In this complete guide to graphic design, you’ll discover:

• What types of graphic design there are for small businesses
• How graphic design can help your small business grow
• What graphic design content gives you the best chance at going viral
• Why small business branding services only work in your favor

Learn Everything You Need to Know About Graphic Design for Small Businesses

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how can you not afford to use artwork with your content? Graphic design is a necessity for small business owners. What better way to get the word out about your business than with high-quality images and graphics?

Graphic designers tap into people’s emotions. They examine, study, and analyze what people want or need and then create art that speaks to those desires.

At Frontier Marketing, we value graphic design because we know the incredible impact it can have on customers. The right piece of art at the right time can bring in customers, convert leads, and create an edge over the competition.

If you’re wondering how graphic design for small businesses works, then look no further! We have everything you need to know right here!

What is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is the art of communicating through visual media. These visual media include fonts, photographs, and illustrations.

There is an art to doing graphic design well. Like anything else, it takes years of practice and education to perfect.

Professional graphic designers have the ability to convey your tone, emotions, values, history, and so much more in a single image.

Graphic design can add an exciting visual flair to your content. In this way, it’s a godsend for small business owners using digital marketing to communicate with customers.

What Are the Types of Graphic Design?

Graphic design is used everywhere. This includes packaging, social media, web design, and more.

For small business owners, that means there’s a lot of different types of graphic design you can use. Here are the types of graphic design you will need for your small business:

Visual Identity

Your visual identity is what people think of when they hear your business’s name.

Take, for example, some of the big-name brands. When you think of Nike, you think of the swooshing symbol. When you think of Starbucks, you see a mermaid with a cup of coffee. And when you think of McDonald’s, you see the two golden arches shaped like an M.

What else do you think of when you see those logos? Do you think of the company values, history, and personality? Do you also think of the products and services these companies provide?

If the answer is yes, then their visual identities have done their job.

And the visual identity is more than just the logo. Rather, every piece of marketing you see keeps in line with their brand guidelines.

At Frontier Marketing, we use these guidelines to make sure there is consistency in everything we post. Our graphic designer designed all our logos, typographies, colors, and images to consistently represent our brand’s personality. In this way, Graphic design has simplified our marketing.

Marketing and Advertising

Using graphic design for marketing or advertising is a great way to connect with people.

This type of design goes beyond a brand’s logo and identity. Instead, it includes every image you publish to get people interested in your business.

One example of this is the graphics a business uses on social media.

When your company posts images on Facebook or Instagram, how are they perceived? Do they line up with your company’s values? Are they recognizable as part of your business?

Graphic designers can create images that engage with customers based on wants, needs, awareness, and satisfaction. In this way, the graphics you use can become the best brand ambassadors and selling tools for your company.

This is not limited to just digital graphic design, either.

Print, believe it or not, is definitely not dead. Brochures, handouts, business cards, and signs are all valuable graphic design tools as well.

Published Content

Published content goes beyond just websites and social media.

An eBook, for example, can be a great tool to promote your business. An expert graphic designer is essential for crafting a great-looking eBook.

Here are some other pieces of published content you need a graphic designer for:

• Books
• Newsletters
• Catalogs
• Reports
• Magazines

A visual appeal, whether online or print, always helps draw in and captivate an audience. We know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But would you pick up a book with a blank cover?

The same thing goes for newsletters and reports. No one wants to read a big wall of text. Instead, you need some images and design elements to break all that text up. A graphic designer will use colors, typographies, and branding to add a distinctive visual element to your content.

Video

Finally, you need a graphic designer for video creation. Graphic design and videography have a lot of overlap and use the same skills. After all, video is just a visual narrative put into motion.

An overwhelming number of people are watching videos every day. Therefore, well-crafted and thought-provoking videos can do a lot to raise brand awareness.

Video creation is also important to our team here at Frontier Marketing. We know that more people will consume videos, and we want our clients to benefit from that consumption.

But full-length videos are not the only kind of video graphic design. Logos, social media posts, and presentations can also have an animated or video-like quality that people will enjoy.

How Can Graphic Design Work for Your Small Business?

Graphic design for small businesses provides a way to show off your company. It is more than just small business advertising. It also includes your website, organic search, and social media, along with paid ads.

Great graphic design can keep your business in a customer’s mind long after they’ve exited out of the window.

Here are some of the many ways graphic design can better your business:

Build Your Brand

Like we’ve said before, graphic design is essential for good branding. The ability to communicate with customers is so important for businesses. Graphic designers create memorable brands and logos to better ensure your business stays in customers’ minds.

Drive Conversions

When you send out a social media post or publish a blog, what are your goals? Do you want them to click on an offer or sign up for your newsletter? You can achieve these goals through excellent graphic design.

Graphic designers decipher what people want and can pinpoint that in a visual medium. In fact, companies with custom visual content have a 7x higher conversion rate than those who don’t.

Promote Customer Loyalty

Well thought out and effective designs also inspire customer loyalty.

Think back to those brands we mentioned above: Nike, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. These brands, obviously, have a very high and loyal following. Why? People could go to Adidas, Dunkin’ Donuts, or Burger King, right? Some of it has to do with preference of the product. It also has to do with the loyalty customers feel to their brands.

Starbucks is the only kind of coffee for some people. They will only drink there, and there’s nothing you can say about it. Why? Well, 64% of people say shared values are why they have a relationship with a brand.

And how do you convey your shared values? One of the best ways is through consistency in the images and designs you use. If your graphic designer is consistent across the board, it will promote customer loyalty because the customer will know what you stand for.

Promote Employee Loyalty

Not only does a great brand give you customer loyalty, but it can also promote loyalty in your employees. Your employees will feel a sense of pride in your company if you have good designs. After all, no one wants to work for a company they don’t believe in. But great looking designs can solidify that belief.

Of course, customer and employee loyalty go hand-in-hand. But how do you get more people aware of your brand and those values? One way is to go viral, which talented graphic designers can help with.

How Does a Visual Design Help You Go Viral?

Going viral means a lot of eyes are on your brand. And we mean a lot. The threshold for going viral changes based on who you ask. But the common answer is that it is somewhere over 40,000 views.

For a small business, that is a ton of eyes looking at you. Going viral is very difficult. However, your best shot at going viral is expert graphic design.

Here are some examples of types of design materials that can go viral:

Infographics

Infographics offer a breakdown of information in a visually appealing way. People share infographics on social media 3x more than any other type of content. These impressive graphics can also boost your authority and expertise by portraying your company as an industry leader.

Photos

A slice-of-life photo taken of an employee working can generate many views. Customers like seeing the people behind the company. A behind-the-scenes look at your company humanizes the brand and makes it more relatable.

Videos

The number of video views per day goes up all the time. Between emails and websites and social media, if you’re not using video, you’re missing out on a large audience. People watch videos on their tablets, smartphones, and desktops. They can be easily shared across social media and forwarded through emails.

What Are Some Graphic Design Tips?

We do want to stress that you should go with a professional graphic designer. It’s a great way to build up trust with your customers. A professional graphic designer knows the software needed and has the expertise to bring your brand to life.

The professional graphic design team at Frontier Marketing knows the tricks of the trade. Here are some tips to get the most out of your graphic design:

Keep it Simple

An overly complicated or flashy graphic can be off-putting to some people. It also risks muddying up your message. In contrast, a simple, clear graphic can be more effective because it is easier to understand. The worst thing you can do when marketing your business is to have a customer not see what the message is supposed to be.

Limit Font Types

If you have a lot of text on a design, it might be tempting to go overboard with fonts. But not every line of text needs a new font. Instead, stick to two different types. Otherwise, the design can be confusing.

Typically, the two fonts are one serif font and one sans serif. Serif refers to the extensions on letters. Fonts like Times New Roman and Georgia are serif fonts. Sans serif means without the extensions. These are fonts like Arial and Calibri. These two types of fonts complement each other and give off a better visual.

Use White Space

White space, also known as negative space, is the area in between design elements, such as text or images. White space gives your design room to breathe. It reduces the look of being cluttered or overcrowded. Again, keep it simple.

White space also doesn’t have to be white. It can be any color that represents the negative space in your design. Colored negative space is appealing to look at and can add to the design itself.

Follow the Hierarchy

What is the most important part of your design? Is it your business name? Is it an image you want to show off prominently? In your design, the most important element should be the biggest. The next important element should be the second biggest, and so on.

If you make everything the same size, each element loses its importance.

For example, imagine you’re designing a poster for a 50% off sale. The biggest draw is the 50% off, right? So, that should be the biggest element of your design. After all, that’s what you want people to see first. It’s how you will capture their attention.

Why Are Small Business Branding Services Effective?

Small business branding services give you a professional look and tone. Professional graphic design accomplishes this by keeping your voice, tone, and values consistent across all platforms.

A small business branding service like Frontier Marketing, offers talented writers and graphic designers to promote your small business.

Here is how our team can help your business:

Following Best Practices

Along with the years of experience comes the knowledge of how to do things right. There are best practices for graphic design. These are rules that guide us in creating thought-provoking and visually appealing designs. Our team follows these best practices to bring out the most stunning graphics possible.

Saving You Money

Our designers can save you money in the long run by doing the job right the first time.

If you keep your graphic design within your company, someone has to do it, right? That person might not have the know-how in order to produce great designs. That means they have to learn. And practice. And all of that time spent costs you money.

Instead, our graphic designer can save you time and money and drive business to you.

Are You Ready for Extraordinary Graphic Designs?

The importance of graphic design for small businesses cannot be understated. If you want to give people a memorable look at your company, you need a professional designer.

Frontier Marketing has a terrific in-house graphic design team that works tirelessly to produce remarkable and impressive designs. We offer designs for both the digital and print mediums for small businesses in Fox Lake, IL, and the Chicagoland region.

You’ve put a lot of hard work and time to build up your small business. Shouldn’t your designs reflect those values? Give us a call today or send us a message on Facebook to see how we can help you showcase your business!