What value does investing in design add?
It’s often hard to measure return on investment in design accurately, unless it’s a specific advertising campaign, with a code, leading to direct sales enquiries or product purchases. More usually, it comes down to two factors:
Design changes the customer-facing look of a business. Especially true with branding, which can renew a tired brand or create a completely new one. If your business presents its best face to its customers, both in the logo and marketing materials that follow on from that, it will create renewed customer interest, as well as give the marketing department something to push and talk about. Beautiful branded marketing materials also lift internal company morale, which can only benefit the business (I’ve had clients say so).
Design takes the strain off internal marketing managers or employees. Good design of websites and presentation or document templates allows marketers to concentrate on what they do best – marketing the business. I’ve seen so much time (and money) wasted by marketers trying to design themselves, only to fail before contacting a designer. Stick to what you’re best at and source experts to help – that’s what I do.
“It’s very difficult to put a price on … but it’s tightly tied up with the value of your brand and your brand equity and it’s worth investing in. If you’re trying to attract premium customers and you’re trying to appear like you are a sophisticated business, you really do have to invest in looking, feeling and sounding the part. It’s really important” – Amy Grenham, Marketing Manager, Desynit.
“Designers are not just for logos, or one-off projects. They are for more meaningful, long-lasting relationships. That’s where a designer’s true value can shine.”
What can I offer beyond design itself?
I like to work collaboratively, meeting you sooner rather than later in a project, so I can offer help with ideas for your marketing. Many clients only approach a designer once they have an idea, such as, ‘I need an A4 brochure’. However, if, as a marketer or business owner, you feel like you need help with ideas or concepts for your marketing materials, then please get in touch. I’m happy to chat through early ideas (or come up with them) before I actually get onto the pure designing bit.
“When you actually get to know designers who can design, you can spot the difference from the designers who can’t. When you meet somebody who can translate your brief and basically interpret what you’re trying to say, but also put it into a tone of voice or a brand’s voice, so it doesn’t jar – that’s what good designers do.” – Rob Pendelton, MERJ Marketing.
Understanding your needs is part of the process.
Part of the briefing process is about listening to the problems business owners or marketers are having communicating with their customers. You might have a full written brief of exactly what you want, or you might only have a vague idea of the best way to communicate a message to your clients. Let’s meet up and I can try to understand your problem and work out a design solution to it.
“In the first meeting that we had, Christian was able to reflect back my ideas and my requirements in a really easy to understand way. It showed me that he had got the crux of what I was asking him to look at.” – Helen Woodcock, Business Development Manager, KETL.