How design can help when business is on hold

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing everyone to rethink and adjust to help their businesses survive, we want to share a few tips to bolster your business now, and beyond the lockdown. Here’s what we recommend:

RAISE YOUR VISIBILITY

Digital campaign assets for Moulis Legal.

Businesses need to get digitally savvy – and fast – to survive. And we’re not talking about Zoom and Skype (although they’re pretty handy tools these days). We’re talking getting in front of your customers, where your customers are. And we’re all online. If you’ve been holding back on using social media for your business, now is the time to embrace it. Start by finding out where your customers are online. Are they using WorkPlace from Facebook? Are they all over LinkedIn or trying to survive the isolation on Instagram? Once you know which platform they're using, you can start publishing your own content to stay top of mind. Remember to keep it simple and consistent across all platforms. Take care to get the quality of your social media images right. It’s easy if you know how, but if you don’t hit us up. Our team can put together a neat package of logos and images to make all your online touchpoints consistent. And consistently good.

REFRESH YOUR BRAND

Next you need to take a long hard look at your brand and ask yourself a few questions:

Does my brand reflect my business strategy?
Has my business changed or evolved?
Is my brand creating the right impression?
Has my brand moved with the times?
Have my customers or their needs changed?
Is my brand identity consistent at every touchpoint?

The only constant is change right, especially true in today’s changing climate. Our advice is if you want your brand to outshine the lockdown and ensuing recession act now to address any weaknesses in your brand – be it the visual identity, brand strategy, tagline or key messages. Don’t worry, you will be in good company, the most iconic brands we know and love today have been through several iterations. Rebranding is a necessary part of keeping your business and brand relevant, on-track and in peak performance.

UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE

Clockwise from top left: Fancy Flowers by Felicity, Man’s Best, Crossley Transport Planning and Cowyn Building Group.

If you are transitioning your business to a stronger online model to ride out the changes brought about by Coronavirus, you need to think long term and company-wide. Remember that your business strategy and brand strategy need to be aligned. Any change to your positioning, target audience and messaging needs to be reflected in your brand strategy. We can help you rethink your brand strategy and reposition your brand, and design a website that will stand out against your competitors and create a strong customer experience. Now is the time to invest in your website because it has – overnight - become your shop front, reception desk and business card.

REVISIT YOUR MARKETING MATERIALS

Brand strategy and presentation for Eyecare Plus.

Part of your brand review should be to look at each and every single customer touch point. We do a lot of visual audits, where we look at all the visual materials produced internally and externally by a business. The aim is to see things from your customers point of view and identify weakness and opportunities for your brand. As business slows downs, why not conduct a visual audit of your own? How you are using your cases studies, recommendations and reviews at every touchpoint in your marketing, and take the time to weave this content throughout your website and share actively on social media.

GET YOUR IN-HOUSE IN ORDER

Clockwise from top left: MS Word templates for Longreach, BPay Group PowerPoint template, presentation design and theming for Zurich and MS Word templates for BPay Group.

If the Coronavirus is teaching us one lesson, it’s to be a bit more human. To check in on one another and ask if we can help. The same applies when you’re considering a brand refresh. Ask your employee how they feel the brand is working, after all they are the ones delivering your brand to the world each and every day. Are they proud of the brand? Do they know the story behind it, the values and where the brand is going? Can they explain the name or what the logo stands for? Do they know which template to use? Do they know you have templates, or how to check if their work is on brand? Now is a great time to focus your resources on getting your house in order. Templates really do make business easier and help build a consistent brand. You’d be amazed what our team can do with Word templates and presentation templates.