Whether we like it or not, we now live in a world where marketing and advertising rules are constantly changing.
The internet is chock full of competitors, and this leads businesses to realize that they level up their marketing strategies and improve their content. It is not enough to release marketing collateral that is just the same as everybody else. As a business owner, you need to learn to adapt and keep up with the unpredictable marketing and advertising world.
This is where you can put your custom illustration to good use. Your illustrations can describe what words cannot say, enhancing the way you communicate to your target market, hence the higher potential to improve the overall value of your business.
Importance of Good Illustrations
With the very competitive market now, you can’t just rely on generic stock images. You should put effort into creating custom illustrations that will help remind people of your brand and make them visit your site or your social media profiles instead of your competitors’.
In marketing, illustrations can say more than a thousand words. It is the perfect tool to get your message across when you have limited time and resources. In this age of information overload, attention spans are low. Often, businesses just need a very short but effective way of making their point without too much detail.
If at this point, you are not sure if you will use illustrations for your business, then this article is for you. Read on to discover some of the benefits of using illustration instead of just words alone to communicate with customers effectively. Plus, we will give you some illustration design tips that might help you create effective marketing content and collateral.
Why Use Illustrations for Your Business
Every business owner needs to know the importance of illustrations for their business and why custom illustrations are better than generic images available online. To make it clearer to every entrepreneur out there, we’ve listed ten benefits of custom illustrations to a business.
1. Helps you build your brand’s credibility
The use of illustrations gives your potential buyers a clearer view of your brand’s features and benefits. This helps you build your credibility and make them understand your brand more so they will feel more confident that your product is living up to its claim and promise. Also, these illustrations allow you to demonstrate your vision and your values as a company, which makes your target market trust your brand even more.
2. Connect you with consumers
Good custom illustration goes a long way in helping consumers connect with companies and products they are interested in purchasing. Your custom illustrations don't have to be cute or humorous all the time. Sometimes simple custom-drawn objects such as a picture of a coffee mug can help consumers understand what your product is about. In today's world, where businesses and consumers are always on the go, custom illustrations can help businesses target specific audiences and ensure that their message is communicated effectively.
Custom illustrations for your business are an incredibly useful and beneficial way to communicate with customers and clients on a more personal level and inspire them to buy your product or use your service.
3. Help reach successful conversion rates
Good custom illustrations not only help businesses connect with consumers, they also help companies achieve higher conversion rates and sales. Custom-made illustrations can help your company stand out from other competitors and be more memorable in the eyes of your customers. Also, using illustrations in your advertising materials can give consumers ideas about what they should expect when they make a purchase. Your high conversion rates define the success of your marketing campaign for your brand.
4. Make you stand out from your competition
With custom illustrations, companies can help themselves stand out from their competition. Instead of using the same images that everyone else is using, custom designs are unique and customized to your business. This gives you an edge against your competition without having to spend a lot of money on buying premium stock images. Good custom art will make your website or product memorable and show consumers how unique you are compared to other companies in your industry.
5. Save you from spending too much
With custom designs, you do not have to pay high prices for custom-designed objects that you can use for your marketing collateral. Many custom illustrators illustration websites today offer reasonable packages for small and large businesses looking for unique illustrations. Simply put, using custom images is a great way to advertise or market your company without breaking the bank.
6.Make your message more interesting
It is already a given fact that people pay more attention to graphics than text. This is why using illustrations became a necessity to encourage people to buy your product instead of your competitor’s. These illustrations also attract people who look at ads to understand the product faster, even with minimal scanning of the text you incorporated in your advertising material.
7. Improve your company's image
When businesses use custom art, they can show consumers how unique their business is and improve the overall look of their company. These custom illustrations now come with different features such as animation and sound effects that can potentially make your brand look good in the eyes of your audience. Using custom illustrations can help you build your brand’s identity while at the same time allowing you to communicate the values that you want to extend to your audience.
8. Illustrations can be used in a variety of situations
What makes a custom illustration so great is that you can use it in different marketing collaterals and efforts. You can use illustrations almost anywhere from websites to business cards and signages. They can help your business convey its message to consumers in every kind of media possible, including newspapers, magazines, billboards and television, and the internet. You need not replace your custom illustrations every time you advertise or market. The sky is the limit when it comes to using your custom illustrations, and all you have to do is think of ways to execute it properly.
9. They are accessible
If you don’t have the required creativity skills or background to do your own illustrations, you need not worry because illustrations are very accessible on different illustration websites. With just a few clicks, you can already access the design that you need for your marketing content. Just make sure that you know what you want to incorporate in your design so that you won’t end up creating content that is overwhelming to your audience’s eyes.
10. Enhance your designs
Custom illustrations can enhance the overall look of the materials you share with your market. With custom designs, you can make your content unique. Good custom illustrations make you stand out from your competition and help you connect with consumers so that you cannot do with generic graphic art such as cartoons and clipart. These illustrations also make your content look more alive, increasing people's chance to linger on your profile, explore your other content, and hopefully be converted to sales.
Now that you know why illustrations are important to your business, the next step is to know how to make them. Read on to find out more illustration design tips and illustration tools that can help you do the job.
How Can I Create A Good Illustration?
1. Have some inspiration
An inspirational idea is where it will all start. No matter where you go, there will always be someone who creates something that you can learn from. Whether it's music, arts, or food, if they interest you, then look at why they work.
Your idea can be something basic but unique. Even if you are after an original concept, it will help to visit other illustrators’ profiles on Pinterest or Instagram to gather some inspiration.
You can also read some blogs related to designs that can spark some ideas for your illustration design. It is important that you observe, and then you can combine all your observations to your personal idea to come up with your illustration concept.
2. Keep your concept simple
When creating logos, graphics, and other illustrations for your business, keeping things simple is key. You should focus on creating a professional and clean design that doesn't overwhelm or confuse your customers but make sure that the illustration still conveys what your brand wants to say.
Some people create intricate designs with multiple colors and elements, which can be overwhelming and take away from the actual message you're trying to portray. This often leaves your audience confused about who you are and what you do instead of making them remember your company name or product line.
Instead, stick with one or two colors for your logo and keep everything else simple. If you want to add more color later on down the road, that's an option, but it is wise to play it safe until then.
3. Use shapes and colors wisely
One of the simplest ways to create a unique design is by using shapes that don't look like any other. Choose the shapes that you think reflect your brand’s personality and play around with them until you come up with something that makes sense.
Also, use a palette that will make your audience remember your brand easier. When choosing colors, make sure they fit your brand's personality, and they make a good combination. You can always choose a set of predefined colors from a color scheme to make it easier for you. Using the same shades of color throughout your site design is just another way that you can create a unique experience for visitors while maintaining consistency. While you are exercising your creativity, always remember to be consistent with your illustrations.
4. Customize your details
Details are your best friends when it comes to creating your custom illustrations. Whether you use them as an emphasis like on logo designs or make them part of your product's character, they make users remember things more and pay attention for longer, which is good for business. Little details give your illustrations some uniqueness, so no other brand can replicate the look you created for your brand.
5. Take advantage of free illustration websites or apps
Many people are surprised to learn that there are numerous ways to accomplish all of these tasks without actually having graphic design skills and experience. If you are a business owner with limited design knowledge, you must know that there are tons of illustration websites out there that allow you to create simple designs without paying a dime.
Aside from being beginner-friendly, these online websites and tools like DesignStripe provide valuable features that mimic what's available in Photoshop and give you the option to create stunning visuals on your computer or mobile device.
Takeaway
Regardless of your type of business, having high-quality custom illustrations is beneficial for you because it's an opportunity to connect with your customers and show them exactly what they should expect when they receive their product. Illustrations can help close the gap between the information you're providing, and the support people need to understand it fully.
As businesses enter the age where visuals matter, we can expect the marketing materials and content to be influenced by various designs that talk so much about a brand’s look, identity, and feel.
And as more and more promotional opportunities become available to companies, you must think of different ways to connect your brand to your target market and, in return, win the very competitive marketing arena.
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