Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

Boy thinking of what to design and looking for graphic design inspiration

There is no doubt that graphic designing is an important aspect of marketing. 82% of businesses say that graphic design is a valuable part of their business and that it has helped them achieve success. [1]https://landing.adobe.com/dam/downloads/whitepapers/55563.en.creative-dividends.pdf

Graphic design plays a crucial role in conveying your message to your target audience and helping you achieve your marketing goals. In this Complete Report, we will discuss the importance of graphic design and how it can help you achieve success in your marketing campaigns in 2022 and beyond.

If you’re a business owner or Head of Marketing looking to build a brand, then you know that marketing is key to your success. But what many people don’t realize is that graphic designing is a huge part of marketing. In fact, visual images are increasingly becoming the most important type of content.

Marketing person kneeling down and carrying a graphic chart

“34% of marketers said that budgets are allocated specifically for designing visual content” – Venngage [2]https://venngage.com/blog/visual-content-marketing-statistics/

A well-designed graphic can capture the attention of your audience and help promote your product or service. In this guide, we will discuss why graphic designing is so important for marketing and how you can use it to your advantage!

What is graphic designing?

Graphic designing is the process of creating visual content that can be used in marketing campaigns, marketing collaterals and any material that can communicate your message in a visual way.

coloured bars and colour scheme used for graphic designing

Some graphic designing examples include:

  • Creating images
  • Brochures
  • Infographics
  • Designing logos
  • Web design
  • Social media graphics
  • Name card design
  • And 100 more…

You can create such marketing materials using graphic design tools like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) and more.

If you prefer not to create them yourself, you can outsource all hundreds of marketing materials to professional graphic designers if you like.

Graphic designers are trained to use their creativity and technical skills to create visuals that will capture the attention of your target audience.

How did graphic design come about

Graphic design has been around for centuries. Some of the earliest examples of graphic design date back to ancient cave paintings.

During the 1950s and 1960s, graphic design became more popular as businesses continued to use it as a way to advertise their products. This led to the development of new technologies such as desktop publishing, which made it easier for designers to create visuals for marketing campaigns.

graphic design, photography, sketching and advertisements on aeroplanes, brands, space travel and tech
Source: Wikipedia [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_design

Graphic design began to gain popularity during the early 20th century with the advent of advertising. Businesses quickly realized that they could use graphic design to their advantage by creating visually appealing ads that would grab attention and promote their products or services.

Graphic design has always been around and will always be the key to building great brands for many years to come, especially in this present digital era.

Why graphic designing is important for marketing

Based on countless research every year, I’ve highlighted below some of the best reasons why graphic designing is important for marketing and business growth.

You will also see some graphic design examples to give you a clearer view of how to use visual content in your marketing materials.

Capture the attention of your target audience

When you are creating a new marketing campaign, it is important to make sure that your target audience pays attention to your message. One of the best ways to do this is by using graphic design in your materials.

Graphic design can help you capture the attention of your target audience and communicate your message effectively.

When you are creating graphic design for your marketing campaign, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, you want to make sure that your designs are eye-catching and attention-grabbing.

Use bright colors, interesting fonts, and engaging visuals to grab the attention of your target audience. Additionally, you want to make sure that your graphic design is cohesive with the rest of your marketing materials. Your graphic design should reflect the overall theme and message of your campaign.

Use visuals relevant to the target audience

Another important tip for creating effective graphic design is to make sure that your designs are relevant to your target audience. Your graphic design should be created with your target market in mind. Use images and visuals that will resonate with your target market and communicate your message in a way that is relevant to them.

By following these tips, you can create graphic design that will effectively capture the attention of your target audience. Remember to keep your target market in mind when creating your designs, and use visuals and images that are eye-catching and relevant to them.

With effective graphic design, you can reach your target market and communicate your message effectively!

An example of using graphic design to capture attention

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022
  • Brand name: Victor – Visual Hacker
  • Industry: Marketing
  • Target audience: Startup founders
  • URL: Victor on Twitter

There are many #marketing tips shared in Twitter and most of them are words and one-liners. Victor repurposes them into illustrations like these and reshares them.

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

Sharing such images help to attract the attention of the right audience because the message from the images stand out right away. As you scroll, you will stop and give such tweets a second look because they make it easier for you to understand what it’s trying to say.

Build trust with your target audience

In today’s competitive marketplace, it is important to build trust with your target audience. One of the best ways to do this is by using graphic design in your marketing campaign.

Why is it important to build trust with your target audience?

Building trust with your target audience is important because it helps you to create a loyal customer base. If potential customers trust you, they are more likely to do business with you and recommend you to others. Trust is also important for building relationships with other businesses and clients. When people know that they can trust you, they are more likely to want to work with you.

How to build trust with your target audience using graphic design

  1. Use visuals that are relevant to your target market.
  2. Be consistent in your messaging and branding across all channels
  3. Use high-quality visuals that reflect the values of your brand to attract the right customers and clients
  4. Providing beautiful visuals with your content makes your audience engage with your brand longer and makes your brand memorable

If you can do these things, you’ll be well on your way to building trust with your target audience.

Graphic design can help you build trust with your target audience by creating a visual representation of your brand that is consistent with the values and message you are trying to communicate.

It can also help you build trust with your target audience by making sure that your visuals are professional and cohesive. First impressions are everything, so it is important to make sure that your graphic design makes a good first impression.

When potential customers see a cohesive visual identity across all of your channels, it helps them to understand what your brand is all about. If they like what they see, they are more likely to trust you and do business with you. So if you’re looking to build trust with your target audience, graphic design is a great place to start.

An example of using graphic design to build trust

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022
Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

The name “Judy” may not mean anything to you. But the brand, JUDY makes use of a strong, chunky looking font that depicts security. The colour, bright bold orange is used to give a sense that Emergency Operations plan has been activated. [4]https://news.vumc.org/2013/11/07/emergency-notifications-come-in-burst-of-colors/

The combination of graphic elements tells people that they can trust and rely on JUDY’s products to support them in times of danger or disaster.

Convey your message in a visually appealing way

When you are creating marketing collaterals, the first thing you need to do is identify your audience. Who are you trying to reach with your design? What kind of message do you want to communicate?

With answers to these questions, you can start thinking about what elements will best get your point across. Will a photo be more effective than an illustration? Will a certain color scheme convey the right feeling? These are all important considerations that will help you create an effective graphic design.

Once you have a good understanding of your audience and what kind of message you want to communicate, it’s time to start putting together your design. A great way to get started is by sketching out some ideas on paper. This will help you get a feel for the overall look and feel of your design.

Now that you have a general idea of what you want, you can start to experiment with different elements. Try out different fonts, colors, and imagery until you find something that feels right for your project.

Fonts

Fonts are one of the most important aspects of graphic design. The right font can make or break your design. When choosing a font, you need to consider the message you are trying to communicate. Are you going for a fun and playful look? Or are you trying to convey a more serious message? Once you have an idea of the feeling you want to convey, you can start narrowing down your font choices.

Colours

Next, you’ll need to choose a colour scheme. Again, consider the message you are trying to communicate. Certain colours can evoke different emotions in people. For example, red is often associated with excitement or anger, while blue is often associated with calmness or sadness.

Choosing the right colours for your graphic design will help ensure that your audience receives the message you are trying to send. There are great tools out there to help you check which colours match one another the best.

For example, if you are deciding what colours to use on your website, you can use colour palettes for website designs to mix and match colours before building it.

The colours you use can say a lot about your brand. If you are going for a more playful look, bright and bold colours might be a good choice. If you are trying to convey a more serious message, subdued and neutral colors might be a better option.

Experiment with different colour schemes until you find something that feels right for your brand!

Illustrations

One of the most important aspects of graphic design is choosing the right imagery. The images you choose should support the message you are trying to communicate.

For example, if you are designing a flyer for a new club night, you might want to use images that convey energy and excitement. If you are designing a poster for a nature festival, you might want to use images that depict the beauty of nature.

Choosing the right images will help ensure that your graphic design is effective in conveying your message.

Graphics

Graphics can be a great way to make your message more visually appealing. Adding graphic elements to your design can help draw the eye and add interest. When using graphics, less is often more. A few well-placed graphic elements can go a long way in making your design more effective.

Rather than leaving your audience to read rows of text after text to understand what you have to say, using graphics is clearer and easier to explain something. This helps to prevent loss in translation or misinterpretation.

An example of using graphic design to convey a message visually

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

Wine Folly has tons of information on how to develop your sense of taste to help you identify wine flavours. They can easily dump a list of words on their website and call it a day. That’s probably good enough.

But, they’ve gone a step further by creating an infographic to condense this set of text-heavy information. Like how pairing your wine with food, Wine Folly uses visual materials to pair with wordy information.

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

The colours, illustrations, icons and typography help me as a wine lover to enjoy learning more about wine from Wine Folly and remember the information better than just plain text. This in turn helps Wine Folly to become an authority and a go-to resource for wine.

Stand out from your competitors

Using visual elements is the best way to differentiate yourself from others, because people are incredible at remembering what they see, such as photographs. You’ll remember 10% of what you hear three days later if you hear it once. A picture will help you recall 65%.[5]http://brainrules.net/vision/

Think about the competitors in your industry, how are you different from them? You are probably matching them with pricing, customers service, service offers or product features.

If these are the only metrics to compare with your competitors, chances are nobody can tell you and your competitors apart easily.

You know you are different from your competitors, but others aren’t able to see how different you are from the rest who are selling the same thing as you. You’ll have to find a way for others to clearly see what’s different about your brand.

Using better graphic design can help you do that.

An example of using graphic design to stand out

Bite toothpaste bits website graphic design
  • Brand name: Bite Toothpaste Bits
  • Industry: Toothpaste
  • Target audience: The environmentally-conscious
  • URL: Bite Toothpaste Bits

Bite’s packaging itself is already different from other popular toothpaste. Its website homepage aims to differentiate further by veering away from smiley faces. It’s much more memorable than the commercial toothpaste brands we see below.

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022
Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

Increase brand awareness

If you’re looking for ways to increase brand awareness, look no further! You can use graphic design in your blog, social media and advertising to get your brand in front of more people.

Whether you’re just starting out and trying to build brand recognition, or you’ve been around for a while but want to shake things up, you can take advantage of graphic designing to achieve that.

Here are some of the most effective ways to increase brand awareness with graphic design:

  • Use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share visuals that represent your brand. This could include things like your logo, product photos, or images that convey your brand’s message.
  • Creating branded collateral such as business cards, flyers, and brochures. Make sure your brand’s visuals are consistent across all touchpoints!
  • Designing eye-catching ads that will grab attention and make people want to learn more about your brand.
  • Participating in trade shows or other events where you can have a physical presence and hand out branded materials.
  • Working with influencers or thought leaders in your industry to promote your brand to their followers.
  • Developing a strong brand identity that is visually appealing and recognizable. This should include elements like your logo, color scheme, and typography.
  • Creating compelling content that tells a story and engages your target audience. This could be in the form of blog posts, infographics, or even videos.
  • Making sure your website is designed in a way that is visually appealing and easy to navigate. first impressions count!
  • Using SEO best practices to ensure that people can find you when they search for keywords related to your brand or industry.

Examples are everywhere, from the smallest businesses to the largest companies in the world. Coca-Cola, Nike, and Starbucks are just a few of the many brands that have used graphic design to increase brand awareness.

Promote your brand to different target audiences

As you start growing your brand or business, you may wish to communicate your message to different groups of people with different interests. You want to be visible to the different groups for them to work with you or buy your products or services from you.

In this case, you have to make your assets look relevant to the individual groups of people for them to care enough to check out your brand.

For example, if you are promoting your brand to startups, your images should not include photos of people in suits or look too “corporate”. They should show more people in a less formal setting.

An example of using graphic design to promote to different target audiences

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022
Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

This is Lemonade’s landing page for homeowners. One look and you know it has to do with homes even without reading the words.

The picture or illustration of houses helps us understand what’s this landing page trying to tell us. You don’t see other images vying for attention.

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

Same goes with pet owners. Insurance for pet owners don’t show any graphics on other things but pets. They can show illustrations of people walking their dogs, but a simple animation of a dog and cat wagging their tails says it all.

Same with their landing page for car owners, it has an illustration of a driver behind the wheel.

Why Graphic Designing Is Important for Marketing: The Complete Report 2022

7. Generate leads and sales with graphic design principles

Another use of graphic design in marketing is to help trigger more sales. You can get creative in many ways, and with graphic design, the sky’s the limit. You can create engaging visuals to grab the attention of potential customers on your website and social media platforms. This can help you generate leads and sales on autopilot.

You can use graphic design to create an ebook or whitepaper with a creative, eye-catching cover design. This helps to make it more enticing for your audience to give you their email address in exchange for it.

You can also use graphic design principles on your website to give visitors an enjoyable experience browsing it. This leads to an increase in engagement with your information online, and in turn, increase your website conversion rates and sales.

Graphic design principles could involve things like adding visual CTA (Call-To-Action) buttons or designing attractive product pages at the right places on your website to draw your visitors to click and buy.

How can I use graphic design in my marketing campaigns

Now that we’ve discussed the importance of graphic design, let’s talk about how you can use it in your marketing campaigns.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that your visuals should be consistent with your brand identity. This means using the same colours, fonts, and style across all of your marketing materials.

It’s also important to make sure that your visuals are relevant to your target audience and aligned with your marketing goals. For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, then you’ll want to create visuals that are eye-catching and memorable.

If you’re not sure where to start, then consider hiring a professional graphic designer. They will be able to help you create visuals that are consistent with your brand identity and aligned with your marketing goals.

A professional designer will also have the technical skills necessary to create high-quality visuals that will capture the attention of your target audience.

How to find the best graphic designer

When it comes to graphic design, you want to make sure that you find the best designer for your needs. Here are a few tips on how to find the best graphic designer:

Do some research

The first step is to do some research and look for graphic designers who have experience in the type of project you need. You can start by looking at online portfolios or checking out design firms in your area.

Get referrals

Once you have a few designers in mind, ask around for referrals from people who have worked with them before. This will give you a good idea of their work ethic and quality of work.

Look at their portfolio:

A graphic designer’s portfolio will give you a good idea of their style and skills. Make sure to look at a variety of their work, not just their most recent projects.

Ask for a quote:

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, contact the graphic designers and ask for a quote. This will help you compare prices and see who is the best fit for your budget.

Graphic design boosts your brand and drive sales

Graphic design isn’t just about making things look pretty; it’s an important part of marketing. By using strategic design, businesses can better capture the attention of their target audience. In this way, they can communicate their message more effectively.

You can use graphic design to your advantage and achieve success in your marketing campaigns!

Featured image from: Online illustrations by Storyset

References

References
1 https://landing.adobe.com/dam/downloads/whitepapers/55563.en.creative-dividends.pdf
2 https://venngage.com/blog/visual-content-marketing-statistics/
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_design
4 https://news.vumc.org/2013/11/07/emergency-notifications-come-in-burst-of-colors/
5 http://brainrules.net/vision/

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