Graphic design is often misunderstood and seen as an unnecessary cost. Many businesses severely underutilise the power of visual design. But one thing is for sure, design led businesses stand out from the crowd. Successful businesses of any size are embracing design, using it as a strategic resource to strengthen their products and services in order to achieve profitable growth.

Visual design should not be seen as a cost. If a company is achieving a successful visual market presence, design is not money down the drain. Rather, a strong visual presence gives your customers a compelling reason to buy from you and not your competitors.

Before any potential client walks through your door, your visual identity is a representation of your company. It can make you look fun or serious, large or small, traditional or forward thinking, professional or unprofessional. You need to strike a chord with your target audience. Customers know what they want. The question is, can you successfully communicate to them that you know what they want and that you have it?

Here are a few things to think about:
What does your logo say about your company?
What impression does your company literature give your potential customer?
You target audience is on the web, are you?
If you are on the web, is your website pulling customers in or turning them away? Why?
Can your customers find you and can they understand what you offer?

We live in a competitive environment. Brands are competing for attention like never before. Cut your marketing budget and your impact on your target audience will reduce significantly, if not die out because you’ll be swallowed by competitive.

It takes seven touches to move from being unknown into conscious awareness. Let’s use the example of Swirl Printers.

1. Potential client stumbles across the Swirl website from a Google search. They opt in to their e-newsletter. 2. They later receive the Swirl e-newsletter. 3. Then they see a Swirl advert. 4. At a networking event potential client meets a Swirl representative. Potential client takes a Swirl leaflet promo. 5. Potential client comes across the Swirl leaflet promo a few days later and places it in a draw for safe keeping. 6. Another Swirl e-newsletter reminds them of the leaflet promo in the drawer. 7. They visit the website and can quickly find further information on the promo (reinforcing the leaflet). The telephone number is easy to spot and they take action.

Without a marketing budget Swirl Printers would not have had the website, e-newsletter, advert, the representative at the networking event or the leaflet promo.

The seven touch theory also relates to the process of increasing brand awareness. Through those seven touches, Swirl Printers increased their brand awareness to their potential customer. Educating your target audience about your brand takes place through a similar progression of drip fed communications. You’ve got to speak to your target audience frequently so they do not forget your brand.

In a downturn marketing it is even more important than it was before! It is now more than ever that you want to attract customers. Therefore you need to communicate. Since many people stop marketing in a down turn, if you keep it up, or even increase it, you will be at an advantage.

I’m not talking about a million pound budget! I’m suggesting you cover the basics and do it well. You need a simple but effective website that is up to date; some information you can give out on request such as a promo leaflet, booklet or e-mailable PDF; exposure in the form of adverts or articles in relevant magazines, on or off-line; and if your target audience is other businesses then keep networking.

And then there’s the free stuff. They demand some of your time but they do wonders to raise your profile if you add value and are consistent. Use Twitter; blog regularly; get on LinkedIn; write and post articles and press releases; and, offer to speak at relevant events.

These are just a few hints and tips. Don’t follow the trend of cuts, cuts and more cuts. Rather invest in your marketing wisely. What are your thoughts on this topic?

1. Find a good designer and stick with them. If you flit from one service provider to the next, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to achieve a consistent message or strong brand. If you work with the right person though, the partnership approach, which should include strategy planning, will quickly get you moving in the right direction.

2. Be open with your designer. Share information about where your business is right now, where you’d like it to be and why. Be honest. A good designer won’t judge you.

3. Share your ideas about what you want them to provide you with. You might not be a designer but you do know your business and industry very well so your ideas are valid.

4. Tell your designer about your competition. Together you can look at what your competition is doing well and what they are failing at. This is an element of market research and this level of market awareness will help you and your designer do everything better than the competition!

5. Be clear about your company image and personality. Discuss the image you are going for and work with your designer to communicate a clear brand style.

6. Give your designer a budget. Most people think that if they share a budget then this gives the designer an excuse to blow it. On the contrary, a budget ensures the designer can come back to you with a realistic plan of action. With a figure in mind they should come back with a proposal that clearly shows what you are getting for your money and what any variations will give you. This way you can decide whether to spend a little more for a lot more value or not. This makes the entire process much more efficient. If you work together on a long term basis then you can work out a yearly communications strategy and budget.

7. Trust them. This is probably the most important element. A quality designer will be a professional in their field, recommending only what is best for you, your business and your long term goals. Do you question your doctor? Or your accountant? You concentrate on running your business and leave your designer to get the results you need on the communications front.

The right designer will know how to ask all the right questions to they can get all the details they need to produce quality communications. With all this information at hand your designer will be able to make sensible, relevant and dynamic suggestions and recommendations. As a partnership you and your designer will have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, putting you in a good position to measure the success of various communication projects. Are their any other tips anyone else can share?

C is for clarity: Go for transparency in your message. Simple and precise will go further than over complex.
O is for open: Don’t try and be what you are not. If you have a good product or service then there is an audience out there for you. You’ve just got to attract their attention.
M is for magic: Think about how you can enchant your target audience. Magic is exciting.
M is for mystery: An element of ambiguity that makes people look twice is good. But remember not to go too far so your message becomes unclear.
U is for unique: A distinctive approach is essential. Be different.
N is for navigation: Help your audience navigate their way through your message with a clear hierarchy of information.
I for inspire: Motivate and enthuse people and they are more likely to act on your message.
C is for conversation: Get people talking about your message and your brand.
A is for attention: Grab it. As much of it as you can.
T is for truth: There is nothing more provoking than an authentic message.
I is for inviting: Appeal. Allure. Engage. Be magnetic.
O is for obscure: Do the opposite. Obscurity creates doubt. Avoid it.
N is for no noise: Stick to one main message and don’t try and say everything at once.

And one more thing. Give yourself an A if you end every piece of information with a call to ACTION! Ask your audience to do something. Be clear about what you want them to do next. So to follow my own advice (!) please comment and let us know your thoughts. And if you are struggling to engage your audience with your communications then get in touch!

The lady explained how the website she had commissioned looked like an own brand off the shelf template with no quality to speak of. She found that the content was written with more emphasise towards ‘Google bots’ than human understanding (note that Google doesn’t even like dehumanised content). Design is like buying an invisible product. You can’t pick it up and give it a shake or try before you buy. It’s almost indefinable. So how do you avoid the design headache experienced by some?  

We recommend you ask the following six questions about your design team:

1. Most importantly, are they multi disciplinary? Building a website for example, involves web hosting and domain services, copywriting, site navigation, image sourcing, branding, web development, search engine optimisation, project management and design. It’s not just a big hole called ‘web design’ and the language of your team and your estimate of works should reflect this.
2. Do they have fans? Nothing speaks louder than what other people say.
3. Do you like what you see? Assess a portfolio of work. If you don’t like what you see it’s unlikely you will ever like their style.
4. Do you click? Take time out to meet the designer and if you don’t gel then don’t force the relationship.
5. What’s hidden in the small print? Don’t get caught out with the unforeseen.
6. Are they listening? Seriously, conversation should flow, not be one way. In fact you should be talking more, expressing your needs, your goals, your likes and dislikes.

…As for the project, we will keep you posted.

1. Go for a broad skill base. You need to partner with a designer who understands the many ingredients that come together to make successful communication tools – a designer who is creative AND understands marketing, communication and business principles. You should be looking for skills that include design, copywriting, marketing, ability to produce web and paper based communication tools and project management. For example, there’s no point in having the snazziest website design if the navigation is so poor people never get past the home page or if the word content of the site switches viewers off!
2. Portfolio’s speak. Look for a range of design solutions for an assortment of clients. A broad portfolio shows a designer can do what they’re meant to do – successfully communicate different messages to varying target audiences.
3. If a designer asks lots of questions that’s a good sign. To produce good results, a designer needs to fully understand your business. To find out everything they need to know they need to ask you the right questions. So don’t be put off when a designer asks to meet you, clarify things or even comes up with a design questionnaire!
4. Go for price confidence. Designers that know they provide profitable solutions are price confident. They won’t shy away from a price discussion but neither will they throw a random price at you without assessing what you need. And they won’t offer massive price discounts as soon as they sense any hesitation from you, rather they will be able to explain what value they offer you.
5. Be impressed with a detailed estimate. There’s nothing worse than a big black hole swallowing your money. Rather, a quality designer will understand that you want to know exactly what your investment is getting you. Before you invest make sure you know what is and isn’t included.
6. A good designer will stay in touch. It’s difficult to know if a designer will do a good job of keeping you informed during a project if you’ve not worked with them before but you can often tell from the standard of communication during the early stages of the project discussion and proposal submission.
7. Testimonials serve as a good guide. It shouldn’t come as a shock to a designer for you to ask them for some testimonials. If they’re any good they should have loads! In fact they should be readily available either on the designers website or submitted in their proposal.

Follow these tips and you should be well on your way to finding the right designer to partner with on a long term basis – a designer who will positively affect your profitability. If you’ve got this far then, well, we tick all of the above so you can always choose us!