“You have to spend money to make money” is a common phrase we hear tossed around the online space, but why is investing in your business so important? When you spend money on high-quality products and services, you’re building a strong foundation for your brand and equipping it with the tools you need to grow. It shows you take your business seriously and are dedicated to seeing things through – two of the biggest green flags people will look for when hiring a service provider!
But as business owners, how do we know where to invest our money? There are five important investments for nearly all businesses to make if they want to look professional, reach their target market, and reach their goals. Investing in your marketing takes business improvement to a whole new level – it makes sure the outside of your brand looks good while the inside is operating based on a well-thought-out business plan. We’re going to talk about what each one is and where you can go to find high-quality services so you can invest wisely. The five key investments we’re going to talk about today are:
- Brand design
- Packaging design
- Web design
- Brand photography
- Copywriting
Brand Design
What is brand design?
The most influential brands are built on a solid foundation. Brand design helps you find your unique brand voice and create a visual identity that leaves a l
asting impression on your target market for years to come. It’s more than just your logo, it’s about creating a consistent visual experience for everyone who comes in contact with your brand. It combines beauty and aesthetics with strategy and functionality to make sure that your brand will attract the right people, feels like you, and helps you reach your brand goals.
Download our Brand Strategy Workbook
Building a brand strategy is not only extremely important but it’s also a lot of work, especially by yourself! To make this task more enjoyable (and successful) for you, we have created an in-depth and interactive brand strategy workbook that you can download right now!
How to do it
There are two perfect times to invest in brand design, and that’s when you’re first starting out or when you’re pivoting. New businesses can get off to a great, professional start when they have an expert by their side to help them determine what services they’re going to offer, who they want to work with, and what makes their business different.
Maybe you’ve been in business for a couple of years now and your DIY branding doesn’t feel like it’s working anymore. You want to attract clients with bigger budgets, look like the expert you are, and start working towards your big goals. This also means it’s time to invest in brand design! A designer can make sure you look professional across all brand touchpoints so that you’re providing potential clients with the best brand experience no matter where they’re interacting with you.
We have the perfect package to make investing in brand design a breeze – The Brand Suite! This is perfect for you if you’re ready to take your business to the next level with beauty and clarity. By carefully combining the right balance of color, pattern, font types, illustration, and photography, we’ll create a brand identity that’s authentically and beautifully you.
Learn more about The Brand Suite, what’s included, and how it works here! If you’re looking for a simple refresh to elevate your brand, you can book a Design Day where we’ll take your business to the next level and make sure it’s still turning heads. Get all the details on a Design Day here!
Print & Packaging Design
What is packaging design?
Packaging design allows you to fully customize your brand experience. You can design everything from the box your packages will be shipped in to the packing paper you use! Print design refers to printed brand collateral – things like fliers, brochures, business cards, and letterheads are all printed materials you can use to promote your business. Print and packaging design takes the visual branding you’ve already invested in and transforms it into something you can hold in your hands!
How to do it
One of the best ways to make sure your print and packaging design looks just as good as your visual branding is to invest in the same designer who created your brand identity. This designer is going to know your business better than anyone else and has the live files to edit as well. While print and packaging design might not be necessary for online service providers, it can elevate any brand that sells physical products. Investing in this kind of design means that interacting with your brand doesn’t end when someone hits the “place order” button, but carries on past when the package is delivered and opened.
Print and packaging design is a service offered by Social Circle for custom packages since every business has different needs for physical brand collateral. We’ll hop on a discovery call and talk through the unique vision you have for your print and packaging design. This process will typically take just as long as the brand design process since we’ll have the initial discovery phase, design work, revisions, and then send everything to the printer and make sure everything is good to go before it’s printed and shipped right to your front door! If you’re ready to invest in Social Circle for print and packaging design, click here to book a call so we can start talking and you can get your custom quote!
Brand Photography
What is brand photography?
Brand photography is a professional photoshoot geared toward all things business-related. It can include headshots, background images, website imagery, social media photos, and any other photos you need to promote your business while looking professional, awesome, and on-brand. They represent your business visually in a way that aligns with your visual identity. These images typically use your brand color palette and are taken in a location and edited in a way that aligns with the elements that make your business unique and different from competitors.
How to do it
Brand photography isn’t something you have to lose any sleep over. We work with a talented network of brand photographers across the globe and would be more than happy to provide you with a list of the best photographers to help you look professional through your imagery that are within your area. When you invest in The Brand Suite or The Total Package, you’ll receive a brand photoshoot consultation where we’ll help you pick out the perfect photographer, outfits, locations, and props so that you’ll feel confident walking into your business shoot.
Learn more about The Total Package – our all-inclusive signature design service that equips you with a visual brand identity and professional website, along with tons of different add-ons you can choose from to make sure your brand is making an impact in all the right ways and all the right places.
Copywriting
What is copywriting?
Copywriting is the writing of marketing content with a specific goal in mind – typically to convince people to buy from you! It strategically takes your brand voice and uses it in a way that appeals to potential clients by bringing awareness to their current struggles and positions your business as the solution to the issue they’re currently facing. It can include everything from the text on your website and your Instagram bio to your product descriptions and lead magnets. Intentionally written copy aligns with your visuals and creates a seamless experience between looking at your brand and reading about it. It helps you sound professional, be seen as an authority, and still come across as human instead of a detached, stuffy, corporate business.
How to do it
If you’re looking to invest in any of the services we mentioned, it may also be a good idea to hire a copywriter to write content for your business that brings your voice up to the same level that your visuals are now on. A copywriter makes it their job to get to know you, your industry, your voice, and your audience so that the words you say can connect and convert without feeling salesy or pushy. Our signature web design service, The Design Suite, includes a dedicated copywriter because we understand the value of having high-converting copy and visuals on your website. Investing in Social Circle means that you’ll get a website that’s professional in more ways than one! Learn more about The Design Suite here.
Need help refreshing your brand?
To help get you on the right track for 2023, we have created an in-depth Brand Strategy workbook/course that covers everything you need to know about creating a converting brand. Download it now below!
Website Design
What is website design?
It’s more than just art, it’s putting together a strategic digital home for your business where you can tell people who you are, who you help, and what you do. It’s the place interested customers will go to learn more about your products and services and take the next step to work with you. A well-designed website will be created with a specific customer journey in mind that lays out where each section will go and what its purpose will be. Website design combines aesthetics with functionality so your website is responsive on various screen sizes, is one-of-a-kind, and flows well.
How to do it
Building a website isn’t always the most important part, it’s all the work that happens first! This is why it’s so important to hire a professional website designer to make sure that no corner of your website gets overlooked. A designer will start by getting to know your brand, then create a customer journey for your website, then create a mockup based off of your unique designs style and website goals. Once all this work has been done, then the actual website will be built! But the work doesn’t just stop there, third parties need to be integrated, blogs need to be posted, links and buttons need to be checked, and analytics need to be set up. A lot of work goes into a professional website!
All this and more is included in our website design package – The Design Suite. Most small business owners lack the time and expertise to build a high-converting website that looks great, so that’s where we come in. Learn more about working with us to build your dream website here!
Investing in your business doesn’t have to be scary! It can be exciting when you think of all the good things that come from hiring professionals to work alongside you. Done-for-you services are one of the best investments you’ll make in your business since you’ll be able to spend your time on work inside your zone of genius that you truly enjoy while another passionate business owner helps elevate your business!
