Is Design and Print Effective for Your Business in 2024?
In the ever-evolving landscape of small business marketing, navigating the realm of design and print continues to pose both challenges and opportunities. Of course, there are essential strategies that are required for maximising the impact of design and printed materials. A lot of these things will never change, but there are now many options, and several possible outcomes for your marketing efforts involving printed material.
Actionable solutions can empower you to overcome challenges and see the opportunities when they arise.
Let's dive in and look at 4 of the key areas. How many of these points can you put a tick to?
• Understanding Branding: Consistent branding across all printed materials is so important. There are a lot of factors involved and because there are different levels of branding, each require a different approach. Although not every scrap of printed material you produce will require professional design, the starting point should always be a professional approach whereby you apply the concept of your brand to everything you can.
• Utilising Technology - Keeping up to Date: Advancements in technology have made it easier to create and customise printed materials. Interactive functional and engaging designs now present lots of options for businesses to explore beyond the limits of traditional printed materials.
The importance of integrating printed materials with digital, particularly for marketing has never been as great as it is now. The synergy between online and offline strategies is a way to maximize impact.
Design, print and technology trends will keep driving forward to new places. By staying current, businesses can ensure that their printed materials remain relevant and effective in capturing their target audience's attention.
• Choosing Sustainable Options and investing in Quality:
With growing environmental concerns, small businesses can now consider using eco-friendly materials and printing techniques where possible. This aligns with consumers' values and reduces the business's carbon footprint, but there is often a higher cost over traditional printing methods. The requirement is to balance quality with environmental considerations and cost as all these aspects contribute towards making a significant impact on brand perception and effectiveness.
• Measuring Impact: Tracking the performance of printed materials through various available metrics is always important. This is needed to refine a strategy and improve future campaigns.
I haven’t included the breakdown of all the detail that is required for each function, that would be too much for this article. The chances are you are getting a lot of bits right abut also some pieces of the jigsaw are missing! That’s the case 90% of the time.
Branding is identity, and identity relates to you. It works on several levels and it varies, BUT, getting it right for YOUR business is hugely important. That might mean spending time and/or money on one particular aspect of your branding but not on another.
A jobbing builder probably doesn't need beautifully matching printed stationery, but they would need an easily recognisable logo. They probably would have branded clothing, van and site signage that projected that logo.
Then, there is the whole design aspect – knowing how and where to place elements, and what colours actually work in the real world (people often don’t choose the best combinations because they are driven by what they like, not what necessarily works)..
Technology for the last year or two, has, and will continue to move at a very fast pace. For most businesses it has created additional hurdles while a the same time sprinkling its magic. You only have to get a handful of business owners together and ask them what they think of AI and the differences in their answers will show you.
There are lots of opportunities although for many small business owners the cost to utilise fully at present might outweigh the advantages, but this will likely change very soon. Linking print to digital interfaces has been possible for a long time, this is one aspect that many organisations are not using it effectively.
Keeping up with trends is a minefield to navigate, but it is necessary to first gain knowledge and then make informed decisions as to how you can use something and see what it can do for you.
It’s hard sometimes to decide whether to pay extra to satisfy environmental issues. Are you going to stop using that cellophane wrapper? Are you going to make sure all your printing from this moment is printed on eco-friendly materials? Or does this not matter that much to you right now ? Costs will undoubtedly affect your decision!
I am not suggesting this is a course you must take, merely highlighting that the issue now constantly needs addressing.
Measuring the effects of all these parts matters. The cogs and wheels need to spin together in a way that drives you forward, (staying still is no longer an option unless you are somehow established beyond the realms of business mortality!)
There are so many metrics you can use. You have to decide what matters. for you Running a small online store gives me access to a tonne of stats – some useful, some – not so much! It can be tricky to interpret some information and understand what it really means but you need to keep tabs on some of it to know the effectiveness of your print and design.
So the first thing is to ask yourself these two key questions:
Can I do all this myself?
Is it worth my time?
Everyone’s situation is slightly different. You might be capable but time blocks you. You might have someone employed to do this for you already, or you might be thinking OMG! I didn’t know any of this stuff mattered that much!
It’s okay. The key point is that when you know the answers you can make the best choices going forward.
Using a Design and Print service to help with all of this has traditionally been the answer, but now there are a whole lot more things to consider, and not so many companies can afford to help on a one-to-one basis.
Make the best decisions that you can by yourself but then seek out help for everything else. You shouldn’t ever have to pay for sound advice. There is a lot of support available and it can come in all different shapes and sizes. It just depends on what your particular needs are.
Make Design and Print effective in 2024
