In a face-to-face situation, you can establish chemistry and build a relationship with a prospect. Salespeople can demonstrate their authority and establish credibility by showing their expertise as a solver of the prospect’s problems.
The right creative will support your sales effort by establishing that authority and credibility before you meet – and reinforcing it from sales to delivery and beyond.
The right creative positions your company the way you want to be perceived
When you meet people, your natural instinct immediately tells you what sort of people they are – and whether you’re going to like them. Your creative does the same thing for your customers. It’s a powerful tool that evokes an instinctive and immediate emotional response about your company.
For example, the look and feel of your logo can make you seem progressive (Apple), traditional (TM Lewin) or stable and professional (Ernst & Young). Different colours inspire different emotions (read this blog post for more detail), and different typefaces convey different tones of voice (read this post for more detail).
By using magnetic branding that truly resonates with your audience, you give your business credibility. Strong creative makes your audience perceive your business as the authority they want to buy from. This gives you the ability to cut through in a competitive market, differentiating yourself from your competitors by clearly communicating what you stand for.
It gives you tools to generate leads and convert them into customers
Effective creative gives you the tools to generate leads and convert them into customers. There’s an old adage that advertising is salesmanship in print. The right creative helps you make the sale when you’re not there to do the talking, because it guides the prospect to take the action you want them to take (for example getting a quote or booking a free trial).
From company brochures to exhibition stands to product sheets to email templates, the right design with the right copy will help you attract prospects and nurture them through the purchasing process.
The key to strong creative in this respect is always to focus on your customer’s needs, goals and pain points. Listing the brilliant features of your product or service isn’t going to convert leads efficiently. Instead, you need to emphasise the benefits of what you offer potential customers – show and tell them what’s in it for them if they choose you as a supplier.
From a visual perspective, utilise imagery that shows positive outcomes. As an illustration, for a client that manufactures sheet metal components, we used images of the end product – a car, for example – rather than the bracket that the client produces for the car. This gives visual cues to the customer that our manufacturer is conscious of the implications of being part of a larger supply chain. Rather than operating with a silo mentality, they’re tuned into the customer’s goals (manufacturing cars) and will do whatever it takes to help achieve them. In other words, they are a supplier of choice.
And that’s your ultimate aim: to convince your customers that you’re an authority that will solve their problems. They’ll then be ready to buy from you.
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