Design is all about visual knowledge and aesthetics and how to use the various elements together. Efficient designs quickly grab people’s attention, whereas, on the contrary, a bad or less eye-pleasing design is discarded. The same could be said for a brand identity; if they use good designs in their marketing strategies, they can grab the intended audience’s attention and expand; otherwise, they will go down the drain. It is crucial to create, maintain, and market a brand image through creative design as it directly impacts a business’s performance.

The importance of design in marketing has been known for years now. Design is a crucial process that can make or break a marketing campaign. Consumers are constantly bombarded with messages with unique designs in this digital age, and your business gets only one chance to make an impression on potential clients or consumers. It is pertinent that companies focus on designing their brand and marketing campaigns to survive and flourish in this increasingly competitive business world.

The increased demand for unique designs for business cards, websites, and other business essentials, has also increased the demand for competent designers. Several top-rated designers and digital media companies are offering their services worldwide. Just go through their portfolios and choose the best per your need and want. For instance, if you live in New Zealand, gusto is an expert graphic design company in Wellington, which consists of a group of designers who can help can help your business to expand and get a unique identity by creating a brand image that stands out.

In this article, we are going to discuss the role of design in marketing and branding in detail.

The role of design in marketing and branding

Marketing trends are evolving rapidly. Nowadays, many companies rely on visual tools to market their content. Design can play a crucial role in effectively marketing and branding your business in the following ways;

Good design will effectively communicate the message

People enjoy visual information as they are naturally drawn to colors and awe-inspiring things. Companies that integrate eye-pleasing graphics in their marketing and branding campaigns are more popular with consumers. If you present your design in a creative, clear, and concise way, people are more likely to understand your company’s message without any hassle.

Good design will bring in more clients

Designing a visually pleasing website can strengthen your brand’s image and help marketing and business growth. It is crucial to design websites strategically so that visitors become your clients before leaving.

For example, include a call-to-action button on each website page that leads visitors to a landing page displaying products or services you are offering. If the landing page successfully sells your product or service, it means you have a well-designed website. It is essential to design an easy-to-spot call-to-action button and make the design of your website easy to navigate for gaining new clients.

Good design will increase the visibility of your company

Having a unique brand identity is essential because people will trust and recognize your business, and your business will thrive. Good designs can increase the visibility of your brand both online and offline.

If all your company’s marketing and branding campaigns are designed well and support your brand’s identity, then it depicts your company’s professionalism and attention to detail. Moreover, the credibility of your brand will also increase in the market.

Good design communicates your values

A good design can say volumes about your company’s product quality, market position, credibility, and professionalism. Every piece of visual content that your company releases should convey something about your company’s beliefs and values.

It would be best to focus on creating a professional design that delivers the company’s core values to establish a positive image of your business. Moreover, it causes people with similar beliefs and values to support your business and become your customer.

Strategies to make a good design

Now that you understand the importance and role of good design in marketing and branding, we will discuss some strategies that can help you design excellent marketing campaigns, visiting cards, websites, promotional materials, and more.

Some ways to create impactful designs include;

Be Relatable

People respond more to relatable and inclusive content. Relatability through a design is powerful and can be used as a tool to successfully design marketing campaigns to reach the target audience, gain potential clients and increase sales and profits.

Feeling included in your marketing campaigns can prompt people to connect with your brand name. It also causes more people to respect, promote, and support your brand. An example of inclusive marketing design is Dove’s The Self Esteem Project. The beauty products company designed a webpage that displayed an image of models of all shapes and colors. The campaign was a success and helped the company become relatable for a wider audience.

Follow trends without undermining your brand image

Trends change every season, and several brands follow a similar aesthetic. Seeing similar designs from different brand campaigns can frustrate the consumers, and your brand won’t stand out to them either. Therefore, it is okay to stick to your unique brand style instead of following trends.

In addition, it is necessary to note that not every trend is in accordance with your company’s beliefs and values. A marketing team should carefully assess which trends to cash on and let go of. Hoping on trends does have various benefits because trends can help you reach a wider audience. However, if following a trend disrespects your brand’s image, it is better to avoid jumping on the bandwagon.

Design marketing campaigns around lesser-known holidays

Several reputable companies design their holiday campaigns a year before the holiday dates. It is beneficial to highlight all the major and minor holidays and design themes around those. Make fun and witty designs for less-known holidays like laughter day, grilled cheese day, and more.

These designs will introduce many of your consumers to holidays that they didn’t even know existed. Such memorable moments can help you attract more customers—all brands design Christmas and Easter-based campaigns. However, designing holiday campaigns for lesser-known holidays can provide you with a competitive advantage.

Be open to change

Sticking to your brand identity is essential, but it is okay to refresh and rebrand if needed. Well-established brands like Google, Facebook, Pepsi, and more have also updated the designs of their logos over the years. Keep experimenting with different designs to reach more audiences and stay creative. However, carefully assess whether a new design is more beneficial than harmful to your brand identity before implementation.

Remember, less is more

Simple designs are more popular among people nowadays. Complicated and cluttered designs, providing too much information at once, are not appreciated by people. Therefore, using simple and minimal designs is better. Consider which will translate better onto something small like a business card: a minimalist design or a complex one?

You may think that simple designs can be unamusing. However, it is possible to design eye-catching and minimalistic designs by;

• Sticking to a color palette
• using a maximum of two fonts
• Adding only one image or drawing

Invest in quality Images

Using free stock image websites to market your content is not a good idea because your competitors are probably also using the same images from the same websites. If you don’t opt for good and quality images, you might lose your consumer base causing your business to lose its worth.

Therefore, invest in acquiring good images and image editing tools. Keep gathering quality images or photos over time and build a library so that you can have a variety of professional images to be used in your marketing campaign when required.

Diversify your marketing materials and styles

Several marketing companies and designers use a similar design and format for several campaigns. Diversification is essential to design exciting marketing campaigns. Minor changes like moving the text to the right side or using a smaller image can make a huge difference. Constant diversification keeps the audience engaged and responds more to your campaigns. Other ways to diversify your design include;

• Using a solid background instead of an image or vice versa
• Change color scheme in your artworks
• Use high-quality images

A diverse presentation can help present old ideas in a new way to the audience.

The Bottom Line

Design is a powerful tool that can be used for effective marketing and branding of a business. The future of a company depends on good design. Its role is to effectively communicate a brand’s message, bring in new clients, increase the company’s visibility, help the brand stand out, and convey its’ values. Therefore, design plays a crucial role in the growth of a business as well as in gaining and retaining clients.

Hope this article helps you in understating why design is important for marketing and branding and encourages you to think deeply about it. Furthermore, we have also discussed some strategies to help you understand how you can design professionally that will help you in your marketing and branding campaigns.

Happy Reading.