Freelance Graphic Designer: How Digital Marketing Can Help Your Business

As entrepreneurs both in the real and virtual world, the success we have today can not be separated from how the marketing efforts we have done so far. As freelance graphic designers, marketing is needed to capture the target market or potential clients. Marketing is nothing but a form of our efforts in promoting products or services that we sell.

Digital Marketing is where you conduct business promotion and market reach through digital media online.

Marketing today has been greatly developed, modern and it is directly proportional to follow the development of technology which also has entered the era of cyberspace. The virtual world is no longer just linking people to the device as a source of information, but it connects people all over the world through the devices, and a variety of technologies such as social networking therein.

So, What Are the Benefits of Digital Marketing?

Type of marketing is called as digital marketing, where you do a promotion, search market through digital media online. By utilizing a variety of resources such as social networking sites, be it friend networking such as facebook, or specifically to build a professional network like the one being offered by the Linkedin. We can also market our product / service by displaying our portfolio through a blog, or through a personal website, there are several sites that offer free website builders.



It became public news that almost everyone uses the internet and do a search on what they are looking for through search engines like Google and Bing. Nielsen / NetRating has done research in 2008, that 73% of internet users use search engines to find products and services they need around them on regular basis. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to utilize the virtual world as the land to reap a potential buyer or user of our service. So the activities that you do in the virtual world can be recorded as a path that can give good feedback for all of our efforts as Graphic Designers.

Good Mascot Design For A Successful Brand

Just as a good logo design, a Good Mascot Design can help a company's branding and promotions. Good Mascot Design will also give a good impression to the visitors of the website and is also important for the company.



Some mascots are found to be more popular than the company itself. Many companies have succeeded in creating a mascot design that can be strongly attached to the memory of their audience. As well as those found in some large companies such as Disney and McDonalds which uses a mascot to build their brand, and their proven success in developing a mascot for branding. In this case not only a mascot design to build a brand, but it also gives a special touch that can be embedded in our memories.



A growing number of companies that make the mascot as one of their branding strategy, for it is always interesting to find out which are still lingering in the minds strong and which are easily forgotten. Mascot designs which tend to be cartoon characters commonly used in business and make a brand seem different from the other.



To be effective in creating a branding strategy using the mascot, then a mascot design should appeal to anyone, it should be eye catching and of course describes the brand it represents.



In the midst of such a tight competitive market, a company should use the phrases, words and pictures to represent a company or brand and make it different from the other. Many experts believe that advertising is one of the most effective representation of a brand is the mascot.



Mascot is one of the marketing strategies that makes your company or brand appears to be unique among the other brands. Mascot design should reflect the personality of the brand it represents. Many people have questioned why a company uses as a mascot for their sales strategy?



Since the mascot is not just giving it a distinct personality to the brand it represents, but it also gives an impression of creative, emotional for the people who see it. Mascot Design can be used to provide its own entertainment value for a brand. Mascot also has a role in selling the brand to promote a company's business and of course, being an early first image people see of a brand.

Surely there are some things that must be taken to ensure that a mascot can really help promote the brand and have an impact on sales.

The most fundamental and primary to create a character for the brand is to understand the brand itself. What do you sell? McDonalds does not merely sell food, but it also gives pleasure! The clown character of McDonald's: Ronald McDonald indeed reflect McDonald's own brand.

Conclusion

Choosing a good mascot design is not easy and you certainly need a lot of points of view. If you want a professional, eye-catching mascot design then you can find it through the creative work of experienced designers.

Keep in mind that a mascot or character design will be very effective for promoting a product and not services. Not only creative mascot design role in attracting customers but also good overall packaging of your brand that makes it appeals to your customers.

In this case, of course, important to design a mascot that looks attractive, eye catching and memorable. If you choose the wrong mascot design then instead of creating a positive impression, your mascot will actually make your product look bad in the eyes of your customers.

Packaging & Brand Image | Maximizing Brand Image

In our daily life, packaging is not a stranger anymore. In addition to the main aim to protect the product or material contained therein, the other reason is to consider the security aspects, ease of distribution delivery. And in this discussion, is its function as an identification tool.

Almost all consumer goods sold in the market put on packaging and labeling as an identity that distinguishes one product with another, especially the kind.



For example, a detergent powder product will be very difficult to distinguish from the manufacturer if not packaged in accordance with the characteristics of each brand.

In other words, we can see that packaging design is one of the most important elements in the process of building brand awareness, effective packaging design is a manifestation of an existing brand, and can bring the brand experience to the consumer.

Good packaging design should also reflect the brand image, showing the side of a balance between function and personality, in addition to simply look good and stand out in the eyes of consumers.

More about Packaging: 50+ Eco-friendly & Recyclable Packaging Inspiration

Good Packaging Samples

Some example we can consider:

Anna Sui Packaging
A cosmetic and perfume products from Anna Sui. Amid the various series of beauty products that look similar in department stores, Anna Sui product packaging stand out.



Carries the style of Anna Sui's design philosophy is eclectic, with a mixture of inspiration from art comes to street fashion, rich in color, and blend elements of flora and motives; series of product packaging represents the idealism of the brand.



Use contrasting colors and bold, coupled with a unique form of packaging such as rosebud, up mannequin head, it all creates a strong statement inherent in memory, and establish brand loyalty development.



Using a range of products from Anna Sui to be a way of self-expression for its customers, which is no longer just a packaging material that serves to protect the content in it, but at a deeper level that is as a medium that can create an emotional connection with the users.

Also please keep in mind that from the above example, it does not mean that the successful implementation of the packaging design can only be achieved if the design is rich in color and bold in taking extreme forms. All should be returned to the self identity and personality that is owned by the brand.

SK-II Packaging
Let's look at another example of facial care brand from Japan, SK-II, with its philosophy "Live Clear". The essence of the brand is delivered by a range of products designed to clean and elegant packaging. The red color as a distinctive signature color that blends with neutral colors like white or silver.



Appearance of a clear and clean packaging convey the image of the brand as a product that has a property to make skin look so healthy, white, and sparkling. This proves that the packaging should convey competence and confidence of the brand so emotionally affecting consumer to buy the product.

Conclusion

Never underestimate the various advantages as described above because the packaging can be a medium that can strengthen your brand image with its functional, but also communicative. There are several elements that can influence the design of a package to look stand out, can be of colors, shapes, graphic elements event font selection.

As the media that represent the brand, the packaging must be well designed and contains attribute or identity of the brand, such as the brandmark, or other graphic elements as characteristic of the brand. The key is consistency, composition and the structured packing layout, and supported with an attractive design visualization.

When consumers buy your product instead of only in terms of function or need, but also because it is interested in your brand packaging because there is relevance to consumers, it means your packaging already have a plus, strong and will stick in the memory of consumers.

Design Management: Discipline and System Becomes Very Important

When I hear the word 'design', then that will come into my mind is an artwork. But whenever I hear the word 'management', then that will come to mind is an arrangement, may also be the smell of money (read: business), psychology, and
quite a lot of complicated things to do in anticipation of a business entity. Now, the question is, how to combine design as a work and also appreciate the designer as a 'maker'? It might be done by making arrangements to protect the business entity that houses the design and designer, also with respect for the human resources involved in it. Because the term 'design management' itself is a contradiction and semantics, as it can be interpreted in two ways: managing design and design management.

Design Management

According to Wikipedia, design management is an organizational approach in making design decisions that are relevant in the market and also a customer-oriented manner and to optimize the relevance of the design process (corporate design-relevan process). Design management is an activity that includes all levels of performance that have an impact on the quality (core business), from the fuzzy front-end for the design implementation.

Why it could have an impact?

Here's why. Because of design management acts as a management interface and design serves as a bridge between the technology platform, design it self, design thinking, enterprise management, product management and marketing management on internal and external interfaces of the company.

Wait, are you confused? :D
Okay, I will simplify the definition of 'design management' in detail.



When an organization is established, it certainly has a purpose. A formal (organization) is expected to be the best form that fully support the achievement of the founder / vision of the organization. This formal configuration is referred to as the organizational structure. Problems arising in the establishment of organizational structure is usually not fully 'match' with the vision of the organization. Even in some ways it doesn't reflect the basic rules of good organizational structure.

So how to make a good organizational structure?

We must first understand the internal and external factors. Several internal factors that affect the concept of organizational structure are:

* Vision and mission of the organization
* organizational strategy
* Leadership model
* Policies and procedures
* Organizational culture

And here are some external factors that affect an organization's systems:

* Customer
* Supplier
* Government
* Formal rules, laws and regulations
* Technology management

Now, what about design?

According to Peter Gorb, the design is divided into three different classes, the design fully operational in and on all classes.:

• Product (e.g.,industrial design, packaging design, design services)
• Information (e.g.,graphic design, branding, media design, web design)
• Environment (e.g.,retail, exhibition design, interior design)

Now, how to combine it all in a design management?

Because design is inseparable from the organization's management and contextual products, as well as three integration which plays a key role in interface design, organizational and market:

• * Aligning design strategy with the company and or brand strategy
• * Managing the quality and consistency of design results in different design disciplines (design class).
• * New ways of improving the user experience and differentiation from competitors.

Conclusion

Thus, the statement that a design is a creative activity where management elements can not be applied, is COMPLETELY WRONG. Precisely design must be managed effectively due to the existence of the tasks which more complex, such as planning, opening and development of new market share. It all can be managed successfully with good management.

A variety of unique visual identity

Basic rules in branding will appear from the ideas, experiences and trial and error. These rules are of course obliged to be a guide for every brand developer, as well as graphic designers. But as usual, changes and developments can not be avoided, there's always innovation, a breakthrough that may arise from the thoughts of "presumptuous" to reject certainty. Yeah! nothing impossible. Talk about creative industries, means talking about the space that is never going to be dug out. There's always a gap that can be utilized. Some examples of the application of visual branding in this article may be an inspiration for you to observe the graphic design and branding from the perspective of the infinite.

1.Super Heroes

Everyone wants to be known by others, with different purposes of course. On the nature of fiction, it is also happening. Each super-heroes have their own brand and that's why they are widely known, and even across time and space.



Here's an article that discusses the hidden meanings of the logos of several well-known super heroes in the world: Top 10 Superhero Logos

2. Personal Branding

Welcome to the earth! .. The following people also have their own logos depicting each individual, which is not inferior to the superheroes above:). Yup! in an increasingly borderless era today, creative individuals come across as self-Coorporate who represent themselves.



Here is a collection of personal logos that represent individual that may inspire you:

123 Beautiful Personal Logos, Monograms and Wordmarks For Your Inspiration

For those of you who also want to build your own personal branding .. The following articles may be useful as a start:

- do you really need a brand called you hell yes
- personal branding tip dont create multiple social network personas

3. Google Doodle

Google is a wonder of the world which is being delayed. The company is currently selling one of the most important needs in this century: information! But, did you know that companies with a stock value of U.S. $ 532 billion (as of June 2011) proved to be extremely dynamic and unique in their daily life, this can be seen from the interior of their office which is very fresh. Not only that, they are the only company permitted to modify its logo (usually when certain events), now please enjoy the Google logos that have been changed since the first time until the latest up to date: www.google.com/logos



This is probably only a handful of the many unique branding circulating every day. Hopefully useful and inspiring. What do you think? Please share your opinion!