You see images that are designed to catch your eye and convince you to do something everywhere. All Day. Everyday.
Usually the most successful of these combine high quality images, a well thought-out layout that's pleasing to your eye, and simple but compelling copy.
While it IS possible to do some of your marketing without a graphic designer, most copywriters will tell you they are a necessity when it comes to any product or service campaign that will benefit from an image.
Before you ask ... yes, copywriters can drop an image of your product into whatever project they are working on. It is true too, that copywriters naturally develop an eye for good design and an understanding of colour theory.
If your marketing budget can't stretch to hiring a copywriter AND a graphic designer, don't panic.
This is an example of a social media post that I made for my personal Instagram. Colourful holiday greetings are a great way to get noticed.
The best ones, the ones with an absolutely gorgeous photo and a heartfelt greeting will often be shared with your followers friends and family. It helps spread your marketing net nice and wide.
This was created from a template on Canva, and while I'm no graphic designer, I think it's pretty good. As long as your copy fits nicely into the template without resizing, and the template you picked is in your brand colours and fonts, you CAN get away with creating marketing content without a graphic designer.
Why you need a creative team
Having said that, finding the budget to do at least one campaign with a creative team (a copywriter and a graphic designer collaborating on your project) can make a huge difference.
This is my recommendation. Start small, build your business, and get some money in your account. When you've worked out the kinks and have a clear idea of your brand, then it's time to find a good graphic designer.
Decide how much you can afford, pick something you really want to push, and invest your money. I use the word invest because many people just don't realize the impact a good campaign can have. Quite often the budget is allocated to fancy equipment or decor.
If you think about it though, a really nice chair isn't going to bring you the same kind of return on investment as a beautifully done ad campaign will. I highly recommend (again... it's just that important) you do it, at least once.
When you do, be sure to track the results. If the campaign generates a lot of interest and attracts new customers, it might convince to you rearrange your budget and work with your creative team on a regular basis.
Here is an easy way to track your results.
When you hire your team, have them make two different versions of your ad. Market each version to half of your audience and wait to see what happens.
This is called an A/B test, and here is how it works...
Say, for example that you want to send out some direct mail postcards for your grand opening, and your goal is to get people to go to your new website. Your creative team creates a beautiful full-colour postcard. They also choose two clear, compelling headlines for the postcards.
First you take a sampling of your market, 10% of your mailing list would work. Send half of them postcards with Headline #1 (with a special code or a dedicated URL) on them, and send half of them postcards with Headline #2 on them (and a different code or dedicated URL).
Then you make a different landing page for each URL. These can be exactly the same except for the web address. The idea is to funnel traffic from each of your ads onto a separate page. Now, when you start getting visitors to your site, you can tell which postcard they got from which landing page they go to. If the postcard with Headline #1 brings in more than the one with Headline #2, then you know it works best.
Now you can print the rest of your postcards with the more popular headline. This type of test can be a really simple way to study the response of lots of different types of marketing.
BUT I digress. I was talking about your creative team. The reason a team of creatives works better is simple. Each has a specialty and those specialties are equally important to a successful ad.
A copywriter may be able to create a pleasant design layout for their copy, but graphic designers spend years learning the principals of design and colour that will help refine the image your company will present to the world.
Conversely, a designer will be able to write headlines and basic copy, but choosing exactly the right words to elicit the response you hope for is a science and it's best left to experts, like me.
Putting the design expert and the wordsmith together is like combining chocolate and peanut butter. Both are delicious on their own but together - they are MAGIC.
Allowing your creative team to work together means that all aspects of your ad campaign or web design are created using the best of both worlds. It often leads to ideas and solutions that are truly unique because team members will naturally bounce ideas off of each other, resulting in complex concepts and imagery.
Big ad agencies love to have brainstorming sessions... and this is it. Creative people work better with other creative people.
Have you ever "gone down the rabbit hole" while chatting over coffee with that friend who's a little bit crazy? They make a silly "imagine if..." statement and it sparks an idea in you? You laugh and add to it. They run with it and add a twist. The next thing you know it's an hour later, you're both laughing until tears roll down your face and one of you says, "Oh my God, I have to write that down. That would make a great movie/book/whatever."
That's brainstorming in a nutshell.
Now that I've explained how a copywriter and a graphic designer work together, I want to go one step further. Ideally your team would be working together from the very beginning, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes a copywriter is asked to just write copy. That copy is then given to a designer within the company, or a designer is hired afterwards.
Each designer naturally has their own style, as well as their own specialty. So in theory, the same ad copy given to two different designers, can produce VERY different results.
what effect does a graphic designer have on copy?
Out of curiosity, I did a bit of an experiment. I took some ad copy that I had completed (for a fake company) and I gave it to two different graphic designers. Both are talented designers. Both were given the same Creative Brief below, as well as an explanation of what I was picturing in my head when I wrote the copy.
Target Audience
Parents ages 25–35 years with children ages 6 months to 4 years. They are very concerned with making sure that their children get every opportunity to develop their minds as best they can. They take them to classes, use flash cards, teach them second languages, and generally try to keep them intellectually engaged.
Goals
Get them 1) to visit the ABC Toys website 2) make a purchase on the site
Benefit to consumer
ABC Toys is a website that sells educational toys for babies and children. The toys are specially designed to increase intellectual abilities while still being fun and engaging for children. Visiting this site allows these parents to peruse the full selection of merchandise.
Tone
Friendly, Fun, Promotional
Media
One dynamic banner ad: three frames that loop three times before finally stopping on the last frame.
250 x 300 (pixels)
Requirements
The button should link to the product listing page on the website.
I sent this creative brief to two different designers, Bhavya Thakkar and Aaron Estrada to see what they would come up with.
Here are the results...
Bhavya Thakkar
If you have been to The Copy Goddess website, you will have seen this one on my portfolio. It was the first one completed.
As you can see, the design is bright and eye-catching. It uses primary colours which are commonly associated with small children.
The bright white background is crisp and clean and lets the audience focus on the message.
The images are appealing and fun and represent the benefit-driven headline on each panel.
Bhavya also created a logo that features colourful wooden alphabet blocks.
All in all, a great design that catches your eye, meets all the requirements, and is easy to understand at a glance.
Now let's see what Aaron Estrada did with the exact same instructions and copy.
aaron estrada
He approached it a little differently, creating the panels in one large format, so that they would flow naturally from one panel to the next. He then separated them into panels for the ad.
Let's look at one of the panels up close.
Aaron also used rich primary colours for his panels, and images of real children playing.
Bright shapes in the background catch your eye and help move it around the page.
Where Bhavya used wooden blocks for her logo, Aaron has gone with bright balloon letters and a graduation cap to represent the fact that the company specializes in educational toys.
The design and layout are busier but the text stands out well.
Smiling happy children playing with educational toys gives a positive message.
The call to action is easy to find and understand.
In both cases, the designers have done a stellar job.
Both created 3 panels with a cohesive theme, bright colours and a clear message. Both used exactly the same copy and followed the exact same creative brief.
Both created a design and layout with layers, good flow and balance. They made use of colour theory and a knowledge of psychology to move our eyes around the page and highlight the important parts of the message.
As an artist, I know how these things work, and I can tell when a design is good or bad, but I wouldn't have been able to create a design as complex and balanced as either of these.
A lot of knowledge goes into the study of Graphic Design, and this knowledge can create some really gorgeous visuals that will take great copy and make it into an eye-catching creative for whatever platform you use.
Finding the right graphic designer
As you saw in the exercise above, each graphic designer will approach a project in their own unique way. In my portfolio you will find projects that I have worked on with three other graphic designers.
They each have their own strengths and specialties. Sometimes, the thing they're great at just doesn't line up with your brand or the style of ad you're planning to create. Sometimes you find someone whose work just grabs you and draws you in.
The only real way to choose a graphic designer is to go and look at their work... and keep looking until you find someone whose style matches what you need.
If there are more than one, then you will need to talk to each designer about your idea. A collaboration is a joining of the minds, as well as a blending of creativity, so finding the right person can be magic. If they don't seem to understand what you're looking for, cross them off your list. If they immediately 'get it', then hire them!
These are the designers that I have worked with so far. I'm going to put some links here for you so you can browse through their portfolios.
Bhavya Thakkar -As you noticed before, she has a clean, crisp style. I love her little figures.
Zohar Levin -I love her papercut work, it reminds me of my scrapbooking days. It was Zohar who designed my lovely new logo.
Rakibul Islam -Brand Development and logos are his jam.
Aurangzeb Halepoto - Beautiful Logos and print media.
Most graphic designers develop a specialty in the type of media they enjoy working with, and a unique style. While you're browsing, notice how certain designs make you feel.
As we talked about in the Branding 101 Series, colour and shape psychology, and typography play a big part in how we react to visual stimuli. Different shapes and colours can change how we feel.
Decide what the purpose of your project is and how you want your audience to feel when they see it. If any of the images you see while you are looking at portfolios give you the same feeling, that might be a good graphic designer for your project.
I hope this helps explain a little bit about the creative process involved in making your projects, and I also hope you will use the information to plan your own marketing campaign. Whether you're a small independently-owned business and need to start small, or a growing company wondering how to scale your business, a creative team can be a great asset and an invaluable resource.
The Bottom Line
Everyone has their specialty. Yours is creating and running a thriving business. Dividing your energies to write and create your own ads may not be utilizing your strengths in the best way. Investing some of your budget in a creative team will leave you free to do what you do best.
Let them do what THEY do best... create beautiful and engaging marketing materials to promote your business.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and questions... and I offer a Free 30 Minute Consultation. The link will take you to the Copy Goddess Services page, so you can see the type of things that I do. From there you can contact me to set up a consultation if you wish. There is no pressure and no obligation, but I will offer you suggestions based on our chat.
Toodles for now!
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