While certain businesses are defined by their leaders or ideas, consumers generally recognize brands through their aesthetic features, rather than their commercial operations.
In fact, recent studies into product design reveal that customers are more likely to choose aesthetically pleasing items from brands even if they’re not as functional as their plainer counterparts [1]. Similarly, well-designed websites have been found to boost consumer confidence and inspire more sales [2].
Put simply, business aesthetics often outweigh function when it comes to winning consumer trust—and your brand’s creative assets are the primary way in which consumers experience your business. In this edition of Creative Juice, we’ll discuss the importance of crafting memorable, well-designed creative assets to boost your social media presence and, ultimately, your brand’s success.
What Are Creative Assets and Why Are They Important?
Creative assets encompass the content users see in your advertising campaigns, on your website and social media pages, and on your products. There is a wide variety of creative assets a business may choose to represent itself with, including:
- Logos
- Branding elements, such as signatures colors, and fonts
- A website
- Social media pages with well-branded graphics and video content
- Physical mediums, such as business cards or pamphlets
These assets are essential to your success because they speak for your business. Together, they help you tell your brand story and allow consumers to easily identify and connect with your brand.
How can you take advantage of these assets? Check out the following tips:
Spice Up Your Social Media
Memorable creative assets are particularly important for bolstering your social media presence. 90% of users follow brands on social media and nearly 80% interact with businesses via their messaging services [3] [4].
In essence, social media is the primary way in which consumers engage with brands. Using memorable creative assets enhances the user experience and keeps your brand at the top of consumers’ minds—even after they’ve left your page.
To keep your followers engaged and excited, utilize:
- An identifiable tone in your posts and client interactions
- An easy-to-remember handle across your different accounts
- Consistent aesthetics, such as a quickly recognizable logo for your profile picture
And we’re not just talking about photos or graphics, either. These days, video is king, with Reels and TikToks dominating the bulk of shared content. Having well-branded video content ensures you are telling the story of your brand—in the way you want. From scroll-stopping ads to heartwarming employee highlights, make sure that all your video content aligns with your brand’s tone, voice, and look.
Lean on a Lovable, Laudable Logo
Think of a globally-recognized company, corporation, or brand. More likely than not, you’re already picturing their logo—especially if it’s a particularly memorable one. From the signature swoop to the golden arches and those coffee-curating mermaids, the world’s biggest brands have instantly recognizable logos.
This kind of instant recognition is key in a consumer market where logos are the true face of your business. Case in point: 75% of modern consumers say they identify brands by their logos—so pick something that will stay tattooed in their memories for years to come [5].
Stick to Your Signature Shades
Some of the world’s biggest brands aren’t only recognizable by their logos, but also their associated colors. The most famous sports cars and cola cans, for instance, come in brilliant shades of red—and we don’t even need to mention company names for you to recognize them.
Other brands go all in on company colors by creating and copyrighting their own hues. Some of the most famous examples of this include [6]:
- UPS’s bespoke brown
- Barbie’s patented pink
- Target’s robust red
These signature shades not only give brands their own unique flair, they also help boost recognizability. Once you have a custom color associated with your business, brand awareness and recognition can increase by as much as 80% [7]. So, to build an association between your company and its colors, consistently choose the same eye-catching shades for your social media pages, website, and other platforms.
Optimize and Stylize Your Site
Websites are essential for conducting business in our modern commercial landscape—though nearly a third of brands are missing this crucial asset [8]. Furthermore, it’s not enough to just have a website; it must be aesthetically pleasing and fully functional, too.
As mentioned, consumers place a higher degree of trust in websites they deem well-designed [2]. Additionally, users are exceptionally quick to form opinions about a website—taking, on average, just 0.05 seconds [8].
Because your website is often your customer’s first impression of your business, their image of your brand may be instantly sullied if something about your site is off. So, when designing your website, follow your brand’s style and aesthetic, but ensure it’s easily navigable and glitch-free as well.
Make Assets Memorable Across a Myriad of Mediums
While consumers will mostly encounter your brand via digital spaces such as social media and your website, physical mediums are still important for your overall brand experience and story.
Business cards, for example, are still highly relevant to contemporary commerce. Approximately 27 million are printed every day and, when they’re creative and memorable, they can be incredible assets for your company [9]. Even simply adding color will make consumers hold onto them ten times longer than if they’re black and white—so bust out those signature shades once again [10]!
Business cards aren’t the only physical advertising medium to consider, either. Depending on your targeted demographics, you may also want to think about crafting:
- Pamphlets
- Flyers
- Ads for newspapers and magazines
Such mediums are particularly influential to consumers aged 65 and older, a majority of whom admit to making purchases directly influenced by print advertisements [11].
No matter what creative assets you choose to utilize for your business, however, remember to make them your own and tell a consistent brand story that consumers can instantly recognize across any touchpoint.
Crafting Hot Creative Assets For Your Business? Fire Them Up with Coal!
Dreaming up and designing memorable creative assets is key to telling your brand’s story. But not everyone has the visionary, artistic, or technical skills to create logos, websites, social media posts, and other key assets.
If you need a helping hand with these endeavors, working with a reputable creative agency can facilitate bold and beautiful creative assets. At Coal, we can suggest designs, dream up prototypes, draw out drafts, and revise assets to your liking.
So, if you’re looking for a creative collaborator, you know just who to call.
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Sources:
[1] “Effects of Design Aesthetics on the Perceived Value of a Product.” National Library of Medicine. July 29, 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8359925/. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[2] “5 Trust-Based Web Design Choices To Increase Your Conversion Rate.” Forbes. June 1, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2023/06/01/5-trust-based-web-design-choices-to-increase-your-conversion-rate/?sh=7fd1ea9c715c. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[3] “How (& Where) Consumers Discover Products on Social Media [New Data].” HubSpot. October 3, 2023. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-product-research. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[4] “Top Social Media Statistics And Trends Of 2024.” Forbes. May 18, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[5] “20+ LOGO STATISTICS YOU NEED TO KNOW [2023]: FACTS + TRENDS IN BRANDING.” Zippia. November 2, 2022. https://www.zippia.com/advice/logo-statistics/. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[6] “12 Colors So Synonymous With Brands, Their Colors Are Trademarked.” Yahoo! Finance. April 12, 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/12-colors-trademarked-yes-just-221602729.html?guccounter=1. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[7] “Color Psychology: How To Use it in Marketing and Branding.” HubSpot. July 11, 2023. https://blog.hubspot.com/the-hustle/psychology-of-color. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[8] “Top Website Statistics For 2023.” Forbes. February 14, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/website-statistics/. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[9] “Business Card Statistics.” CreditDonkey. July 20, 2022. https://www.creditdonkey.com/business-card-statistics.html. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[10] “How to choose the perfect colors for your business card.” Vista Print. https://www.vistaprint.com/hub/business-card-colors. Accessed January 22, 2024.
[11] “Share of consumers who have purchased products after seeing a print ad in the United States as of September 2017, by age group.” Statista. September, 2017. https://www.statista.com/statistics/760080/us-consumers-age-purchasing-products-after-seeing-print-ad/. Accessed January 22, 2024.