5 Ways to Connect With Your Audience Right Now Using Graphic Design
In 2021, it's more important than ever for brands to show they actually care about their customers. Consumers want to connect with brands and want to make sure that they are in agreement with their values before choosing them to purchase from. It's a really difficult time for a lot of people around the world right now, and that includes your consumers. So how can you help your audience make a real connection with your brand, even during a lockdown?
As a business, how can you show you actually care about the wellbeing of your consumer? Why should they continue to use your product or service despite the added stresses they are facing? We're going to give you 5 actionable design tips to help your business build a connection with your audience effectively even with extra limitations preventing events or face-to-face meetings.
Social media design
Social media was designed as a platform for people to connect. Using thoughtful social media design at the moment is a tool you can easily use to reach your customers no matter where they are in the world. Remember that your brand should be a part of the conversation happening, and not the one doing all the talking. Ease off on the sales pitches and offer customers a resource they'll actually value. Your social media design should reflect the content people actually want to consume and should be a way to help spread positivity.Here's a personal case study we'd like to share on the effect that personal social media design can have. We posted a simple behind the scenes image of the team at Design Cloud working from home, and saw that quick design get way over 2000 impressions, 437 clicks and offer an impressive boost to our web traffic in just a short space of time. Why did that post get such a great response? The design showcased our brands personality and helped our audience to connect with their graphic designers better, plus the realness of showing our team working from home is something that our audience can relate to.
Why not try this?
Create a social media design that is bright and colourful and is talking about a subject close to people's hearts in the current climate. If you're running an account for a recruitment agency, why not ask your consumers how they are feeling about potential job losses and then offer to organise a call should they want to discuss roles available in their particular field?
Stationery design
Have you ever been to a meeting and been offered a pen you can keep? Most businesses implement this strategy as a way to market to their potential clients even after the meeting is over. By branding stationery with your logo or tagline, you can stay present in your consumers minds.How can this help you reach your clients in lockdown? Of course, most of us won't be attending business meetings for the foreseeable future and so this can seem like a pointless area of marketing. Instead, why not try sending your highest value consumers a stationery pack along with a note of appreciation from your company? You don't need to wait for a holiday season to do this‚ in fact, reaching out right now and gifting some stationery could show your clients that you are thinking of them and appreciate their continued support. It's small touches like this which can help your business stand out from the crowd, and is also a clever way to keep your brand in your customers' minds. If you don't have time for the process of sanitising and gifting branded stationery to clients, why not get started on some digital stationery design? Skip the trip to the post office and create downloadable resources for your clients. You can communicate these across your social media, email marketing and website and it can be a really incredible way to offer value to your clients. Creating un-gated resources can show that your business genuinely wants to help and is still a great way to spread brand awareness.
Why not try this?
Create a printable weekly planner in an appealing design. Offer this on social platforms like Pinterest, and also link to it via all other socials and email newsletters. Make sure the resource is also accessible on your website to catch new visitors too. Include a small area of branding on the printable weekly planner for extra brand awareness!
Ebook design
What are ebooks? An ebook is a digital publication that people can view on their devices and are usually in PDF format. They can be created on a whole host of subjects, and are a way to communicate a large amount of information to your audience all at once. How can this help your brand to make a connection with your prospective customers? Simply put, it all comes back to creating content that is genuinely helpful for your audience. This method of marketing will bring you impressive results because more people will engage with your content which leads to more brand awareness and more conversions.
Why not try this?
If you know that people in your target market are all facing a similar issue at the moment, create an ebook that offers helpful answers that will help them resolve their issue. For example if your target audience are chefs - why not create an ebook on how they might use their skills to offer training webinars during lockdown as a means of extra income?
Email marketing design
Email marketing helps you reach people who are actively interested in your business. This can be existing customers or prospects who might be trying to scope out what your business is all about before they commit. How can you maximise this asset? Make sure your email marketing design is going to catch your audience's attention and successfully help them navigate to the end of the newsletter. If you're using imagery, make sure it is relevant to the copy and that the dimensions will look right across all devices.How can email marketing design help you connect with your customers during the pandemic? Use your newsletters as an opportunity to reach out and offer any services that could be helpful to them in their particular industry, and highlight in your design the benefits of doing so by using attractive iconography or testimonial banners.
Why not try this?
In your next email marketing strategy, make sure to segment your contact list based on a criteria that makes sense for your business. If for example you sell a range of self help books that suit different types of professionals, segment your list based on industry! Use your email marketing design to highlight the benefits of your books to that particular person, and make sure to include heartfelt interest in your consumer within your copy. To help make that connection between brand and audience, include an email signature with a picture of the person sending the email, this will make your communication feel a lot more genuine and personal.
We've briefly discussed 5 actionable tasks that you can complete to strengthen the connection between your brand and your customer. It's so crucial that brands work on this as the consumer gets ever more invested in the values your brand holds! If you think you know someone who could benefit from these tips please feel free to share this blog. If you'd like some help getting started with your designs, let a member of our team help!
