Who Says You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover?


Preparing to Flourish - part 5

Preparing to Flourish- Part 5

What causes one small business to flourish, and another to wilt? All this month we have been talking about how running a small business is a lot like farming. In Iowa, an abundance of harvest is a natural consequence of planting. It is just what seeds do here. But flourishing is far from simple. It only looks easy. Behind every bumper crop, there is a farmer that has planned, prepared, cultivated, and plowed. She has done everything within her power to negate any hazards that will hinder her efforts. Only after careful preparation will the seed have a fighting chance to sprout, grow, and flourish.

Successful entrepreneurs know what they are planting, who they are planting it for, and why. They know what kind of bloom to expect. When it comes to blooming, they put themselves out. They do not react to the marketplace. They create it. They do not fear the competitor, because they know their service is unmatched by its very design. They tell their story with fanfare and style, knowing their customer will respond.

So what causes a small business to wilt? Wilt spreads when a business lacks the ability to create a strong emotional connection with their customer. Entrepreneurs distracted by sales quotas. Rather than focusing on how they can best help the customer, they get mired in mud. In trying to sell to everyone–they reach no one. There are a million and one ways to communicate today. There are also a million and one ways for your message to become convoluted. Choosing a specific customer segment is scary, because it means ignoring the others. But instead of losing customers, focus will help you gain more of the right kind of customer–the kind you are most suited to serve.

Focus will enable you to speak their language. Your message will achieve a new level of clarity, and will resonate further. You will reach more people with half the effort. Your business will begin to express personality. People cannot connect with washers and dryers, tires, and investments. They can only connect with personality. Personality creates context. This personality can make your customer feel that your products were designed just for them.

One of the best ways to express personality is through good graphic design. Good graphic design can create context through intuition. When you are creating first impressions, it is context, not content, that is king. Graphic design can create just the invitation you need to attract the right customer like shavings to a magnet.

Have you ever gone into a book store just for fun? Sure you have. You dig through the stacks, hoping for a new novel that will keep you awake long after bedtime. The design of a book jacket catches the corner of your eye. It pulls you in. It prepares you for an experience and provides anticipation of the story inside. At an intuitive glance, it helps you to decide whether the book is provocative or prosaic, quirky or captivating, comforting or gripping. You decide to buy the book, and primarily from the influence of the cover. It just looks inviting. So who says you can’t judge a book by its cover? You can. And you do.

The same is true for your business. Your business has a jacket. Good graphic design invites your customer inside your door. It prepares your customer for an experience. What experience do you want your graphics to convey? What words would you use to describe it? Good graphic design can express each one of these qualities. Everywhere your company appears, from your logo and your marketing materials to the sign on the building, your designs should reflect your story, purpose, mission, and vision with all the appropriate colors, shapes, styles, and fonts. They should declare who you are–the authentic you. They should send messages, even without words, to the right customer.

Getting it right means spending the time to discover what is authentically you. Getting it right means spending the time to discover what you want your business to be when it grows up. Getting it right means spending the time to discover how you can enrich your customer’s lives.  Getting it right means spending the time to ferret out what it is that your customer really wants, and how to make them feel like they belong.

Why is it so necessary to make an emotional connection with our clients? Because while our logical side considers the features and benefits of a product, we buy with our emotions. We buy shoes, not because they have a quality sole, but because they make our souls feel stylish. We buy the car, yes partly for the quality under the hood, but mostly because it makes us feel successful. 

You will never make connection spouting features and benefits. Great design helps you connect with the emotional side of your customer’s brain. Successful small businesses know that business is about people, about empathy, and compassion. Successful businesses invest in design.

Good graphic design can  prepare your business to flourish. It’s the mark of a growing concern.

May you find your bliss in blooming.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful your graphics, they will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your vision, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will make with your target customer. We want to help you find the gold in your business. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.