to your prospects.

And get comfortable with testing those new design elements. See what works and what doesn’t. It’s the best way forward.

Author Bio

Anthony Guenzel

Anthony is the Founder of AnthonyGaenzle.com, a marketing and business blog helping startups, small businesses, and marketing pros grow and thrive. He is also the Head of Marketing and Business Development at Granite Creative Group, a full-service marketing firm. Throughout his 15+ years in the marketing and multimedia fields, he has worked with companies across a wide variety of industries from SaaS and healthcare to higher education, technology, and many others. He has a strong focus on storytelling, strategy, content marketing, and leadership. He is, and always will be, eternally a student of marketing and business strategy.

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