When launching a business, we all believe that we’re unique. One and only. Unfortunately, nothing can be further from the truth. Namely, there are 28.8 million small businesses only in the US.
So, the only way for you to survive in such an overly competitive ecosystem is to drive your target audience’s attention, intrigue them, and engage them.
That’s where graphic design steps in.
Intertwined with almost every aspect of your branding strategy, graphic design helps you form people’s positive perceptions of your brand, as well as inspire them to remember you and buy your products.
Here is how graphic design may influence your customers’ purchasing decisions.
01 Graphic Design Boosts Brand Familiarity
Research shows that 76% of buying decisions are made in the store. These decisions are based on a customer’s perception of a brand, experience they had with the product before, and their preferences. The problem is that, in today’s overcrowded market, there are tens of thousands of brands and products similar to yours.
To fight this information overload, people usually go with the most famous brands they trust. Namely, Nielsen says that 60% of consumers say they prefer purchasing products from a familiar brand than switching to the one they’ve not tried out before.
But, if you’re new in the industry, how can you possibly fight internationally recognized business giants like Nike, Starbucks, or Apple?
For starters, offering high-quality products is not enough for you to stay relevant. To sell them, you need to make them look like a million bucks. And, that’s exactly where graphic design shines.
Every aesthetic element of your visual brand, from your logo and brightness to the color scheme needs to indicate the quality of the product. Most importantly, it needs to make sense for your brand and be relevant to your target audience.
Choosing these elements properly will help you build a brand that stands out and establish yourself as trustworthy and authoritative. As a result, you will manage to raise people’s awareness of your brand, boost their conversions, and make more sales.
02 Graphic Design Helps You Tailor Your Brand to Your Customers’ Needs
Let’s imagine this. You’re trying to sell a product to a person you haven’t met before. Would you start throwing items in their face immediately or would you do your research to find out who they are so you could target this group with a tailored value proposition? You’d go with the latter option, I suppose.
In other words, you need to conduct a detailed target audience segmentation. This is a complex process that includes numerous factors, from demographic elements (age range, gender, location, and income), psychographics, and marital status to your customers’ education and interests.
Use the data you collect to create your buyer persona and write your design brief. By knowing what they do, where they live, and what they look like, you will be able to anticipate their purchasing habits and preferences.
For example, if you’re targeting Millennials, you need to be innovative. It doesn’t matter if you’re designing a personalized gift card with your logo, building a website, or creating a limited edition of your product, you need to go with crazy shapes, quirky typography, and cool colors. Maybe youd like to design a product that will send them back to the 1990s when they were kids to evoke memories.
If on the other hand, you’re selling renowned whiskey or a super-expensive perfume, you’ll want to add a feeling of sophistication and exclusiveness in an elegant packaging design. In this case, bold fonts, dark colors, fancy patterns, and the minimalistic approach might do wonders.
03 Every Color Has Its Own Emotion
Have you ever asked yourself why children’s books contain a lot of images? Why are their toys so fluffy and colorful? Well, there is a good reason for that. 60,000 reasons, to be precise. Namely, recent studies tell us that our brains process images 60,000 times faster than they process text.
In other words, colors play a fundamental role in helping people make their shopping decisions. According to statistics, over 85% of people believe that colors are the main reason why they make a purchase.
Keep in mind that every color triggers distinct emotions. So, when building your visual identity, you need to choose them carefully.
For example, blue packaging evokes the color of sky and sea. It has a calming effect and stands for sincerity. Many famous brands use blue, like Volkswagen, Oreo, or Dell to emphasize their reliability.
On the other hand, red is the color of blood and fire. It denotes love, passion, and strength. Coca-Cola, Lego, and H&M are just some brands using this color to evoke the feeling of warmth and familiarity. Red is also believed to stimulate appetite and hunger. That’s why it is used by numerous food manufacturers and restaurant chains, such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Heinz.
04 Product Packaging Evokes Nostalgia
When I say Christmas, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it the smell of ginger or cinnamon cookies? What about pumpkin or hot tea? It may be even the sight of the Coca-Cola’s new vintage ad.
That’s true – many people link Coco Cola’s commercials to the beginning of the holiday season. And, as they have been investing heavily in branding themselves for the holidays ever since 1931, it’s not surprising at all that they have become a true holiday brand.
But, what makes them unique? After all, they’re not the only brand taking advantage of this time of the year to boost their sales.
It’s actually all about the feelings triggered in consumers. Their TV commercials, product packaging, billboards, and posters are specifically designed to send us to the past for a moment and awake the feeling of sentimentality and belonging.
In other words, their goal is to evoke nostalgia. Over the past few years, nostalgia marketing has become one of the most powerful branding and customer acquisition techniques. Monarchs, Coca-Cola, Lucky Strike, M&S Biscuits, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate, and Marvis Toothpaste are just some of numerous brands that made use of this trend and came up with awesome retro product packaging to boost their sales.
05 Back To You
Always keep in mind that building your brand is not about making more sales in a short time span. It’s about becoming relevant to your customers and inspiring them to choose you over your competitors. And, graphic design may help you achieve that.
It gives you an amazing opportunity to set your business apart from the sea of similar companies. Most importantly, it allows you to build a recognizable visual brand, wrap your products impeccably and, most importantly, deliver a personalized customer experience.
How do you use graphic design to drive more customers?
Want More?
How To Use Graphics On An ECommerce Website
How To Produce The Perfect Packaging For Your Products
Logo Design Tips Every Small BUsiness Owner Should Know
Written by Alex Williams on Saturday, February 24, 2018
My name is Alex Williams. I am a journalism graduate, and a rookie blogger trying to find
my luck. Blogs are the perfect opportunity for presenting yourself to wider audience,
getting the chance to showcase my expertise and receiving recognition. I am a regular
contributor at Bizzmark Blog. Follow Alex on Twitter @alextmwilliams1.