Do you ever wonder as a business owner what can and needs to be designed for your business? Or perhaps it feels overwhelming to think of all the print/online marketing and internal PDFs you use for your processes, product, or basic marketing needs.
Marketing collateral is where customers are interacting with your brand
As a business owner myself, I am often thinking of new ways that I can streamline my business + keep all of my marketing items looking consistent with my brand. It may seem like a simple thing, but your brand awareness is strengthened when there are similarities between the look of your invoices, product catalogs, welcome packets, manuals, and free incentive PDFs. See, just right there, I’ve already listed four items that most business use within their process. Often times, these items are what customers interact with and associate with your brand.
The Problem
The problem is that the design of these materials often gets pushed to the back burner for us as business owners because honestly, we have more important things to be working on (such as completing tasks that are actually billable, serving our clients well, marketing our product, and keeping up with other daily business needs).
The Benefit
However, as a professional designer and business owner, I have seen the benefit of design consistency within these collateral and business documents. Having professionally designed collateral sets your business up for success. Customers will see your business as being more developed when the design of your marketing materials is higher quality. Having professional collateral also helps with organization and function. I have probably 10 internal documents for my own business + all the content-based PDF’s I am continually creating for free downloads (like the one you’ll get today!) They are consistent in design which just helps me stay organized and not get overwhelmed when it comes to updating the content in the future.
Organize and Brainstorm
Need some help organizing and thinking of what you should design for your business? I’ve created a short list of items I’ve had to design for my business or for my client’s businesses. I’m sure there are others that could be added, but it’s a strong start and will help you move forward.
Want to create a more professional brand and add consistency within your marketing efforts? Click here + fill out the short form to get the free idea list. Hope this helps you brainstorm what can be designed for your business!
I find that when I have a list in front of me I can focus on taking action steps to moving forward with my business. If I allow my business ideas to just float around in my head, I become overwhelmed and stationary in marketing my business.
But… I’m not a designer / I simply don’t have the time
If you’re thinking something along the lines of… I see the value in keeping a consistent look for collateral and business documents, but I’m not a designer and simply do not have time to worry about this, what should I do?
I completely get it. I AM a designer and still push these items to the bottom of my planner. However, I truly believe in the value of consistent branding throughout all marketing collateral, and I’m here to help! I create tons of PDF-based work every week and would love to chat with you about how we can add value to your brand through designed materials.
If you’d like to be able to do some of the work on your own, I also create PDF templates where you can edit the content using Adobe Acrobat or InDesign if you have access to it. This will allow you to start creating brand awareness with similar design elements within your materials. By using the same template for different purposes, you’ll be able to create simple marketing PDFs on your own.
Thanks for reading! Get in touch with me through the comments or by using the link below if you’d like to chat about implementing a consistent look through your marketing materials. We’ll see you next week for the 4th step in my Branding Process post series: Brand Design.
