Is your Business Innovating through Design?

Effective use of design can help grow your business in numerous ways from positioning new services or products, opening up new markets, increasing engagement and strengthening your brand to reinforce your company’s values and culture.
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Using a consistent design process can support lead generation to increase sales, saving your business time and money in the long-term; it can also help you to portray the right image to customers and position yourself to the right audience to land your next big customer. For all this to take effect, a carefully thought out design strategy is key.

A design strategy is best described as a plan to help bring your overall business goals and creative solutions together to takes your business beyond just aesthetics.
A good design strategy will affect every aspect of your business. Key areas to touch upon are existing problems internal to your business, external challenges around changing customer behaviours or attitudes and looking carefully at the pain points your customers face on a daily basis and how can you address them to offer the best solution.

If the process is well thought out and executed, this will result in better creative solutions.

Market research

One of the key elements of growing your business is raising brand awareness in the market in which you want to serve. Getting under the nose of key prospects is essential so your brand is front of their mind at the time they need your services or products. Market research is essential. Which products and services do your target audience use, what perception do they have of your business? What challenges do they face today, in the future, and how can you make their lives easier?

Identify opportunities
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Looking at how you translate your USP to differentiate what you offer from the next business is essential to the success of any business. A USP needs to be addressed before you consider your design. Without a USP, your business is just another business in the market place, with it, you’ll rise higher and faster to the top of your niche. From here, you’ll be able come up with a design style which will influence the way in which your share your message.

Also, consider the key design features of your competitors. What’s their approach to marketing and how can you do it better or differently to position yourself uniquely.

An effective design brief
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Whether it’s a brochure or a website design, the success of your project will depend on the planning. If you’re seeking a professional to support your project, a clear and concise design brief will give them the direction they require to meet and exceed your expectations. Ensure to include key information in a brief i.e. your background, what you offer, your current situation, pain points & challenges followed by your target audience. The most important element of any good design brief should focus on goals and objectives so try to give as much detail around what you’re looking to achieve and include timeframes, deadlines and budgets if you have them.

Choosing a team of professionals

Investing in the support of a professional designer or creative agency can minimise the risk of making costly mistakes and ensure your project is kept to budget and on-track. Good designers can move from a problem to finding a solution quickly and efficiently, it will also free your time up to concentrate on your own business. Choosing the right team of professional designers to hand-hold you through your project can be a daunting task, but if you do your research, speak to your network of contacts for recommendations and are clear on the goals you want to achieve, the process can end positively. Don’t forget the personal touch, how do you get along with the designer or creative agency you’ve chosen? An important factor to consider given that you may be working closely with this person over several months.

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