Give Your Brand a Facelift with Great Graphic Design!
Have you ever heard the old saying, “Show, don’t tell”?
Visual and graphic design is an absolutely essential part of any company’s branding. Without an attractive visual element, a brand is simply words on a page. With great graphic design, a brand can pop and get into the minds of potential clients and customers alike. Unfortunately, many companies tend to put the importance of graphic design on the back burner, either believing it doesn’t makes a huge difference or feeling that they can do just as good a job themselves. This kind of thinking can make or break a business. The bottom line is that graphic design could not be more important. Here’s why!
Logo Impressions
Let’s talk first impressions. Whenever we meet someone new, we generally size them up in just a few seconds, entirely based on the way they look. It probably isn’t an accurate impression as it is based on purely superficial, visual information. But this impression can be very difficult to shake after it is formed. It is the exact same with your branding.
The second someone sees your company’s logo, they instantly form an opinion about you. If your logo looks amateuristic, that is the impression they are going to have of your business. Your logo needs to encapsulate everything that makes up your brand, so the first impression of a potential client will be both positive and accurate.
Not only that, you will want your logo to be used on all of your branded collateral, such as stationery, letterheads, and business cards. That’s a lot of first impressions (and second, and third, etc.) You need a brand logo that sets you apart from your competition in a positive way, summing everything about your company up in one, single graphic.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing has quickly become one of the most important parts of any small business marketing strategy. It can be far cheaper than print media and give you a bigger reach.
Of course, the hub of all of your digital marketing efforts will be your website. If your website hasn’t been updated since 2007, it definitely isn’t doing you any favors. A dated website can actually turn off potential online customers, as they will assume that you don’t care enough about them to even maintain a great website. If you don’t offer a visually appealing and user-friendly experience, a potential viewer will click the “back” button before they absorb any of the content. A virtual assistant can design an up-to-date and mobile optimized website that will offer all visitors a great web experience.
Another method of digital marketing are ezines and other forms of email marketing. A well-designed and attractive ezine can increase your customer engagement, keeping you in contact with them every month as you provide them with valuable content like blogs, infographics, and special offers. The trick is that the ezine needs to look good, otherwise it will go straight into the trash folder. If you don’t have experience with ezine layouts, it might be a good idea to outsource them to a virtual assistant experienced in this form of digital marketing.
Infographics
Blogs are remarkably useful for any form of content marketing. You can attach them to ezines, newsletters, Facebook posts, Twitter… They offer your clients value and knowledge, and can help to position you as a leader in your field. The problem is that many people out there just don’t feel like they have the time to read an entire blog, especially if you are putting one out every week. Occasionally switching up your blogs with infographics can add variety to your content marketing.
Pictures are worth a thousand words. It’s an overused saying, but completely accurate. A well-designed and attractive infographic can explain a concept to a viewer in a fraction of the time it would take them to read a blog.
Social Media
Graphics are an essential part of any effective social media campaign. Just think about your display pic. Actors called them “headshots”, photos that encapsulate all of their best qualities in a single shot. Your display pic should do the exact same for you. Don’t skimp and use a simple iPhone selfie, using a professional photographer will almost always pay dividends.
Aside from your display pic, you should have an attractive banner above your profile page. This could include your brand’s logo, maybe photos of your business, or even shots of your entire team. Although it might be tempting to use a photo that is in the public domain (random business people laughing in a meeting room, for example), a savvy social media user will instantly be able to tell that photo has nothing to do with you or your business.
Then there is the importance of developing ads for Facebook. If you don’t have a great graphic designer working on your ads, viewers’ eyes are going to drift right over them. You need to know how Facebook formats their ads and the type of graphics that made them effective. A Virtual Assistant experienced with social media advertising like Facebook or Instagram can create great eye-catching ads that will get you results.
Graphic design is an essential part of any business’ overall branding and marketing strategies. Skimping on graphic design communicates that you are not willing to spend the money on the details, which potential customers can interpret as you not being detail-oriented in other areas as well. Graphic design is one area where most business owners should hire a professional. Those that want to try their own hand at it could find themselves frustrated by Photoshop, ending up with an end product that just doesn’t match the one in their head.
Hiring a virtual assistant with experience in graphic design can be the perfect alternative to hiring someone with graphic design skills full-time. You can simply hire the virtual assistant for specific jobs, and be sure that you will get a high-quality, attractive result. And once they are all finished, they could just leave it in a shared Dropbox folder so you can easily access it. Believe me, a virtual assistant can really punch up your business with graphic design.
To get a better idea of just how useful we can be, I invite you to download my free Workbook: How to Use a Virtual Team to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back!
Contact me today and we can talk about how I can help your company define your brand through fantastic graphic design!
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