 When it comes to your business, you want to establish your unique tone, style, and identity among competitors and potential clients/customers. For social media marketing purposes, graphic design is just as important as written content or a marketing strategy. Your design connects the brand’s identity and target audience, so it is worthwhile to invest time and finance into getting it right. Having a well designed logo and a brand colour scheme creates a sense of consistency. Keeping your branding consistent across social media platforms strengthens the brand’s image and reinforces the feeling of trust between the company and its customers. When a company’s branding is inconsistent, it breaks the link that the customer makes in their mind about the brand’s identity. Your brand’s identity is defined by a graphic design that reflects your company’s mission and values. Most customers will typically only choose to buy your product or use your service after seeing a consistent design plastered across website or social media. Therefore, a great design is needed to convince them you are better than your competitors. In addition, graphic design is an effective communication tool for your audience. A good graphic design has the potential to attract an audience and this is an opportunity to educate them about your brand. Graphic designs can help you break down content and information into an engaging and easy to read. Lastly, graphic design, can help boost sales. Consumers are more likely to choose the brand which they remember, so if your design is memorable, they will choose you. A brand is memorable by if its visually pleasing and thought-provoking. According to psychologist Robert Plutchik, colors have the power to trigger emotional responses in viewers. For instance the colour “Red” is often associated with passion and love as well as anger and danger while “Blue” convey security, trust worthiness, confidence and wisdom. Because of the influence colour can have on customer behavior, it is essential to consider in everything your business produces, from the logo of your business, color scheme of your website to the graphics. Informative and interesting content supported by good graphic design is a powerful reason for your customers to stick around on your website. Consumers, must feel like the visual and written content being produced on the social media platforms are valuable. They must feel that they have something to gain from it, whether that is entertainment, general knowledge or how-to knowledge. In retrospect, the creativity bar is raised when you have effective graphic design. Therefore, it’s important to hire a professional or a digital advertising company. They will brainstorm with you as well as help you with making decisions about your marketing, advertising, branding and your website. At Fresh Media, we have graphic designers that work with you to create compelling designs which help evolve your ideas from concept to reality. You owe it to yourself and to your business to get the best designs help promote what you are passionate about. Written by Amelia Ramjarrie
9 Comments
 Creating content for your social media platforms may seem daunting. As a business owner you want content on your page that’s consistent,valuable and engaging. Fresh Media has come up with a list of ideas that you can try out. What happens next is up to you! As you begin posting, pay attention to what works well and gets the most traction The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to create great content!
If you need help pulling everything together never forget that you can always reach out to us! Written by Amelia Ramjarrie
 In a sea of competitors, what makes your business stand out? What sets it apart? Digital advertisers can’t stress enough the importance of developing your brand identity. Your brand identity is what makes your company instantly recognizable to your customers. Your target audience will associate your brand identity with the organization's product or service. It’s your brand identity that forges the connection between the business and customers. It builds customer loyalty, and determines how your customers will perceive your brand. Crafting a strong brand identity can seem like a big challenge but with the guidance of professionals the process is a bit easier. One of the first steps, that you will be advised about is finding your target audience.Your target audience refers to the demographic of people most likely to consume your product or service. Here are a few questions that will help you define your target audience: How old are they? What gender are they? Where do they live? What is their education level?Are they married? Do they have kids? What is their income level?Once the target audience is defined , the pain points of customers are established and the business strategically provide solutions. Next, choose a creative business name . It should communicate something meaningful and important to your brand. Then it’s time to design a logo that’s unique and memorable. One of the most timeless and easily recognizable logo is Coca Cola. Why? The white, cursive text creates a sense of nostalgia while Color psychology tells us that a bold, bright red color in marketing is known to trigger impulse purchases. That leads us to the next point. Create emotion through the use of colours. The colors you incorporate into your branding should support the overall personality you want your brand to have. For instance, the colour blue connotes a sense of calmness and trust. One of our clients, is OMNI Total Health.They are a family and aesthetic medicine and laser institute and therefore want clients to feel at ease when they go in to get a procedure done. To help them convey this message, their logo is blue. Images are an important part of your brand identity, but only if you do them right. Across all social media platforms their should be consistent imagery. In the case of YogurtLand, another one of our clients, the fuchsia purple is used in all of the graphics along with a featured product . Written by Amelia Ramjarrie
3 minute read  As a forward thinking marketer, you will recognize that traditional marketing like print advertisements, billboards, flyers or pamphlets, TV, newspaper and radio, is becoming less effective every day. There is a better way! It’s called Content Marketing. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) defines content marketing as a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. The CMI also found that 92% of marketers say that their company views content as a business asset. It increases traffic and brings in high-quality leads, so it's no wonder why so many organizations are on board. However, this can only be achieved if marketers get the formula right. When creating content, marketers should create reusable content. For instance, a blog post is often well researched so it can be repurposed into something more visual, like an infographic or video at a later date. Marketers also need to create enough content for each step of the sales funnel (Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action.) At the first stage of the sales funnel, you should present content that answers customer questions and offers innovative solutions. It should be educational. After a certain level of interest is gained, you can reach customers mid-funnel via ebooks, webinars and blogs, posted on your social media platform. At this stage, users are looking for positive user reviews,a clear and powerful value proposition and social proof or evidence for your brand. Once you have convinced customers that your brand is top notched, they will purchase your product or utilize your services. According to a study by Reevoo, 70% of people trust images that come from consumers like themselves, instead of images which brands create. When you repost user generated content, you build consumer trust while gaining content which can save content producers and marketers, time and financial resources. It’s advised that marketers have a content approval process. Having a colleague review your content is vital, because it ensures that approved material maximizes each element, and gets published on time. Additionally it’s important to review content marketing performance. Social media analytics like page views, social media shares, and the time visitors spent looking at pieces of content can help marketers improve their campaigns continuously. Lastly, promote your content. Marketers should spend more time promoting their content than creating it. Content marketing is one of the best investments a company can make but without proper planning it can be one of their biggest pitfalls. Written by Amelia Ramjarrie
2 minute read  Let's get things straight, without a proper understanding of your brand, you would never be able to tell a story or answer the most important question of all time "what does your brand represent?" Branding is more than just a logo, website or a business card. It is more than the colours that you use to represent. Your brand, it is in essence your VOICE!
When we look at brands, the first thing that should come to mind is: will this be a lasting impression and how impactful is it in your daily life. Branding is essential as it is knowing what you and your brand stand for, it is your way of showcasing what your product or service is. Your brand is your power house, and it must communicate your mission, your strength and the value that a client will get from seeing it. One example that we love -> St. Christopher's Service Station, we aren't being biased here, but its a brand we love and have grown with since inception. The dedication of growth that their team takes to ensure that it is communicated over and over again that convenience & service are the two words that come to mind and their customer always comes first. Their mission and value are clear and in your face! Branding is about making the message accessible to everyone and if you can't do that, you need to rethink the position that you are in.  With an unlimited list of options out there, you need to make sure that you choose the right platforms for your brand. The trick "you don't need them all"! The first step is identifying your audience. Who is the target, how old are they, what is their income and who else are they interested in outside of your brand, product or service. Next, clearly define your overall goal, decide if its brand recognition or a clear line to sales leads. Step 3, find your audience, after zooming in on your target and identifying your goals, it would be easier to find which platforms their interested in. Without goals, it’s hard to know exactly how well your social media strategy is performing. Clear goals will not only propel your strategy forward, but they will also serve as defined metrics when it comes to measuring your progress. Here are some tips on the platforms in a nutshell:
Facebook -> Utilise this to build a dedicated following and keep in touch with your audience on a constant basis. Twitter -> Use hashtags to start the conversation as this tool arranges conversations around what's trending. WhatsApp -> An awesome tool to stay in touch with the client and customer, get on the spot messages and keep the message current. LinkedIn -> You can capture the more mature audience and search for potential jobs or professional networking. Instagram -> The growing performer! This has less noise and more reach but its particularly popular with the younger generation and depends on photography to create conversations. Youtube -> A vast network, and great tool if you are going to be showcasing "how to" videos or showcasing motion ads. Pinterest -> Pin photos related to your product and save content that will relate to your following. This is highly used by the female demographic and is common on pinning recipes, ideas and do it yourself projects. Find your focus and your audience and the rest will fall into place.  The "JUST" conversation!
Ever wonder why it's not ok to use the word JUST when speaking with a graphic designer? Well here is why: You do not just stumble upon an idea and throw something together if you want it to be done right, do you? Sometimes it feels like the client thinks that if they add the word just, it would mean a miraculous do it your best, but for the cheapest price. Just comes across as easily as the word quick. SO stay away from just and understand that if you do use it, it is not just going to come for free or it is not just going to be simple. |