Name a better duo than Graphic design and Marketing, I’ll wait. Great marketing that looks dull won’t do you any good. Beautiful graphics that no one will ever see…what a waste. But imagine what you could accomplish if your well thought out marketing ideas could look as good as it sounds.
But there’s a downside. Graphic design can be expensive and add a significant cost to your overall marketing budget unless you choose to work with Penji – an online on-demand graphic design on a subscription model. Penji can handle all your design requests at a flat monthly rate. So if you have to put your budget somewhere to make it really count, put it in these 7 areas.
Marketing Graphic Design
Before we proceed to the seven areas that need your focus, let’s discuss an overview of marketing and design.
As mentioned above, marketing and graphic design is a powerhouse duo. Why? First, by taking advantage of marketing, you help build interest from your target demographic to your brand. Meanwhile, graphic design is a tool used to visually communicate your brand to the public.
So, if you start planning about marketing and graphic design hand-in-hand, you’ll unlock a wider potential for your brand. However, before proceeding, you must have a solid foundation. In this case, a solid foundation means “brand guidelines.” It will represent the design basis of every marketing material your business will make in the future. Also, this tool will ensure your branding consistency.
In branding graphic design, you need to be aware that it’s more than your business’ logo, font, layout, or image. You need to treat it as a bridge that helps connect your brand with your target audience. In a way, branding serves as the face of your brand.
So it transcends simple images. As the owner or representative, you need to make sure your graphic designer knows how to translate your brand’s vision, purpose, and goal.
1. Different VERSIONS Of Your Logo
If you just have one version of your logo, you’ll probably find it difficult to use it on a wide variety of platforms. It might look good on your website, but probably not so much on social media or on print.
Have your designer create multiple versions of the logo so it’s easy for you or your marketing team to use. Here are the most common versions of logos that you need to have in your inventory.
- Light version: A version that’s a dominantly light color and looks great on dark background.
- Dark version: A version that’s dominantly dark and looks great on a light background.
- Horizontal version: A version where the logo looks good when on a medium that only allows for horizontal orientation.
- Square version: A version where your logo can look good in a vertical or square format.
- Icon: Your logo should have a separate icon that can be used independently from the actual logo. This is only needed if your logo is mostly texts. If your logo is already an icon, no need to worry.
2. Your Website
Graphic design and marketing really come together on your own website. This is your own, your temple, your very own digital real estate. And it’s one of the most neglected items on this list. The benefit of a well-designed website will have compounding interests over time.
A visually appealing website can help give your visitors a reason to become interested enough for them to become customers. A quality design will project high-caliber products or services that people will want to have.
Your website is most probably where your prospects will get a first impression of you. It is the front door to your business as most people will want to check it out before purchasing. In this case, making a good first impression has never been more important to a business.
A pleasing design also complements the content that you have written. Graphic design will enhance your text while helping boost sales. Your website is working for you 24/7 and it pays to have people stay and come back for more.
3. All Your Marketing Materials
No one is going to buy your product or service if your marketing materials are designed on MS Paint. It has to be highly professional made by experienced graphic designers. You can check out the Penji’s team portfolio and see if their style matches your business.
Well designed marketing materials that represent your brand are worth their weight in gold. Not to mention, they give your sales team a huge boost in confidence.
Flyers, brochures, pamphlets, catalogs, whatever it is that you’re using to advertise and market yourself, make sure to get a graphic designer to have a second look at it. Chances are its off-brand, fonts are inconsistent, or just overall ugly. You’ve seen it a thousand times, so you’re likely won’t spot it. But your customers and competitors will recognize it right away.
Create smart, effective campaigns efficiently
Meet your conversion goals using visuals that stand out
I need this!
4. Your Blog Page
Blogging is a great way to spread brand awareness and increase your visibility. It also provides useful information to your audience which can instill trust and loyalty to your brand. With the right marketing efforts, it can draw potential customers to your site and convert them into sales.
Content is king, but if the blog page itself looks terrible, your visitors are likely to bounce. Your blog has to get your readers’ attention and making sure this page is well designed can make reading your blog posts a pleasant and enjoyable experience. Who knows, the might even browse around and check out another blog.
5. Social Media Post Templates
Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the most commonly used social media networks worldwide. Billions of people get into these every single day and it’s a marketing outlet that you shouldn’t pass upon. You can advertise your brand to your specific target audience that is most cost-effective than other channels.
However, there is a catch. Your competitors are also on social media. How do you make yourself stand out? Making sure your posts are more polished, well designed, and on-brand!
Have your designer (or Penji) create a few social media post templates that your marketing team can easily edit and reuse whenever they need to make a post.
Here are some common social media template ideas:
- Tip of the day
- Testimonials from our customers
- Fun facts
- Did you know?
- Try This…
6. Pitch Decks & Presentations
Planning to pitch an idea to Venture Capitalists? Getting ready to present quarterly earnings to your board? Or perhaps you want to present a ground-breaking marketing idea to your boss via a PowerPoint presentation.
Regardless of what your needs are, if you’re making a presentation or pitch deck, get it designed. Don’t rely on whatever templates Google Slides or Apple Keynote gives you. After all, this is an important presentation and as the title suggests…presentation matters.
7. Motion Graphics
As technology improved in recent years, the popularity of animated graphics has increased. It’s now part of our everyday lives that we seldom take notice of. You can see them everywhere—trailers, banners, GIFs, promotional videos, tutorials, and so much more.
With the addition of audio, motion graphics can easily grab the attention of your audience. Think of it as an infographic that moves. Easy to follow and engaging motion graphics are the key to getting more people to notice you. Plus, it’s a great way to have them entertained without them noticing that they are being sold to.
Benefits of Graphic Design and Marketing
If you need more convincing allotting your budget in the business areas mentioned above, let’s discuss how it benefits you:
Take Your Business Branding to the Next Level
Most companies tend to focus either on graphic design or marketing. Everyone who’s experienced scrolling through social media will agree with me that most companies don’t invest in unique marketing assets. Some take advantage of stock images, videos, and vectors that are made for general use.
Meanwhile, some build their illustration using online graphic software made for the non-designer. It’s time to take your branding to a level higher than your competition. The public gravitates towards designs that make a memorable first impression.
Build Trust from Audience
Professionally made designs can help reduce the anxiety of people. You can take advantage of graphic design by showing relevant information about your product that highlights the material it uses. Let’s say a pillow manufacturing company decides to hire a freelance designer to create a blow-up illustration of their product. It helps people decide if the product is trustworthy enough for their purchase.
Better Advertisement of Your Product
Graphic design and marketing also help showcase your product or service in context. Specifically, your target market needs to see an illustration that informs the audience how your brand can help their problems. By viewing the product, the person can quickly visualize themselves using your brand and decides if it works for them.
Increase Your Conversion
A strategic yet tasteful marketing design has a great potential to motivate your audience to take action. You can consider marketing and graphic design as tools that help create an easy and smooth path towards conversion. Next, you need to require your designer to create an eye-catching design while incorporating your branding.
The most important thing you need to remember in every marketing campaign are the following:
- How to encourage engagement
- How to convert the engagement to your desired result
Most businesses focus on a more personalized and interactive experience for their users. As you collaborate with a graphic designer, the end goal is to create an “emotional response” from your audience.
Get Your Unlimited Marketing Collaterals from Penji
Logos, pitch decks, social media posts, websites, and blog pages – these all require graphic design skills. If you choose a freelancer or a full-blown agency, then prepare to face a number of challenges. It could be dealing with unprofessionalism or a sky-rocketing fee. Either way, that’s not good for your business. And so to get the best of both worlds (impressive graphic designs + affordable rates), hire Penji.
But how does this work and how can you get unlimited graphic designs?
Send Your Requests
It’s easy to send design requests using Penji’s platform. Click ‘Create New Project’ from the dashboard and you will be asked to complete a form. Supply the necessary information including your project details. You can also add links or files if you want your designer to get inspiration.
Make sure to provide as many details as you can as this can speed up the entire process.
Ask for Revisions
Now you just have to relax and wait for 24 – 48 hours for your first draft. Once you receive it, you can review and add your comments directly to the image. Yes, Penji has allowed its clients to click, point, and directly type feedback on the drafts.
If you think that the designer is not able to meet your requirements, you can always request for a new one.
Download Your Source Files
Are you happy with the design? If yes, there’s no need to ask the designer to send the source files. You can immediately download it and use these right away. You also have your own Penji folder where you can easily access old design requests.
Elevate Your Marketing Strategy
Some people may think that graphic design is just the cherry on top, but it’s more than that. You’d be surprised at how powerful graphic design is when paired with the right marketing strategy. The written word has persuasive powers, but the graphic design gives out a feeling of connection to a brand—not convinced? Think of the golden arches.
Graphic design is an excellent way to communicate your business to your target audience. With good graphic design in your marketing strategy, you’ll increase your visibility and brand awareness. It can effectively convert prospects into sales, project credibility and trust, develop company unity that makes employees more productive while taking pride in their work.
Best of all, thoughtfully created graphic design is sure to kill the competition. Nothing will make you stand out from the crowd than a well-executed branding.
All things considered, you must work with a good graphic design team such as Penji to have leverage on the competition. Check out how our platform works through this free demo and start getting your designs right away.