Would you trust an SEO company who can’t get noticed?
Marketing spend continues to rise, but not every company makes a bang for their buck. A mishandled marketing campaign could cost you big time.
Poor marketing design often holds marketing campaigns back. Below, we’re taking a look at how to create successful designs for an SEO company.
Have a Plan
This is the most basic advice available, but there’s a good reason for that.
If you don’t put your planning hours in for your marketing design, then you can’t expect it to succeed.
People often think of design as something that can be thrown together in the right program. But all successful marketing campaigns have many hours of R&D behind them.
Work out all the nuts and bolts, from what kind of imagery you’ll use through to where you’ll source it. Determine who’s designing what and how they communicate with each other.
As you plan in advance, you’ll start to see these considerations come out than you didn’t stop to consider before.
Having a robust plan also lets you decide which channels you’ll use. Decide which you’ll use out of social media, blogs, and mailing lists.
All of these options will influence your marketing design choices.
Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is the number one priority in any marketing design.
If you don’t understand who you’re marketing for, you could flub it. You don’t want to stun your audience with jargon. But maybe your audience expects you to demonstrate expertise.
Is your audience professional? Casual? Serious business or fun and quirky?
Getting it wrong could attract active scorn from your intended audience. And if you don’t consider your audience early, you’ll waste funds targeting the wrong groups.
Find other successful examples of marketing in your niche or the wider marketing world. Look at the success of campaigns like ‘Share a Coke’ to find out how it connected with the audience.
It’s a good example to see how a simple idea can land with a huge demographic.
Make that audience the center of your campaign. Sites like https://www.oneseocompany.com/ demonstrate how to emphasize your audience even on your homepage – in this case, law firms.
Mix and Match Media
The most effective digital content isn’t static. Drive engagement by offering your marketing design in various formats.
There’s an online trend toward video content, particularly on social media. Ride that wave and offer your marketing in clips you can upload to Facebook and Twitter.
Make sure your video is audio-friendly. That’s not just for the hard-of-hearing.
You’ve probably scrolled past a video or switched tabs but left the audio running. It’s an efficient way to digest content without committing time to it.
Run your content in blog posts and emails, as well. Decide what those posts and emails will look like – list articles or in-depth pieces, for example.
Everyone gives weight to different types of content. Mix and match your media to ensure you’re reaching the widest audience possible.
Include Infographics
Infographics are the secret weapon of marketing design.
Need to present boring statistics without losing your audience? Infographic. Need a relevant image to break up some text? Infographic. Need to compare and contrast services? You get it.
Infographics are a fantastic way to distill statistics into digestible form. Designed well, they’re bright, eye-catching, and easy-to-read. They’re THE way to deliver dense data without blinding your audience.
This is a great chance for SEO companies to show they know their stuff. Your audience won’t always understand the ins-and-outs of SEO. But you can get the basics across and show you good you are by putting the facts in a clear format.
Stay Consistent
Effective marketing design leans heavily on consistency.
Look at the giants. The world’s biggest brands all have set color palettes, fonts, and logos to ensure brand consistency.
But it goes deeper than that. Many even have their own marketing language.
Staying consistent is a top-to-bottom exercise. Your company branding is at the very top level. This should remain consistent from physical to digital, from social media to website.
Then there’s the message for your marketing. Decide this in advance and keep your marketing on-message no matter where it appears.
Finally, there are the design elements. Pick the color palette for your campaign and stick to it. Choose one or two fonts you’ll use for all your publications.
Consistency creates one solid image in the minds of your audience. Think of it like getting your song stuck in their head. A catchy song has a simple melody.
Cut the Fluff
You’ve never heard the word ‘cluttered’ to describe good marketing design.
Cutting the fluff keeps your design focused and easy to read. The more nonessential info, the more likely your audience will turn off before they get to the meat of what you’re trying to say.
Think carefully about the facts you need to include. You should include some stats but keep to the ‘sexier’ ones. Once your audience engages with you, you can go deeper to turn them into customers.
Clutter your design too much, and you’ll never have that chance.
Be Creative
We’re all bombarded with marketing constantly. Even our inboxes end up stuffed with junk mail.
Stand out. Customers won’t trust an SEO company who can’t get themselves noticed. That’s the entire service the customer is after!
Be creative, be different. Make your subject lines into interesting hooks. Choose a unique mascot.
Adopt an unexpected tone. Show your customers you live the same principles you’ll apply to their site.
It’s tough to break away from the pack. Our ideas are inspired by the designs we see around us every day. That’s why it’s important to get into the right mindset for creativity.
Brainstorm ideas, whether you’re working alone or with a team. Make a list of angles you can take, then cross them out and start again. By the time you’re a couple of layers down, the truly creatives ideas will start to appear.
Marketing Design Drives Success
Ultimately, your marketing will come down to two things: the plan and the execution.
Marketing design forms a huge part of that execution, so it’s vital you get it right. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll stay on the right track.
Need more design advice? Be sure to follow our blog.