10 Key statistics why graphic design plays a vital role in marketing your business
Jenn Pereira from Removal.AI presents data-based insights on the power of graphic design for businesses and the importance of brand identity.
A good design is both pleasing to the senses and one that can spark emotion. More than being compelling, it is also valuable to any business. Through the years, there are exceptional studies made about the impacts of good design in marketing.
Since businesses have gone digital, companies are encouraged to focus on a modern marketing approach through social media.
Before going deep into the different ways why design should be considered to be top priority, let us talk about marketing first and what makes it a success.
Before the Internet took over, marketing was and still is all about establishing a professional brand image. It is also a method of maintaining a specific image that will pave the way for creating a trusting relationship with the consumers.
A marketing campaign, however, is only considered to be a success if it is effective. If you were to quantify success with regards to marketing, you can do so when you are able to create a connection that engages the customer enough to buy the product or service and keep it going for longer while making stronger marketing tactics as time goes on.
Developing a positive brand image is an investment in itself. Many companies are allocating funds towards their marketing efforts because they recognize its importance in persuading consumers to choose their brand. But why is it not enough to put all efforts towards marketing? Why are there businesses that fail even with a ton of budget on ads? The answer lies in the choice of the design.
It is not only about being unique. In some ways, graphic designers are also following trends so one cannot fully claim of being the first to do a design. In fact, most designers are anticipating or following the trends just to make sure that the graphic design will somehow work.
Being original is also difficult when there are thousands of competitors out there. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that there are 28.8 million small businesses. You can just imagine how tough it is for each business to come up with unique ideas. So how does one stand out?
Whether it is for an ad or simply just a photo accompanying a blog post, it is all about a holistic approach. The layout should be good, the colours should be correct, and the photo itself should be impeccably edited. In short, presentation is everything when it comes to marketing design.
The only way to make a marketing plan work is to set the following goals: make the graphic design attention-grabbing, keep the audience guessing, and create engagement. Sounds easy, right? Well, it can be easy if you completely understand how design truly affects any marketing campaign.
Fortunately for you, we have compiled these 10 key stats that will hopefully enlighten you to the exceptional role of good design in marketing.
Statistics and tips about the role of graphic design in business growth
1–93% of all human communication is visual
Marketing has gone heavy with visuals because the human brain is able to process images at a faster rate than it processes text. Aside from processing it at up to 60,000 times, information sent to the brain is also 90% visual information. Almost 93% of all human communication is visual so it is not such a huge surprise that humans prefer visual content than text alone.
It was only a few years ago, however, that the Internet went from text-heavy to visual content. Before 2015, internet content had more text than images. Pages with photos took a lot of time to download which is why marketers avoid having them on campaign materials. So why the sudden shift to visual content? It all has something to do with the advancement of internet technology.
Technology has evolved so much that it can almost match with the brain’s ability to process images. Aside from only on the computer, people can now access the internet from mobile devices.
The high-powered gadgets are built not only for text messaging but more on sharing information through apps. Information is exchanged in a blink of an eye and consumers can afford to look up products on the go.
Marketers are able to unlock all opportunities for visual marketing because it has become the essence of being able to connect with consumers. Because of the speed that allows swift changes in mobile activities, very small attention is required to absorb almost every bit of information from visual content. Images and video content developed into effective tools can take real-life actions through mobile devices, like shopping.
2 — Colour improves brand awareness by 80%
Colours are effective in communicating feelings and this is exactly why it is such an effective tool for boosting brand recognition. In the marketing world, black is often associated with luxury brands, like Chanel, Prada, Gucci. Corporate businesses, on the other hand, sport hues of blues for their branding. It comes to a point where consumers are able to tell which brand it is by recognizing the branding palette used.
Such brand-recognition skill is owed to the fact that using a signature colour increases brand recognition by at least 80%.
With this in mind, you need to be very stringent on choosing which colours to use for brand design. You may start designing your brand and base the colours off popular ones that are used for branding established businesses. For example, out of 100 famous branding colours, 34% are using black, 30% used blue, 30% for red, 9% for yellow, and 7% for green.
You may also use an old formula of basing the colours on how it stirs the human emotion. Yellow, for example, exudes positive emotions like happiness. The logic side of the brain easily recognizes it so it will be perfect if you want your brand to stand out. If you haven’t noticed, announcements for sales and discounts are always in red. This is because the red colour gets the pulses racing and encourages exciting emotions like passion.
For brands that want to be recognized for reliability, adding a touch of blue to their branding is encouraged because blue signifies serenity and dependability. Aside from evoking a playful and romantic feeling, pink is also great for products and services that are intended for women since this colour embodies femininity. As for those who are into sustainable and healthy living, green is the best colour to go to as it will associate the brand with organic and healthier ingredients.
3–7 out of 10 consumers believe that packaging design has a huge impact on buying decisions
Another essential part of marketing is choosing the packaging. How attractive a product looks can influence the purchasing decisions of the consumers. The choice of materials for the packaging somehow elevates the quality of the product.
Are you interested in graphic design? Get inspired by the Top 10 graphic design trends in 2020
A good example is the use of paper and cardboard packaging. Paper is organic and many people find anything “organic” to be more expensive. Using paper materials for packaging instantly gives a product a sense of premium-ness and top quality.
Besides a product looking more special with paper packaging, the popular notion that paper is less wasteful and is better for the environment similarly causes it to be more favourable than single-use plastic packaging.
When building your brand, you should ponder about the packaging design and how it would affect the psychology of the target consumers. If you have the means to go with the trend and use paper or cardboard for packaging, then it will benefit your company the most.
However, you should also take into consideration the costs, how the packaging would affect product quality, and other important factors to think about when choosing a suitable packaging.
Food products, for example, may need to be in a sealed container to prolong its freshness. This can be difficult to achieve with paper packaging. On the other hand, since the logic here is to make it appear like it is packaged in paper, you may think of alternative ways like having paper bags or wrapping the plastic container/bottle in paper. It may cost a little extra but it may still help your brand out especially with the popularity of paper packaging.
4–94% of customers would quit visiting a website with poor graphic design
The quality of graphic design is roughly translated by the consumers as the ingenuity of the brand itself. The website, or the social media pages, of a brand is typically where consumers search for information about a product or service.
Aside from colours and photos, the overall design can elicit specific human emotions. If the web design is attractive to the user, it is more likely that he or she will explore more. It can create engagement, one that will even be enough to close a sale.
On the contrary, study shows a poorly designed website may instill negative emotions. A confusing ordering process, for example, can dissuade the user from checking out and will look for an alternative website for the company to buy products from.
The use of poor quality images also contributes to how customers take action on the website. Photos are the only way to inspect products so unappealing images can terribly hurt your chances of making sales.
When it comes to web design, you should make it a priority to improve everything, from the photos, layout, down to the whole UI. The goal is always to make the browsing experience better and memorable for the user.
5–60.8% of marketers state that visuals are key to their marketing plan
No one doubts the fact that visual content is more engaging than just text. Articles become complete because of the accompanying visuals. Another fact is among the average readers, only 25% actually read the article. The rest only look into the pictures and are able to draw out conclusions from there.
When we say visuals, it does not only pertain to images. It can be interesting diagrams like graphs and charts. Infographics, which are a combination of graphical elements, charts, photos, and texts, are also preferable because it condenses plenty of information in one image.
Screen captures are great for giving step-by-step instructions. GIFs and Memes may look informal, but they are great for short and fun social media content that everyone will take a look at. Videos may not be easy to produce but it would be perfect for explaining complicated concepts in a short time.
Although these visuals need not be fancy for them to be effective, it can’t be denied that they provide plenty of opportunities to market any product or service. You can choose to use stock photos and other materials if it overwhelms you to create your own visuals.
But if you are the type who enjoys the creative process of producing stunning visuals, be aware that consumers often value creativity and originality. They may appreciate and will look forward to seeing more of your creative outputs which will instantly give your marketing efforts a boost.
6 — Visual assets such as photos in social media posts provide a 650% higher engagement rate than plain text posts
One way to know if your social media posts are effective is when the audience is so engaged that they tend to share naturally good and relatable content that you’ve presented. Adding visuals like photos and videos is the way to do this since it can help facilitate comprehension and retention.
By providing a way for the audience to grasp the information faster, the emotions are stirred and more likely to produce an action. It is either they like (or heart) or re-post the content for other people to see.
7 — Consistent presentation of a brand through design has seen sales rise by 33%
Humans, complicated as they think, are so into brand consistency. They are quick to judge when a brand deviates from its values and immediately form a negative impression.
If you want the consumers to be familiar with your brand, all of your marketing materials must be correlated with the kind of image that you want to be perceived. Be consistent with your presentation, such as the logos, colour palette, choice of words, etc.
Unifying the marketing direction can help you succeed in creating a solid brand image. It will help the audience to remember you and associate you with an image that they can relate to and identify with.
8 — Over the past ten years, design-driven businesses have outperformed the S&P Index by 219%
The past ten years is considered to be the most crucial for the digital marketing industry. Most of the companies are able to create ideas and conclusions about the data-driven strategies that were used for digital marketing efforts. The results were mind-blowing as design-driven companies have shown significant success over those who were not into the same mindset.
Good graphic design has been aligned with effective business strategies and branding. Actual positive business results were attributed to creative designs. Most of those successful companies have utilized creative designs to its full potential. They invested in producing effective and creative visuals in order to help reinforce the customer journey through social media and websites.
By being able to create good designs, these successful brands were able to tell their stories more effectively. This made the consumers understand them better and relate to the brands. Graphic design became an effective business strategy where consumers became more engaged and trusting to the brands.
9–82% of businesses believe there is a clear correlation between creativity and business performance, including innovative design
A lot of companies believe that creativity fosters business success. By being more supportive of the creative aspirations of their employees, these companies are able to increase brand loyalty from consumers. Study shows, 82% of companies believe there is a strong correlation between creative design and business success.
This is not surprising since, with more creative minds on deck, customer experiences are elevated. The work environment improves so much that employees become more motivated to be better at what they do. Improved outcomes were seen because of the support that the whole team receives.
10–86% of customers state that brand authenticity is a crucial factor in choosing and endorsing what products they want
Humans are also better at remembering photos than actual words and numbers. With thousands of competitors on the market, consumers are keen on finding one that sparks their curiosity. This makes handling marketing more challenging. Brands are always finding ways to maximize their visual assets to make them sound fresh and original for their consumers.
When aiming towards looking genuine, it is best to always develop new graphic design with great visuals. Make it a point to stay ahead of the game by studying design trends and offering better designs than what is already available.
Aside from being original, consumers are very particular with quality as well. It would be great to be extra cautious with how you present fresh designs. Once authenticity and quality is established, it is expected for consumers to like and support your brand.
Wrapping it up…
A good entrepreneur never makes an opportunity pass without making his brand known to the consumers. You will do an exceptional job if you consider every marketing material as your only chance to deliver a good and lasting impression.
As a business owner, you must be aware that a good graphic design is an investment by itself. Unlike any other investment and marketing strategies however, one can never go wrong with a good design. It is one of the most effective ways to sustain and grow the business.
From these stats, you can already see that a good graphic design is directly tied to the success of any business. It generates both trust and confidence, both of which are determinants of credibility through which any business can gain both with effective designs.
Originally Published at https://designwanted.com/design/10-key-statistics-why-graphic-design-plays-a-vital-role-in-marketing-your-business/
