Design is an essential part of online marketing, but it can often be overlooked. Many business owners don’t possess great design skills, with expertise in other areas like sales, product development, and analytics. Design can often take a back seat as business owners focus on their strongest skills. For larger businesses, employing experienced designers won’t be a problem. Smaller businesses or solo entrepreneurs, however, might need to learn how to create their own visuals. The following products can all be used by marketers of all experience to build a toolkit that will cater for almost all of their design needs.
Canva
Canva is a design tool that covers a lot of bases. There are existing templates for social media, email newsletters, advertisements, and more, so you can get started quickly. If you find a template that you like, it is easy to simply edit the details and make it your own. However, you may want to do more editing by finding an image and adjusting color, text, and font. The editing part of the tool isn’t hugely advanced, but it is hard to beat the simplicity of Canva when you require some quick graphics.
Leadpages
Landing pages are an important part of online marketing. Businesses often need lead capture forms, opt-in boxes, sales pages, and pop-up boxes, among other landing page options. Leadpages simplifies the process by offering numerous attractive pages, all with the ability to edit quickly. Apart from making some minor alterations, users don’t require any design or technical skills, so you can begin testing offers immediately.
Piktochart
An infographic is an excellent way to convey data in a pleasing way. A simple list of statistics, for example, won’t command attention, leading to fewer social shares and likes. Piktochart makes it easy to create eye-catching infographics that readers can enjoy and learn from. In the past, infographic creation would have required an experienced graphic designer, but Piktochart streamlines the process for everyone.
Pixlr
Images are vitally important in the sales process. An advanced tool like Photoshop can be used to comprehensively alter an image, but beginners often find the tool difficult to use. Pixlr offers a great alternative, as they still include plenty of functionality, though the tool is accessible to newbies. You can make images stand out with a number of filters, overlays, and effects, creating images that help to promote your business.
Prezi
Businesses frequently need to create presentations for users, employees, investors, and others. A standard slideshow will often struggle to engage people, so your messages do not get across. Prezi lets you develop high-quality presentations, using graphics, zoom reveals, and motion to draw viewers in. It is possible to build presentations from scratch, but less experienced designers can simply adapt the existing templates.
As a business expands, it makes sense to outsource tasks that you find difficult. It is also possible to hire a design specialist if your business requires it. Many online businesses are not quite ready for this step, though, and need to perform many simple design tasks themselves. By creating a toolkit of this kind, every task can be simplified to make design work accessible. Every entrepreneur will have weaknesses, but finding ways to overcome challenges will set apart the most successful individuals.
