How Design Plays a Part in Your Marketing Efforts
To put it simply, the role of a designer has always been to visually communicate an idea or message in an aesthetically pleasing way. If you were to stop right now and take a look around, you’d realize that design is everywhere. Are you drawn to a specific advertisement or product package? Did that banner ad on the side of Buzzfeed cause you to react? Whatever caught your attention was meant to do so… And we have design to thank for that.
Your Website
The web is now, and it’s not going anywhere. Each day, the web becomes more and more of a habit for us – it’s quite an amazing tool, actually. No matter who you are or where you’re at in the world, chances are you use the web for professional growth and personal stimulation (we humans are social butterflies by nature). But seriously, on a professional note, how important is your website to the growth of your company?
As a company trying to sell a product, service, or both, the look and feel of your website is a crucial marketing tool. The visual appeal of your website has become expected rather than preferred, and how well your site is designed (graphically & ease of usability) can be THE deciding factor for a prospective client. Take, for example, the two sites below. Both are trying to sell their services:
Which company are you more drawn (and likely!) to work with and why?
Proposals, Presentations & Other Tangible Marketing Materials
Before joining the Walker Sands team, I worked as a designer in sports marketing and sponsorship sales. Proposals, or “decks”, and PPT presentations were a very important part of business because they were our initial pitch, our first impression. I learned that a successful pitch is all about telling a visual story. Prospective clients would actually comment on the way our proposals looked, and as a result, our client list and sales dollars spiked greatly in just two short years.
It’s important that marketing materials throughout the entire process, from pitch to contract, have a clean design. A well designed pitch & proposal have the ability to draw the client in, while a well designed contract reassures them that they are doing business with the right company. Templates, anyone?
Social Media
Who isn’t on social media nowadays? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, the list goes on and on… Social media is an exceptional marketing tool that majority of companies in the digital (and non-digital) space are using to connect with others. More importantly, there is a lot of cross promoting in business to different social media accounts. For example, the Walker Sands PR site has links to all of our social media accounts. It is important to create a consistent experience between networks:
1. Walker Sands
2. Walker Sands Facebook
3. Walker Sands Twitter
As you can see, the Walker Sands brand is consistent throughout all sites.
Much like business leaders use the psychology of consumers to develop successful business models, great designers use the psychology of consumers to develop persuasive, attention-grabbing stories. By visually communicating our marketing efforts successfully, we are able to generate revenue and create sustainable growth. I like the sound of that.
To see some of our design work, please visit the Walker Sands case studies page.