Some of the best stores, products, books, and services I’ve ever used have been quite simply, downright ugly.
They were packed full of content and provided value far beyond their cost, and in many cases even provided a huge benefit to my life and/or my business.
Sadly however, to this day the vast majority of them remain undiscovered, or are still completely ignored because they all lacked one crucial marketing element.
The element of design.
Why Does Design Matter?
Good marketing is all about effectively communicating the value of a product or service.
The problem is it’s just a whole lot harder to communicate this value if something is poorly designed.
A lack of design shows a lack of care, and a lack of care hardly invokes the positive feelings you need to make a sale. These are feelings like trust, pride, accountability, and respect for the consumer, and confidence that the product will do what it says.
Here are 5 reasons that design needs to be an integral part of your marketing.
1. First Impressions
Your brand or company’s design is normally the very first thing a customer will notice and immediately sets the tone for your entire marketing message.
This is why good web design is crucial (where the vast majority of customers search for new businesses).
This first impression is no different with a brand than it is for a person. Like it or not, we are judged based on our appearance and that judgment often happens in a split second.
The beauty here is that we can use this to our advantage to effectively set the stage for our company – what we do, what we stand for, and what we represent – and to positively influence the impression we give off.
2. Lasting Feelings
Good design lasts way beyond the initial first impression. Boring or bad design does not.
All of the emotions and feelings we sought to conjure up through the first impression can last for hours, days, and even weeks after seeing great design.
When done right, good design makes people feel better about you and your company.
3. Recognition
There’s perhaps no more famous example than Coca-Cola and McDonalds. While certainly not beacons of health, their colors, logos, and design are recognizable world wide.
I’m not saying that you need to mold your company into a global brand, in fact, even small local based businesses can reap the rewards of consistent (and consistently good) design across all of their marketing channels.
Over time the recognition does add up to form lasting brand impressions (which is also why it’s so important to make design an intentional part of your marketing mix)
4. Easy To Use, Navigate, and Understand
Good design helps people move from Point A to Point B seamlessly, easily, and without pain or distraction.
The key to this is to first decide what Point B looks like, and then make sure to do everything you can to help your customer get their as quickly and easily as possible.
5. Encourages Social Sharing
Social media is now everywhere. There’s no hiding from it, so it doesn’t make sense to even try.
Instead, embrace social media and create design that’s worth sharing, talking about, and interacting with.
There are very few examples out there of companies that can’t find some way to embrace the shareable properties of social media to help spread their ideas, message, and design.
Your Design Can Be “Ugly”
There are many cases where having an ugly design may actually work in your favor. This is often the case with various e-commerce and blog websites where changes in the design have led to reduced sales and lower customer satisfaction.
Your business may also have a case for going against current design trends and making your own path. The key point here is to make sure that whatever design you choose, that it’s intentional and well thought out.
Ugly design is ok (sometimes) when it’s tracked, analyzed, and intentional.
Doing Just Fine With Bad Design?
I’m sure you can think of a few examples of a business with poor design that’s doing just fine. They may have enough customers to cover the bills and pay their staff, and provide a decent service at a good value.
The question I would ask however is just imagine how much better they could be doing with a little bit of intentional design?
