Your prospects’ awareness of your company is everything. It means visibility and exposure, and having a presence customers recognize and can relate to. If no one knows who you are then you can’t establish yourself as an authority or expert in your industry. And that means no one will care about who you are or what you have to offer.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Increasing brand awareness is a problem many businesses are faced with at some point. The fix usually requires the company to address one or more visual aspects of their marketing strategy, such as a logo, website, or even a lack of visual content. Branded products are arguably one of the most effective tools a marketer has in their arsenal, and a company’s logo has the power to evoke the entire company’s identity without saying a word.
Without visual content a company only has its words and reputation. But, in an age where prospects demand shorter forms of content and eye-grabbing visuals, companies have to evolve if they want to boost their visibility and the public’s awareness of their product or service. So, what’s the answer?
Hire a graphic designer.
A talented graphic designer can change perspective, and that’s the kind of power companies need in their marketing lineup. Visual content redefines short-and-sweet by packing information and visual stimuli into a single, easily easy-to-swallow package. Infographics are a prime example of visual content at its best. It gives companies a creative way to display copy or hard data in a digestible, attractive way. They’ve become so big that in 2014 alone, the use of infographics was more than 5 times higher than it was in previous years—from 9% to a whopping 52%.
The art of graphic design includes more than infographics. From photography to videos, visual content includes both visual and interactive content, including presentations like slideshows and webinars. The popularity of websites such as YouTube, Tumblr, and Pinterest should vouch for the average internet user’s interest in visual content. Companies can capitalize on that information by adopting visual content into their marketing strategies.
Your company’s level of exposure—the degree to which the public is aware of you—requires being seen. You need to have impactful visuals to draw the attention of your ideal customers and keep them engaged. Investing in professional graphic design can help you achieve that.
Visual content was cited as a key component in each of the top B2B marketing tactics that included videos, case studies, and webinars. Look at it this way: 93% of all human communication involves visual content. It’s no wonder. The brain can process visual information so much faster than it can text. Other companies are slowly gravitating away from longer forms of content such as whitepapers in favor of shorter, visual/interactive content.
Images already rule social media marketing. Facebook and Twitter are saturated with photos, making images and photos an invaluable social media tactic.
Graphic design isn’t purely digital, and a good designer can create more traditional marketing material that inspires our customers to remember you. Visually stimulating, print is tactile and offers access to memory and information. Online, an ad might pop up and disappear in a matter of minutes, but a business card or brochure can be picked up at any time. Customers have the freedom to engage with you whenever they want to, allowing them to remember you or access important information about your company. And now that so many businesses are going digital with their marketing, print stands out even more. Professional graphic design can easily benefit both digital and print campaigns, so take advantage of its versatility before your competition does.
Just because you made a couple of cool doodles doesn’t mean you should also create your company’s visual content. Graphic design includes knowledge of typography, color theory, layouts, and the right tools. A professional designer has the ability to implement these things in a provocative but cohesive way; to execute designs with a creative vision appropriate to a company and its brand.