by Myra Stacey | Jul 31, 2020 | Services
If you are thinking of starting up your new brand sometime soon, or if you are simply struggling with your company’s branding, the first thing you need to know about is brand consistency and why it is so important.
Brand consistency simply means that the message your brand promotes is the same in every medium. Back in the day, print and posters used to dominate the world of marketing. Nowadays, social media is the main form of marketing.
Applications and websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, among others, are essential to spread brand awareness and inculcate brand recognition.
But the point is, the message needs to be consistent.
Here’s how to keep your brand design consistent across social media.
Use Consistent Brand Colors and a Logo Across Your Various Social Media Accounts
Social media has firmly established itself as THE way to promote your platform in a way that it reaches thousands (maybe even millions) of people.
If you’re a business owner, and you need to promote your brand, you will have to have a strong social media platform if you want to spread brand awareness and build customer loyalty.
Web design and brand design are both crucial components of branding and ones you need to pay attention to.
For example, if your brand’s color is red, make sure that red shows up everywhere – in the profile picture on Facebook, in the Instagram posts, even on the website itself.
When hiring your web designer, for example, be very clear about the message the brand wants to convey and what color most likely captures your brand’s identity.
Consistent Posting Style
It doesn’t really matter what your brand’s personality is like. What does matter is that you need to use a consistent tone and voice no matter where you post, and no matter how often. If your brand’s marketing is typically quirky and witty, you can’t adopt a strictly formal tone in some places. If the language of your brand is very simple, make sure to avoid complicated jargon.
Achieving brand consistency isn’t all that challenging, so long as you pay attention to these two points as far as brand design and web design are concerned.
If you are on the lookout for an efficient and trustworthy web and brand designer, we can help! Simply call 336-684-6505 or visit our website for more information on our services. Let us help you – starting today!
by Myra Stacey | Apr 24, 2020 | Search Engine Optimization, Services
These days on the internet, there is certainly a lot more competition out there as far as blogging is concerned. This means that you have to post blogs much more often to get a decent amount of traffic on your site than you would have needed a decade ago. But how often is often? Do you need to post a blog daily to get good traction? In this article, we will explain to you how often you should blog to make your site a success.
Why Posting Daily Doesn’t Work Anymore
On the surface, posting daily has its benefits. You’re constantly giving your audience fresh content to engage with and ensuring that you’re always at pace with the latest happening within your niche. It can be good for improving your site’s search ranking as well. Although it isn’t the biggest criteria most search engines take into account in their rankings.
However, over the past few recent years, more and more major blog sites have moved away from daily posting. This is because, with so much content out there, readers are pickier in what they want to read, prioritizing quality over quantity. Top-performing blogs today are those posting content that is highly relevant, in-depth and engaging to the reader. This is the type of strategy you should yourself be aiming towards instead of posting every day for the sake of it.
Keeping It Balanced
Instead of posting every day, focus on the quality of what you write. Depending on your niche, posting three-two or even once a week can work and give you the chance to write longer and more carefully constructed blogs that really engage your audience. The comments, links and social share you garner from writing genuinely more in-depth content are great for your site’s SEO as well.
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to blogging. Whether it is posting daily, a few times per week or whenever you feel inspired, stick to a routine that you are most comfortable with. This will help prevent burnout and allow you to let your writing skills truly shine.
Print and Web Designer is a professional web and marketing service agency. We offer customized creative solutions that can help you take your business to a whole new level. For more information email Info@PrintandWebDesigner.com
by Myra Stacey | Apr 3, 2020 | Inbound Marketing, Services
Are you thinking of writing a blog? Awesome! Running a blog is quite a cathartic experience and is just so much fun. However, if you’re creating a blog for the first time, the chances are that you may make mistakes. No worries, though, as you’ll learn as you go. However, if you want your blog posts to be flawless, they should tick all the right boxes.
What are the essential things that every blog needs? Find out below!
- A Catchy Title
The title of your blog should be such that it compels readers to click on your blog link and read it. So, it’s always a good idea to invest some additional time in thinking of an engaging title. Research shows that top-performing blogs usually contain a number, such as “the best 4 reasons to..” or words, such as “how to…”, “a guide to..”, etc. It’s also crucial for you to include your main keyword in the title so that your blog can rank in Google’s search rankings.
- Persuasive Words
Some power words have the potential to make your copy look great. Plus, if you’re writing for a brand, it will help you sell more. Some amazing persuasive words to use for blogging include “you,” “free,” “because,” “help,” “new,” and lots more!
- Subheadings and Bullet Points
Use these tools to help make your blog easy to navigate. A lot of people just skim through blogs on the internet. Having your blog posts divided into proper subheadings and short pointers will make it easy for readers to go through your piece at a quick glance.
- Social Media Sharing
Make sure that your blog posts have a feature that allows readers to share your content on their social media platforms.
The best place to insert the social sharing tool is at the top or the bottom of the post.
- Insert Images
Pictures make content visually appealing, so make sure you use high-quality, license-free images for your blog. You may not know it, but images also help improve your site’s ranking when you use image captions and alt. tags with the main keyword.
If you make a living from blogging, you’ll find these tips quite useful. For more help when it comes to brochure designs, print designs, magazine designs, website designs and brand designs, contact us at 919-891-0545 or email us at Info@PrintAndWbDesigner.com
by Myra Stacey | Feb 23, 2020 | Services
Maintaining brand consistency through all channels is one of the most essential parts of the branding process. One of the ways to help achieve this is through a style guide. Think of it as a sort of a rulebook containing all the instructions on how the look and feel of your brand should be across all mediums, from web content to presentations to business cards.
Apart from ensuring brand consistency, another major advantage is that it saves time in the design process as the designing team knows exactly what they need to do, and delays are avoided as a result of fewer revisions being requested.
Here are 4 helpful tips on how to create a style guide for your brand and achieve better outcomes and enhanced productivity.
1. Chose a Color Palette
Imagine if the iconic Coca Cola logo was green and yellow instead of red and white, it certainly would not give the right feel of the brand. Even a slightly lighter shade of red on the logo would feel strange. Maintaining color consistency across all mediums is essential to maintaining the look and feel of the brand.
This is why, when creating a brand style guide, select a color palette and have its values defined for all the various color formats such as RGB and CYMK.
2. Define Your Logo Size and Placement
Imagine a Ralph Lauren t-shirt, and you are likely to picture the brand logo placed at a specific position. Often, a logo’s size and placement can be just as important as its color when it comes to branding. In your style guide, have your brand logo size and placement as well as any variations properly dictated so that consistency is reflected across the board.
3. Choose Typefaces That Reflect Your Brand Identity
It would certainly give your brand a confusing look if your business is on some serious subject such as finance or law and the fonts you are using are casual and non-serious. Select a set of fonts for your brand that clearly reflects your identity and the tone of your business to ensure that it complements rather than contradicts your brand image.
4. Set the Tone
Your brand tone or voice that you employ across all your communications should sound and look a certain way. In your style guide, be sure to set a guideline for your content writers on how they should dictate your brand to ensure that it complies with your brand identity and really speaks to the targeted audience.
Not every business or organization may have the time or resources to create a styling guide for their brand. If that is your case then consider working with the pros at Print and Web Designer. To avail our service, or for any queries, call (919) 891-0545 or email us at Info@PrintandWebDesigner.com.
by Myra Stacey | Feb 17, 2020 | Print Design, Services, Web Design
When it comes to the successful completion of a design project, one of the most crucial factors is effective communication between the client and the graphic designer or designing team. Follow these helpful tips on how to talk to a graphic designer to bridge any awkward communication gaps, avoid delays within the project, and achieve the desired outcomes.
1. Be Specific
Be specific and clear with the designer about what your expectations and preferences are. Avoid ambiguity and state exactly why you disagree with the outcome or what changes you need to be done. For example, instead of saying that the design looks unprofessional, clearly state why you think so and what changes would like to see to make it less so.
Be ready to come with styles, fonts, examples, and layouts which you would want the designer to refer to get a firmer grasp of what your expectations are.
2. Keep the Tone Positive
A little bit of positivity can go a long way and keep the morale of the design team high as they complete your project. Choose your words with consideration. Instead of commenting on mistakes, talk about what improvements can be made. Instead of saying that the project outcome was unsatisfactory, state that the graphic designers certainly have the potential to do better. When the environment is positive, so are the results. You can read more about giving feedback to your designer here.
3. Think it From the Designer’s Perspective
Ultimately, some of your expectations on the project and that of the graphic designer may differ. If a designer disagrees with your suggestion, it is likely that they may have already considered it. Instead of getting frustrated with them, think about it from their perspective and what limitations they may be facing.
Ask the designer for their reasoning behind their decision and work with them to find solutions to any limitations or obstacles they may be facing with regard to meeting your expectations.
4. Give Feedback Often
In order for the project to go more smoothly from start to finish, give feedback early and often. This is will ensure that mistakes that occur through the project cycle are remedied on time and give the designing team the needed time to make the desired changes without compromising quality.
5. Avoid Jargon
Unless you are working with a very specialized designing team that only serves clients in your field, avoid technical jargon in your communication with them. Sure, their meaning and context will come to you naturally but such words will be really confusing to your designers, making them more susceptible to misunderstanding your feedback and making mistakes.
In need of an expert designing service for your designs? Look no further than Print and Web Designer. To avail of our service or for any queries call (919) 891-0545 or email us at Info@PrintandWebDesigner.com.
by Myra Stacey | Feb 17, 2020 | Print Design, Services, Web Design
While creativity and skill will get you far, these two alone don’t make a great graphic designer. Just like a pro-athlete focuses as much on technique as on sheer skill, a graphic designer needs to be aware of the industry’s best practices to really take their productivity to the next level. In this article, we share some of the industry’s best practices in graphic design.
1. Choose Appropriate Typefaces
Your choice in fonts and typefaces can make or break the impression of your designs. Use fonts that are appropriate for the target audience e.g. It wouldn’t be a good idea to use comic sans in a design for a major financial client. Avoid using too many fonts – sticking to only those that go well with each other.
2. Imagine your Target Persona
Before you start working on your design project, it is important to create a mental image of the demography, preferences, and background of the target audience that the design will be aimed at. For some projects, it will be easy as your target persona would that be of your clients, while in others, it would be worth it to do some research and understand what your target persona is like.
3. Don’t Be Shy With Asking Questions
Many skilled graphic designers fail to deliver the desired results because they tend to be shy about asking questions from their clients. While asking too many questions that only waste the client’s time is a big no-no, asking none at all can be even worse as the success of a design project requires that the design matches the expectations and preferences of that of the client.
4. Don’t Copy
Take inspiration from other people’s work but don’t copy. Not only is it unprofessional, but it can also possibly lead to you losing client retention as they find out about it and even legal lawsuit if the original design was copyrighted.
5. Focus on What Your Good at and Outsource the Other Tasks
You have limited time and energy and these can be more efficiently utilized if you focus your efforts on what you are good at and outsource the rest of the tasks to others e.g. If you need to add HTML coding into your digital design, hire someone who is good at it and work together.
6. Keep It Simple
Remember that the attention span of a human being, especially in this busy age, is extremely short. If you clutter your design with too much information, it will only end up confusing your target audience and making them lose interest in it. Keep the design clear and simple so to effectively convey the message you want across to the audience.
7. Lastly, Don’t Play It Safe
At its core, graphic designing is all about unleashing your creativity and outshining expectations. Make use of guidelines but don’t be too rigid.
Want to work with a team of designers that go above and beyond in meeting your expectations? Then look no further than the designing pros at Print and Web Designer. Get in touch through our email Info@PrintandWebDesigner.com or call directly at (919) 891-0545.
