6 Reasons Your business Could be Missing Out.

 

With so much going on in day-to-day business, it can be a balancing act for business owners to keep everything afloat and graphic design is often low on their list of priorities (if it even makes the list!). However, this can be a very risky mistake in today’s highly competitive environment. Good graphic design is more important than ever in this increasingly visual world. If the above sounds familiar, its time you consider the below reasons for integrating graphic design into your business.

Why does your business need GOOD graphic design?

As a result of advancements in technology, many businesses fall victim to thinking they can achieve the same results as a designer. Graphic designers have mastered the techniques needed to engage audiences; they combine technology, traditional print and art to communicate brand messages powerfully.

Good graphic design has the ability to captivate people’s minds. Designers use visual language to communicate a company’s personality to its potential clients. Visual communication invokes emotion and differentiates brands from their sea of competitors. Good graphic design can be the difference between prospects and conversions, it has the ability to increase your bottom line in the long term. The right visually communicated brand and message can have the persuasive power to encourage customers to trust your brand, pick you over competitors and in turn boost your sales. Lets have a look at just some of the reasons why every business (including yours) needs to consider hiring a graphic designer;

1.First Impressions

 

You only have one chance to make a first impression. A study conducted in the Carleton University in Ottawa found that it took people only 50 milliseconds to assess the visual appearance of a website!

Your design is the first thing that customers encounter when they interact with your business. Whether this is through a business card, website, an online ad, a brochure, social media channels or packaging it sets the precedent for the rest of your working relationship. You could be the most experienced and capable business in your industry but if your design doesn’t initially entice your customer you may be unable to gain their trust and interest. Customers have so much choice today so you need to give them every reason to choose you.

Good graphic design creates a reservoir of good will. A graphic designers number one aim is to build brand trust for their clients through innovative and skillful design. It is their job to instill that good will into all of their client’s brands.

2.  Creating an Iconic Brand

Many of the biggest brands in the world can be recognised instantly by their logo alone. When you think of some global brands in your mind, you more than likely picture logos such as the iconic Apple, Starbucks siren, McDonalds golden arches and the Nike tick. Simply seeing these logos invoke memories, interactions and experiences that you have had with the brand, either strengthening or weakening the relationship between you and the brand.

Visuals are memorable and effective because they help people process, understand and retain more information than words. Fonts, shapes and colours can be associated with specific emotions and objects. Think of the phrase ‘a picture paints a thousands words’. A logo can make us immediately perceive a business in a certain way, depending on what the customer is looking for it can be too fun, too serious, too expensive or too cheap. Your logo sets your customers expectations and if you fail to meet these or mislead your customers, this can lead to bad reviews and wasting customers time and money.

Before your logo is created it is important to think about the environment it will be seen in, how your competitors look, what colours and symbols are competitors using and how your can logo be differentiated from these. The power of imagery and logos is phenomenal; they are a crucial starting point for any brand in order to build a strong business.

3. Consistency is Key

The more you create and market consistent, high quality branding, the more credibility you build with your audience. To demonstrate this in a real world example, imagine you see someone shooting in an archery zone and they hit bull’s-eye. This would be impressive but you probably wouldn’t think they were a professional player. You stay to watch them shoot for the next 10 rounds and they hit bull’s-eye 10 times in a row. Now they have illustrated their ability and you definitely consider them to be a professional. Consistency creates credibility.

When it comes to branding, consistency creates credibility. Click To Tweet

 

The same principle applies to your brand. You need to have consistent branding across all of your channels in terms of both content and design. It keeps your brand at the forefront of your customers mind. It is your graphic designers responsibility to ensure that you have the tools to keep your branding uniform, consistent and accurately reflecting your company’s mission. Your fonts, colour schemes and overall branding should remain consistent so that no matter where they are used customers will instantly recognise your branding. If these are constantly changing, it will be hard to present yourself as an established, unified business.

Many businesses can fall into the trap of enlisting a graphic designer for one off small jobs without creating a consistent brand identity that they can roll out to any potential future projects. A high gloss, impactful image, logo or pull up banner isn’t worth much when a suite of well-designed branded assets aren’t there to support it.

4. Standing Out From The Crowd

All of the free online tools available to design today have made it easier than ever to create content. This low barrier to entry is great for new businesses but also comes with a major disadvantage, lack of creativity and customisation. To differentiate your brand from competitors you need to be creative and your content needs to encompass an idea, solve a problem and entice the customer.

 

For example a customer is searching for a hotel to book, they find two hotels that offer the same services, the same distance, and charge the same price. Which one do they pick? Customers will generally choose the hotel that has better, more credible branding. Your identity differentiates you in this saturated market. Having a template or logo that you purchased or made online is not likely to help you stand out from your competition. Having a distinct brand is going to raise your business above your competition. Graphic designers can take the mission and vision of your company to create a unique, memorable and easily identifiable brand identity. Skillfully designed branding has the ability to communicate all that you are in a way that words can’t.

5.  Digital Gains

With billons of people visiting social media platforms daily, it’s a marketing opportunity that brands simply cannot afford to pass up on. The Internet is become increasingly crowded so it is vital that brands have a strong online presence. Customers now have shorter attention spans than ever before so not only are you competing with your competition but simply to even get your customers attention! Brand storytelling is an effective way to enthral a customer into your brand; a good graphic designer will help you implement your brand story across all of your channels.

There are many templates that allow users to create websites and graphics in minutes, however it is more than likely that a lot of your competitors are using the same template. Using a graphic designer means that you will have a unique custom built website which is specifically designed with your business and customer in mind. If you hire a UX designer, they will take into account the needs of your desired customer and implement features in your website to ensure that your visitors experience is the best it can be, which increases your potential conversion rate.

Today it is rare for a customer to interact with a business without researching them online in advance. According to inc.com, 81% of users skim content rather than reading meaning users are forming impressions based on your graphics rather than solely on your written content. That doesn’t mean written content isn’t important but how it is presented is equally important. According to research from Adobe there’s a direct correlation between quality of design and trust, 94% of visitors stopped trusting websites with sub-par design. What do your website and social channels say about your brand, are you sleek and professional, bright and bubbly or outdated and unprofessional? Approach your website as if you were a customer and see how you would interpret it. If you tend to be bias ask a family member, friend or colleague to give honest, open and constructive feedback based on their experience and take this into consideration. Ask them whether your online presence actually represents your brand and delivers what you’re all about.

6. It Saves You Time and Money

If you don’t invest in graphic design at the beginning, you will more than likely pay ten fold for it in the future in terms of both time and money. Many small business owners or startups cut corners on cost when they first open their business due to lack of budgets. Unfortunately skimping on your businesses graphic design can be a costly fix later on.

Expecting an untrained employee to design your graphics will end up costing your business in the long run. Do you have the time or skills to create logos, brochure and PowerPoint templates? A graphic designer can create a design or format these in a quarter of the time you take to do it yourself. Designers also know the best ways to design your materials to keep your printing costs to a minimum. You might design something in house that printers either can’t print or will heavily charge to print whereas your designer will be able to supply a high quality branded file in the correct format for the printer.

Think of all the small jobs you will need to get produced throughout the course of your business journey. If you invest in your design and overall brand identity initially, your designer will provide you with a set of brand guidelines. This means that there will be a template readily available for any future jobs and reformatting costs will be minimal. You don’t waste time and money starting from scratch over and over again. The saying ‘There is nothing more expensive than cheap design’ sums this up perfectly. Partnering with one designer also saves you from hiring multiple different suppliers to handle your needs. Having one designated designer also means they can immerse themselves in your company’s mission and values allowing them to provide the best possible designs for your brand.

There is nothing more expensive than cheap design. Click To Tweet

Chobani, a U.S based Greek yogurt company are a prime example of just how much of an impact graphic design can have on your bottom line. In 2008, they were generating little to no revenue and in 2013 they surpassed more than $4 billion in sales. How did they do this? Design. Chobani’s CEO invested a quarter of a million on the redesign of the yogurt packaging. They created a shorter, wider cup and featured bright colours and crisp images on the label and as a result the yogurt flew off the shelves!

Conclusion

The importance of enlisting a good graphic designer is still overlooked by many businesses today, however, the benefits that graphic design provide for your business simply cannot be ignored. Effective design can amplify and strengthen your brand identity whilst increasing your bottom line. If you want a professional style, you need to hire professionals to achieve that. When something is well designed, it anticipates your customer’s needs before they even know it’s a need and that will give you the competitive advantage.

If you’re thinking about enlisting the help of a graphic designer or just need some advice on where to begin, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email! We would be more than happy to chat through your options with you. Don’t worry – contacting us is free, we don’t charge for consultations. You can see some of our previous projects here.

Did you find this blog post helpful? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts!

Connect with us on social here 🙂

 

INSTAGRAM  TWITTER

Tags: akgraphics, brand identity, branding, graphic design