When it comes to marketing, goals and objectives are terms that are often used interchangeably. However, understanding the difference between these two is essential for setting up effective marketing strategies and achieving success in any business endeavor.

In a nutshell, goals tell you where you’re going instead of how you’ll get there, and objectives are specific and measurable milestones that must be achieved to reach a goal.

What Are Marketing Goals?

A marketing goal is a broad aim toward which your efforts are directed. Marketing goals don’t have to be specific. Because of their open-ended nature, setting only marketing goals is not ideal for achieving something in your business.

To gain a better understanding, let’s look at a few examples of marketing goals:

• I want more customers to visit my website.
• I want to rank on page one of Google.
• I want a massive social media following.

While these goals tell us what we want to accomplish, they don’t tell us how to get it. Despite this, knowing how to set marketing goals is important because they lay the foundation for your marketing endeavors.

What Are Marketing Objectives?

Where marketing goals are broad statements, marketing objectives are measurable and specific. The best way to describe an objective is with SMART acronym:

An objective is created when you meet the requirements of the SMART acronym. To get a better idea, let’s look at a few examples of marketing objectives:

• We need to create 50 customers from 5,000 leads within the next six months from our marketing efforts to reach our revenue goals of $200,000.
• We want to achieve the number one rank for “Big Screen TV” because it drives an estimated 1,000 visitors to our website monthly.
• We want to grow our Instagram account by 50,000 followers in the next five months to coincide with our new product launch.

Objectives are the stepping stones to reaching your marketing goals. They lay out the specific steps needed so you can take action. Learn how to set marketing objectives.

Understanding Marketing Goals vs. Objectives

A marketing goal is a broad target that you hope to achieve. A marketing objective is an actionable short-term step that you execute. You must design and implement several objectives to achieve your overarching marketing goal.

How to Set Marketing Goals

Before creating your objectives, you need to set your marketing goals. Let’s look at the process of creating goals for your organization so that you can lay the groundwork for your future marketing campaigns.

1. Review Your Mission Statement with Your Team

Do you know your mission statement? Your mission statement defines why you’re in business in the first place, and it should drive your entire marketing strategy. So, as you define your marketing goals, ask yourself whether it helps you to fulfill your mission statement.

2. Set Your Marketing Targets

Ask yourself this one question — “What does my business hope to accomplish?” Essentially, this is the ultimate goal your marketing team strives to accomplish by the end of an upcoming period.

If you’re setting a short-term goal, you might consider the next quarter. A mid-range goal might account for the next year, and a stretch goal might be set for five years from now.

3. Develop a Marketing Strategy

The next step is to set up a marketing strategy. The strategy you put in place should help you achieve your goals. Let’s look at marketing strategy components you could implement to meet your marketing goals and objectives:

• Generate leads by creating a blog that delivers helpful content.
• Create social media pages to promote your blog.
• Use paid advertising to reach out to new customers.
• Implement a long-term SEO strategy to rank well in Google to drive organic traffic.

From this point, you can go into more detail on how you plan to implement each step.

4. Tie in Your Marketing Objectives

We’ve already discussed the differences between marketing goals and objectives. Now you must tie the two together through the strategy. For example, let’s say your marketing goal is to increase your conversion rates by 50% in 12 months.

One corresponding piece of your marketing strategy is implementing an SEO strategy that helps you rank well in Google and generate organic traffic. A marketing objective you can implement to support your strategy and reach your goal would be to optimize your nine main organic landing pages for specific keywords so that they make it into the top five spots on Google.

Perhaps you want to deliver on this objective by optimizing three pages per month over the first quarter to reach your 12-month goal in time. Remember, where goals are broad, objectives are specific.

5. Measure the Results

The last step is one of the most important. You need to figure out how you intend to measure your results, so your marketing department can present progress reports and learn from the data.

Download your free eBook about the six marketing metrics your boss actually cares about!

You must also establish how often you intend to receive these reports (weekly, monthly, quarterly). Once you’ve figured out your timetable, you must determine the specific KPIs (key performance indicators) you intend to track.

You may be tempted to track every marketing KPI you can, but try to sort out the metrics most relevant to your business. Once you’ve identified what those are, you’ll be much more focused as you move forward tracking your results.

How To Set Marketing Objectives

Once you’ve set up your marketing goals, you’ll have to set up marketing objectives (as mentioned in Step 3 above) to help you accomplish those goals.

1. Learn How Much Revenue You Need from Your Marketing Campaigns

Let’s say your business generated $5,000,000 in sales last year. Next year you set marketing campaign goals to scale up your sales by 50%. Your marketing objectives must be structured to generate $7,500,000 ($5,000,000 x 1.5) in sales over the next 12 months.

2. Identify How Many Sales You Need to Reach Your Revenue Goals

To make this determination, divide your revenue targets by the value of your average sale. Therefore, if you need to generate $7,500,000 and your average sale is $100,000, you will need to close 75 customers over the next year.

3.  Identify How Much Traffic You Need to Achieve Your Goals

To reverse engineer your traffic numbers, you need to determine your traffic-to-lead conversion rate and lead-to-customer conversion rate based on historical data.

Let’s say that data from the previous three years shows that your average traffic-to-lead conversion rate is about 0.5%, and your average lead-to-customer conversion rate is 5%. This means you’ll need 1,500 leads to reach 75 customers and 300,000 visitors to reach 1,500 leads.

At the end of the day, you need to drive approximately 300,000 visitors to your site over the next year if you hope to reach 75 customers.

There are several important assumptions you make while using the above data. Two of which:

1. You plan to generate traffic in the same manner that you have during the past three years (from which you’ve calculated your averages).
2. Your pricing and promotions are still set up so that your average sales will be consistent with the previous year’s.

4. Set Up Benchmarks

Keep in mind that the process of setting up marketing goals is not quick. It takes time to build momentum. That’s why you should set up quarterly benchmarks to track your progress. As you build momentum, set your benchmarks higher and higher for each quarter.

Therefore, the second quarter should be set higher than the first, the third should be higher than the second, and the fourth should be the highest of them all. For example, if you intend to drive 70,000 visitors to your website during the first quarter, you should drive 72,500 in the second, 77,500 in the third, and 80,000 in the last.

Implementing Marketing Goals vs. Objectives for Your Business

As you set up your marketing goals and your marketing objectives, you’ll find there’s always room for improvement. Your marketing strategy won’t be perfect the first time, but that’s why you track metrics so you can improve as you go along. As you move forward, you’ll identify the strengths and weaknesses of your marketing strategy, and you can make adjustments until you achieve your overarching goal.

Exceed Your Marketing Goals and Objectives with MARION

If you need help achieving your marketing goals and objectives, we can help you. MARION is a full-service marketing agency that offers internet marketing services, graphic design firm services, and traditional marketing services.

Looking to take your marketing efforts to the next level? Contact our team today.

Whether you’re interested in expanding your brand into the international sphere or revamping your image to stay in step with the times, rebranding your business can provide many benefits. From broadening your reach to remaining relevant to increasing your revenue — all are possible if you commit to a sound rebranding strategy.

And yet, as ethical as your motivation to rebrand might be (and as clear as your vision may seem), you could make some easy mistakes if you’re unaware of the most common errors.

Top 10 Rebranding Mistakes That Hurt Your Business

From Uber creating a logo deemed unidentifiable to Weight Watchers changing a name that resonated with consumers since the brand’s inception, there are several ways that your rebranding efforts may backfire. Therefore, it’s important that you note these prevalent rebranding mistakes so that you can dodge them.

Not Doing Your Research

Solid market research is crucial to a successful rebranding campaign. That is, you must have a solid grasp of what your audience values in a brand — research reveals that 82% of consumers want a brand’s principles to reflect their own.

A handful of the most prized values a brand can demonstrate include:

• Sustainability
• Authenticity
• Consistency

Depending on your niche, market research may entail a combination of qualitative analyses (examining your competition and consumers) and quantitative research, which will urge you to dig deeper to explore audience segmentation and brand positioning.

Not Using a Brand Style Guide

Authority, credibility, and trust are built through consistency through every touchpoint of the consumer’s journey. This includes everything from the color scheme on your social media to the voice you use in your posts.

To this end, a brand style guide is imperative. It functions as a rule book that establishes how your brand is presented, ensuring that every facet of your organization (including everything from your logo to how your phones are answered) represents your brand’s vision, personality, and mission.

Lack of Cross-Channel Consistency

Imagine a prospective customer discovering your brand on TikTok (thanks to your bright, riveting content) but finding your email blasts are totally out of character with the personality represented on the social media app.

You must foster a bond with your consumers to boost conversions. Statistics back this: 67% of customers will continue doing business with a brand only if they trust it. This means you need to prioritize consistency across all of your channels, such as:

• Advertisements
• Email
• Social media
• Direct mail

This reinforces the necessity of refining your corporate identity (based on market research) before you start rebranding your business.

Copying a Competitor

Imitation may be one of the greatest forms of flattery, but mimicking your competition can work against you. It may:

• Fail to differentiate you as a unique entity — and consumers may choose to go with a well-known brand they trust rather than a newcomer
• Decimate profit margins because you’ll be forced to keep your prices in line with your competition, even if you’re delivering a superior product or service
• Result in humiliating online attacks from your competitors and consumers, which could harm your reputation

Your competition should inspire you to do better, but there’s a huge difference between finding inspiration from another and mimicking their style and actions.

Rebranding Only Your Logo

Rebranding only your logo is the equivalent of installing a new door on your house and calling it a home renovation. However, rebranding your business is far more profound. It’s an enterprise that should result in a fresh, improved makeover that covers the entirety of the experience you’ll provide your consumers.

Also, if your logo has proven to work and is a large part of your identity, enhance it instead of reinventing it. Just look at Gap and Tropicana for one of the biggest rebranding mistakes you could make: Changing your image so completely that you become unrecognizable to consumers.

Changing the Name Unnecessarily

Unnecessarily changing your name is much like rebranding a logo that already works. It will almost surely cause whiplash in your audience.

Not Communicating Your Rebrand/No Rollout Strategy

Remember the importance of consistency? This applies to how you manage your makeover. “Surprising” your consumers with a rejuvenated brand identity — even if it’s better — will only cause frustration, confusion, and, quite possibly, the loss of their loyalty.

Playing It Safe

It’s safe to say you’re committed to rebranding your business to attract new customers. But a rebrand that fails to take risks (which in itself may capture attention) risks falling into the noise of the 31.7 million small businesses currently operating in the U.S. today.

Rushing the Process

Your consumers can feel the effects of a hasty rebranding effort. Therefore, rebranding should be conducted thoroughly and meticulously from start to finish and beyond. Further, changing too rapidly may prompt a negative reaction from your consumers.

Failing to Understand Why You’re Rebranding

Establishing your reasons for rebranding must be front and center before you start the process. A new brand philosophy, for example, must guide every single decision you make. If you’re rebranding your business because of a new location, this should heavily influence your rebranding strategy.

Rebranding vs. Refresh: Which Is Right for You?

If you want to enrich or modernize your brand, you might not need a complete overhaul. In fact, this may counter your marketing goals and result in a loss of revenue. Ask yourself:

• Does my present situation justify a rebrand?
• Do I just want to be perceived as more relevant and contemporary, and attract new consumers?

If you fall into the latter camp, a rebrand may be a waste of your time and resources, and you may be better off simply revitalizing your image and investing in content marketing.

Avoid Rebranding Mistakes with MARION

You may have the best intentions with renovating your brand, but it’s too easy to take a wrong turn and inadvertently create a rebranding disaster.

MARION ensures that you accomplish the opposite. We concentrate on three primary marketing practices — traditional marketing, digital marketing, and brand and design — to help clients like you surpass their potential.

Explore our services today to make your rebrand or refresh an absolute success.

Simply put, the purpose of marketing is to create awareness of a product, service, or event. Creative marketing is one of the most interesting and desirable aspects of marketing, as it can be used to convey a message through creativity. It brings customers to the company’s product and helps them keep their attention. It’s a proven way to boost conversion rates!

What is Creative Marketing?

Creative marketing is not just about coming up with catchy slogans or designing an attractive logo for a company. Instead, it involves using tools such as music, sound effects, symbols, and images to make consumers interested in buying a product.

Why Creative Marketing Matters Today

Creative advertising is an essential part of the modern marketing industry. It’s more than just an additional ingredient—it’s at the core of everything businesses do today. Creative marketing is crucial to the success of any company because it’s all about changing perceptions and connecting with potential customers on a new level.

Creativity has always been considered an essential resource in marketing, but it has taken on greater significance in recent years. With the rise of social media, consumers are bombarded with messages about products and services every day. To stand out, marketers must be innovative and creative in their marketing campaigns to gain attention and interest from potential buyers.

Check out these creative, successful social media campaigns.

The Challenge of Creativity in Marketing

Creativity is the cornerstone of marketing. It is one of the most critical aspects of an organization’s marketing efforts. A creative mind is what separates a good marketer from a great marketer. In addition, a creative mind can help build up ideas that are not only effective but also refreshing. 

As the digital environment continues to change, marketers are faced with increasing challenges regarding creativity. Marketing in an online environment is much different than traditional marketing, which poses some unique obstacles for marketers looking to be creative in their work.

The emergence of AI writers has made marketers’ jobs more streamlined and efficient as they can focus on what they are best at — creativity and emotions — rather than wasting time on technical skill sets and research.

How to Foster Creativity in Your Marketing Efforts

Did you know that 75% of individuals believe they are not living up to their creative potential? Becoming more creative can be challenging, as developing your artistic skills takes time and effort. It won’t happen overnight! However, the following tips will help you tap into your right brain and increase your creativity in marketing:

• Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a great way to develop new ideas for your product. You can do it alone or in a group, but ensure all participants are active and engaged.
• Ask yourself: When was the last time you went out of your comfort zone? Trying new things will give you fresh ideas and perspectives that you never imagined before.
• Bring the team together: Put together a creative task force of people with different backgrounds and skill sets. They will be able to provide different views and experiences that can be used for breakthrough marketing ideas.

What Creative Marketers Do Differently Than Traditional Marketers

Creative marketing is about individual creativity and the uniqueness of your product. Creative marketers rely on their wits, intuition, and skills to get where others can’t.

Traditional marketing is about tactics, techniques, and best practices. Traditional marketers use strategic methods to get your attention in crowded markets, but these techniques aren’t as effective as they once were. To truly get in front of people these days, you need to be creative.

Elevate Your Brand with a Creative Marketing Agency

To recap, creative marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on creativity and emotions. It is an effective tool used by businesses to generate new ideas and fresh perspectives while still engaging with customers. Creative marketing will never replace traditional forms of marketing. However, it can complement them in a way that brings out the best in both.

Simply ‘being creative’ isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Luckily, our digital marketing agency is here to help! The team at MARION has been serving Texas businesses for over 40 years. We’ve taken a creative approach to developing custom marketing plans for various industries. Check out MARION’s design portfolio to see what our creative designers can do.

Contact us today to learn how we can help your business grow by incorporating a creative strategy into your marketing project.

A business card is more than just your contact details—it’s a visual representation of you and your company. Effective business cards fulfill a number of marketing needs, including brand recognition, advertisement, call to action, and important contact information.

Keep reading to find out how to design a business card that will leave a lasting impression.

How To Make a Great Business Card in 6 Easy Steps

So, what makes a good business card? Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to crafting the perfect card. Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks from the leading marketing experts and skilled graphic designers to help you out. Follow these steps to learn how to design a great business card for your company.

1. Organize Your Information
2. Choose Your Size and Shape
3. Decide On A Typeface
4. Follow Basic Design Principles
5. Include A Call To Action
6. Finalize Your Design

1. Organize Your Information

The first step of business card basics is to decide what to include on your business card. The point of a business card is to provide customers with everything they need to know about your business. This includes your name and job title, business name, logo, phone number, physical address, website, email, social media profiles, and more.

You’ll also want to establish the hierarchy of these details. What should be at the top? What should be the largest? What is the most important for your customer to know? Once you have determined which pieces of information you want to feature on your card, it’s time to start designing!

2. Choose Your Size and Shape

How do you want your business card to appear? You’ll need to decide on an orientation: horizontal or vertical. You will also need to choose the shape and size before starting your business card design.

You can’t go wrong with a classic business card. However, if you want to stand out from the competition, you may want to consider experimenting with the shape of your card. Different shapes of business cards include:

• Standard
• Square
• Rounded Corner
• Square Rounded Corner
• Folded
• Circle
• Oval

In North America, the standard business card size is 3.5 × 2 in. (88.9 × 50.8 mm). This should give you plenty of space to include your business information, contact details, logo, and more. Here are some additional dimensions you’ll want to consider when creating an effective business card design:

Bleed Area: 3.61 × 2.11 in.

When designing your business card, make sure your background color or pattern (if you have one) extends beyond the actual size of the card. This way, you won’t have to worry about getting your cards back from the print shop with white borders or misplaced design elements.

Safe Printing Area: 3.36 × 1.86 in.

Sometimes printers get misaligned, or the print shop cuts your cards slightly off-center. To make sure that nothing gets cut off, try to keep your design within these dimensions. All important text and design elements should remain in the innermost 3.36 × 1.86 in. of your card template.

Business Card Size in Pixels: 1050 × 600 pixels

If you are using a design program or software to create your business card, these pixel measurements will come in handy. Take note that the actual size of the card is 1050 × 600 pixels, the full bleed size is 1083 × 633 pixels, and the safe printing area is 1008 × 558 pixels.

3. Decide On A Typeface

Now it’s time to decide on a typeface! If there’s a specific font incorporated into your website, logo, or other marketing materials, we recommend using that same font on your business card for uniformity purposes. The typeface you choose should represent your brand. If your company is in tech, you should opt for technical, modern fonts. If you’re a writer, consider a serif or typewriter-themed font.

Regardless of the font you choose, it must be easy to read. Never use a font size smaller than 8pt. Additionally, it’s recommended to make your company name and logo at least 12pt, but preferably larger.

4. Follow Basic Design Principles

The most effective business cards follow the basic principles of design. Take into consideration design principles such as emphasis, hierarchy, pattern, white space, and unity. These all work in tandem to create functional, visually appealing designs. Check out our blog to learn how to choose your brand colors.

When it comes to good business card design principles, often less is more. Some of the most effective business card design concepts are the simplest ones. Busy or cluttered designs can overwhelm the eye, so it’s best to focus on simplicity and stray from unnecessary text or graphics.

5. Include A Call To Action

While a call to action (CTA) isn’t a universal business card requirement, it can be helpful when encouraging potential clients to take the next step. Entice customers with a special offer, discount code, social media shoutout, useful tip, or any other incentive that will get them interacting with your business. You can find fun or clever ways to incorporate the CTA into your design or simply place a QR code on the backside of your card and leave the front as-is.

6. Finalize Your Design

The last thing you want is to open a freshly-printed box of new business cards only to discover there’s a typo. One of the most crucial business card design tips is to proofread, proofread, PROOFREAD! Ask a coworker or friend to double-check your card design for spelling errors or anything else that may look a bit off. It never hurts to enlist the help of a second set of eyes! Additionally, double-check and adequately label your final files to avoid any printing confusion.

Once you’re 100% positive that your design is ready to go, send it off to the print shop! Make sure you choose a trusted establishment with experienced professionals who will do your design justice. As we previously discussed, quality is what makes a great business card. Check out these tips for deciding how much to spend on your marketing budget.

Choosing The Right Design Agency For Your Custom Business Cards

Business cards will always be a must-have marketing tool, because nothing beats the first impression of custom branded identity print pieces. Don’t settle for a premade template that thousands of companies are already using—you deserve a design that is unique to your business!

At MARION, our design studio is skilled in digital and conventional mediums to effectively communicate every aspect of your business strategy. We custom design and print business cards on a range of paper stock options and print finishes to grow your brand awareness and satisfy your marketing needs.

Schedule a free consultation today to learn more about our graphic design services in Houston, Texas.

As a small business owner or marketing manager, you do your best to operate on a lean budget. For that reason, it’s not uncommon to experience sticker shock after the first few website design quotes you gather for your business.

You have the option to relegate your business website to a cost center role or build it into a powerful profit center and asset by choosing a good web designer. If you’re ok with the former, then a DIY site might be right for you. However, if you’re interested in creating a strong business asset, this article will help you establish some realistic web design budget parameters and get over your sticker shock.

So, how much does a website cost in each case? You’ll discover the costs associated with DIY web design, professional website design, and ongoing website maintenance.

• Web Design – DIY
• Web Design – Professional
• Web Design – Ongoing Maintenance

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website Yourself?

A DIY website offers one main advantage: raw cost savings.

Building a house or car with your own two hands also costs less than buying one from an experienced professional… but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get what you need. Regardless, if this is the route you’ve chosen, you can opt to use a template or attempt a custom web design.

There are significant differences between custom web design vs. website templates – one of which being the associated cost of each. MARION has been offering Houston, DFW, and Austin web design for almost as long as website design has existed, so we’ve got a few insightful notes on this topic.

The following sections highlight differences in the average cost of website design when you’re using templates vs. creating a custom design.

Using a Template

Templates come in all shapes and sizes, and most CMS platforms and website builders have several free and premium templates that you can choose. Most templates, especially the premium ones, will be updated by the template author over time so that your website doesn’t break.

The following popular website builders offer templates that can make website creation easier if you don’t have HTML and CSS experience. The pricing reflects the lowest service tiers that give you access to web templates on each platform.

The main disadvantage of using a template is that your website might look oddly like several other popular websites with which your users are familiar. Using a website template is like showing up to a car show in a Honda Civic – it meets the minimum level of performance, but you will probably go unnoticed by your audience.

Custom Design

Custom design can be a great way to stand out from other websites. You can include custom features that highlight your unique product or service offering. The main downside to attempting a DIY custom web design is that you need to know HTML, CSS, and how to properly design and optimize a website. It can take years for professionals to thoroughly grasp all these elements.

However, if your goal is to simply take the first step toward creating an online presence, even if it’s at the expense of your marketing growth, then a DIY site can still help you do so.

These popular website builders also offer HTML and CSS customization that lets you break the mold by creating your own layout. Unlike the “Template” section above, you’re not limited to drag-and-drop website building at these price levels.

*If you compare pricing for the template and custom design sections above, you’ll see that Wix and Shopify offer customizable website building rates.

How Much Does It Cost to Get a Website Made by Professionals?

Obviously, the cost of getting a website designed by a professional will be much higher than a DIY site. A professional web designer will generally know design and UX best practices, have some sort of optimization strategy, know HTML and CSS, and can create a custom website that perfectly suits the needs of your target audience.

In other words, a pro web designer isn’t just creating a minimum viable website – they’re creating a powerful marketing tool that will pay dividends for your business.

MARION Integrated Marketing offers web design in Houston, Austin, and DFW, so contact us to schedule a free consultation regarding your business website needs today!

So, how much does website design cost when you’re having a professional do it?

The average cost of website design by professional designers is around $4,000, according to a recent survey by Folyo.me of over 200 freelance designers. This website cost estimate is for design only and does not include the coding of your website.

Another study of 400 freelancer profiles on UpWork shows the following website design and development costs depending on your unique needs.

In our experience at MARION Integrated Marketing, three general price ranges exist for small to mid-sized business website design. We provide a high-level web design cost breakdown for what you get in each tier.

Less Than $1,000

Websites in the range generally don’t include design insight or direction, development, or strategic input. This is just a bare-bones, possibly unbranded website that uses a very basic or free template. This represents the main difference between custom web design vs. website templates.

$1,000-$7,500

The web design cost for this price range includes some design insight, development and / or strategic input. This is a small, basic branded website that may use a configurable pre-built template or a custom designed template but does not include much strategic insight or advanced functionality like e-commerce or third-party integrations.

$7,500 and Up

At the bottom end of this range you will find smaller, but custom-designed websites that include custom interior and landing pages as well as more strategic insight regarding conversions process and optimization.

The web design rates in this range continue upward in price dependent on needs including extensive web design and/or custom development, e-commerce integrations, large scale third-party integrations, and large scale websites (100+ pages).

How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website?

Ongoing website maintenance costs are generally low. If you’re building your own site and have the option to pick the lowest cost providers, you can significantly hedge these costs. You get what you pay for, so expect the functionality of these maintenance solutions to be limited.

If at any point you decide to upgrade your services or change platforms, it may require an entire website rebuild. Keep in mind that these ongoing costs do not include any layer of strategy or optimization, just as registering a business entity doesn’t mean that you’ve purchased a profitable business.

The pricing below reflects some of the lowest pricing available at the time of this writing. The SSL quotes come from Comodo. Almost any web host offers .com domain names at around $10 per year. The web hosting price examples were pulled from bluehost, and Ecommerce functionality is based on the use of Shopify’s monthly rates at their lowest service tier.

Instead of piecing each of these web maintenance factors together, you could bundle your web design budget, maintenance, and ongoing marketing together. MARION offers full-service outsourced marketing that includes the following marketing and design elements.

• Website Management and Hosting
• Search Engine Optimization
• Content Marketing / Blogging
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing / Automation *
• Pay Per Click / Digital Ad Management **
• Branding Services
• Traditional Marketing Services
• Dedicated Account Manager
• Virtual Chief Marketing Officer
• Annual Strategic Marketing Road Map
• Quarterly Strategy Sessions

* Requires subscription to approved 3rd party email marketing and/or automation tool
** 3rd party advertising costs not included

MARION Can Help You Build a Website That Pays Dividends

MARION Integrated Marketing has been serving Texas businesses for nearly 40 years. We’ve been developing custom websites for almost as long as the market has existed for them. Check out MARION’s website design portfolio to see what we’ve created for businesses like yours.

Contact our team today to schedule a free consultation to learn how we can help your business grow by generating digital leads.

As a small business owner or marketing manager, having to balance operations, marketing and sales, and customer service leaves you with a packed schedule. Establishing a marketing budget for your small business is one thing, but being responsible for potentially thousands of advertising dollars can be a lofty task.

You can put your advertising dollars to work by maximizing the odds that your potential customers convert every time they encounter your ads. Learn how to make a high-converting landing page to realize the best return on your marketing spend.

What Is a Landing Page on a Website?

Unlike other pages on your site, landing pages are standalone pages; in other words, you will not find them in the navigation menu, nor are they linked to any other page on your site. They are specifically designed for marketing campaigns.

For example, if someone clicks on your Facebook ad or a PPC ad, they would be directed to the landing page, rather than an existing page on your site.

Purpose of a Landing Page

Landing pages are created with a specific goal and call-to-action in mind, in the hopes of maximizing the number of conversions you can capture from your digital marketing campaigns. While other pages on your site may have several different goals, the sole purpose of a landing page is to drive conversions.

The singular purpose of landing pages makes them invaluable tools in your B2C or B2B marketing strategy toolkit.

Schedule a free consultation today to learn how MARION can incorporate landing page optimization into your comprehensive outsourced marketing services.

Why Create a Landing Page Anyway?

With an ad, you typically offer an incentive or a value proposition that entices people to click on the ad. However, you are unlikely to feature this prominently on your general-purpose website, or if you do, your website contains so much additional information that it may get lost in the sea of information. This is where your landing page comes into play.

A landing page enables you to mirror and elaborate on the message featured in your ads without having to make any form of changes to your website. It narrows the visitors’ focus on the message.

Splash Page vs. Landing Page

There are many similarities between a splash page and a landing page, but the main way in which a splash page differs from a landing page is that a splash page is not a standalone page. It’s not even a page at all, despite what the name may imply.

Instead, a splash page is a large screen that appears when visitors first enter a site. While the goal of both a splash page and a landing page is to drive more conversions on your site, splash pages are intended to convert more visitors to the site as a whole and are not necessarily catered to any specific digital campaign.

Do Landing Pages Work?

The short answer is yes, landing pages do work.

Landing pages are more effective than the typical page on your website because they are specifically designed with only one goal in mind: conversions. The best converting landing pages have content and information that is incredibly relevant to the ads that you are running, and the lack of extraneous information keeps the visitors’ focus on the page, helping to drive them further down the marketing funnel towards the conversion.

Elements of a Good Landing Page

Making a good landing page can seem overwhelming, but the following six elements of an effective page will eliminate some of your confusion.

1. Headlines that match
2. Compelling Content
3. CTA
4. Images & Videos
5. Forms
6. Ongoing Testing

1. Headlines That Match Intent of Source

One of the very first things visitors notice when they land on your page is the landing page headline. First and foremost, your headline needs to align with the ad the user clicked on to find your landing page.

Then, in very few words, your headline needs to be interesting and eye-catching, telling visitors exactly what they can get from your company. Once you have grabbed their attention and given them an idea of what your product or service is with your headline, you can use your sub-headline to further convince them to take the desired action.

Should a Landing Page Have Navigation?

Landing pages are more limited than a regular page on your site, including where navigation is concerned. Unlike the other pages on your site, you would not include a full navigation menu on the landing page, as the lack of navigation focuses your visitor’s attention on the content on the page.

For that reason, some design experts advise you to limit the use of navigation as much as possible; potentially even limiting it down to simply including your logo that links to your home page.

At MARION, we’ve experienced mixed results from eliminating page navigation. Easily accessible navigation is a major part of what makes a good website. Ultimately, you’ll want to test this out on your landing pages to see which method gets the best results with your unique audience.

2. Compelling Content

The key to a high-converting landing page is compelling content. In a concise manner, communicate the benefits of what you have to offer and how it will meet the needs of your landing page visitor. You know what you have to offer, so communicate that to your visitors as well. If you featured a special or incentive in your ads, be sure to elaborate on those offers on the landing page.

Your digital content strategy should ultimately depend on your offer. When PPC advertising is concerned, the better you can match your landing page content with the information found on your PPC ads and the keywords you use in your campaigns, the better your campaign and your landing page will perform.

3. Call-to-Action

As with any digital ads, a call-to-action is critical to driving conversions. That rule does not exclude landing pages. Your landing page should prominently display your call-to-action, telling visitors exactly what they need to do to get in contact with you.

As with your headlines and content, your call-to-action must be compelling and persuasive. The design, color, and placement of your CTA are all factors that need to be taken into account in order to create high-converting landing pages.

4. Supporting High-Quality Images and Videos

Images and videos are an eye-catching and persuasive way to provide context and give visitors an even more clear idea of what it is you can do for them. Showing, in addition to telling them, is key for effective landing pages. Keep in mind that your images must be high-quality and relevant.

If you’re interested in customized graphic design in Houston, Austin, or DFW, MARION can help created supporting images that will resonate with your audience.

5. High-Visibility Form

Having a high-visibility form on your website is what makes a great landing page truly effective. Your landing page form is one of the most critical elements to include as it simplifies the conversion process, thereby making it easier to convince visitors to convert.

6. Continuous Testing

As with virtually everything else in digital marketing, continuously A/B testing your landing page is the key to ensuring that your landing page is maximizing the number of conversions it could potentially capture. It allows you to see what elements do or do not work and make any necessary changes.

Process for Creating Landing Pages that Convert

The process for creating landing pages that convert can vary depending on your requirements for your page. For the most part though, you’ll want to start by creating a wireframe that outlines the page structure and layout.

If you choose to work with a professional designer, they will then be able to use your wireframe to come up with a clean, organized design with minimal elements and contents that is sure to convert. A developer can then use the design to code the website and get it to look and function as it should.

For the best odds of choosing a web designer that brings your visualizations to life, research some selection criteria that will help you identify the right fit.

How Long Does It Take to Create a Landing Page?

As with the process for creating landing pages, the time it takes to create a website landing page depends on several different factors: Is it a custom landing page, or a templated one? There are many benefits of custom web design, but completely custom landing pages take longer to create than a templated one.

The bigger the scope of the landing page, the more elements added to it, and the more complex the design, the longer it will take to create. Are you attempting to create it yourself or are you going through an agency? If you do go through an agency, the time it takes would depend on the agency’s process, their workload, and the speed of the individuals working on the landing page.

3 Examples of Landing Pages that Convert

Before learning how to create a converting landing page on your own, look at the following three examples of landing pages that convert. These companies have clearly been using a thoughtful landing page development process to hone their pages into what they are today.

1. Later

Source: Later

Later has does an excellent job creating an effective landing page that is sure to convert. At a glance, you can see exactly what the page is about, what you can expect to gain from it, and how you can convert via the form. The content is concise and straight to the point, giving you all the pertinent information.

The call-to-action “Get It Now” is also compelling and sure to get people to convert. If you look closely, you’ll also notice that there is no navigation menu. They utilize high quality images that gives you a clear idea of what you will get once you convert. While we can’t know if they are conducting A/B tests, they have included all the elements of a persuasive landing page.

2. Uber

Source: Uber

Though Uber’s landing page does not have as much content as the previous example, the content they do have is concise and to the point. You know exactly what the page is about, what you can expect to gain from signing up, and you can see immediately how to sign up.

3. Paycor

Source: Paycor

So, what makes a great landing page? Paycor definitely has the answer. This landing page is linked to a search ad, and their heading and subheading closely align the intent of the original search.

Right off the bat, they make their content compelling with a clear landing page value proposition. Their service is the solution to a common pain point of small business owners – compliance.

Their demo call to action is clear, and there is a highly-visible form near the top of the page. As a bonus, there is no top navigation to lead users away from the main CTA.

To improve one aspect of this landing page according to best practices, Paycor may benefit from adding supporting imagery or video.

MARION’s Web Design Team Can Help You Craft Effective Landing Pages

It’s clear that your business is a success, but growth has become a priority and landing page design is not your expertise. MARION has been around for nearly 40 years, and our Austin, DFW, and Houston web design capabilities have evolved to suit the needs of your business.

Schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how our web design services can amplify the effectiveness of your ad budget.

Not having the appropriate marketing budget can do significant damage to your company’s potential. Like Henry Ford said, “The man who stops advertising to save money, is like the man who stops a clock to save time.” Cutting back your marketing and advertising costs is not the path to a prosperous business.

But how much do companies spend on marketing in your industry? Having an accurate estimate of what the average marketing budget can be important to know for several reasons.

Jump to Our Marketing Budget Calculator

Knowing your numbers matter whether you’re trying to structure your marketing plan, justifying a round of new funding, or approaching your boss about a marketing budget increase for the next fiscal year.

What Percentage of Revenue Should Be Spent on Marketing?

For years, the average marketing budget for small businesses was a recommended 7-8% of revenue, per the SBA. This marketing budget percentage supposedly held true if your revenues were under $5 million and your margins were between 10% and 12% of sales.

As a small business owner, including a marketing budget in your marketing plan is a necessary step toward raising funds for growth. However, there are several business factors that will affect this figure like your marketing goals, your industry, and whether you serve businesses or consumers.

However, since this figure was released, large strides have been made in the world of digital media and smartphones. Not to mention, a global pandemic rocked the world and has already changed what we know about face to face marketing initiatives and daily commutes.

The next sections show the average marketing budget breakdown for B2B vs. B2C companies, 13 different industry segments, and how these percentages will be affected by COVID-19.

B2B vs. B2C

Your average marketing budget will depend largely on whether your business serves businesses or consumers, and whether you offer mainly product or services.

The following table and chart represent the average marketing budget for B2B companies and B2C companies segmented by product and service offerings.

Average Marketing Budget by Industry

B2B marketing budget vs. B2C marketing budget comparisons only go so far when industry variation is added to the mix.

Case in point, the Manufacturing industry reports marketing budgets as 5.74% of revenue while Banking and Finance reports an average of 13.14% of revenue. With such a wide gap, it’s clear you must take a more granular look at the playing field before making an informed estimate about your own projected marketing expenses.

It’s important to recognize that about 79% these marketing budget percentages include the cost of marketing employees. For companies that use outsourced marketing services, their income statement doesn’t include a payroll expense that can be allocated to marketing workers.

The following data on the marketing budget as a percentage of revenue by industry was pulled and aggregated from an August 2019 and February 2020 report by CMO Survey.

Effect of COVID-19 on Marketing Budgets

So, how much should you spend on marketing your business… during or after a global pandemic? The above marketing budget figures by industry may have held true for the past several years, but are they representative of the world today?

A June 2020 survey by CMO survey asked, “When will budgets return to pre-pandemic levels?” The following chart represents how many marketing leaders from each industry answered “Never” regarding traditional and digital marketing budget rebounds.

Average Marketing Budget Allocation by Channel

By now, you should have a better answer to the question, “How much should a small business budget for marketing?” However, this doesn’t tell you which marketing strategies you should be executing with your newly established budget.

Benchmark Allocation

It pays to know (literally) where the rest of the U.S. invests their marketing dollars. Research from eMarketer paints us a picture of a projected 2020 marketing budget breakdown in the U.S.

If you’ve been trying to answer the question, “How much should I pay for digital marketing vs. traditional marketing?” These numbers give you a better indication.

Keep in mind, there are huge national brands that can skew this data. Because of the expense of traditional TV advertising, it can appear disproportionately large. As a provider of both digital and traditional marketing in Texas, we get a large volume of requests for Austin and Houston print design.

It’s also important to recognize that many traditional channels have been migrating to digital. For example, the radio figures above don’t include digital radio and music streaming services which have become massively popular over the past several years.

For many businesses that have historically used traditional marketing, making the move over to a more digital approach doesn’t have to be painful. Our team has experience with B2B web design like industrial or manufacturing web design, that can help improve your digital presence. When you combine a polished site with digital marketing for manufacturers, like SEO for manufacturers or social media for manufacturers, your bottom line is sure to see growth.

Highest ROI Channels

There are several effective marketing channels you could include in your strategy, but we recommend scheduling a free consultation with our team to determine which channels are best for your business.

The following chart shows which channels were voted among the highest ROI at the companies of over 600 businesses. This data from a Smart Insights gives us a clear idea of the channels which may have the best return for your budget.

As a full-service, integrated marketing agency in Texas, MARION offers all of the above to help your marketing succeed across all relevant channels.

Sample Marketing Budget

Trying to set and optimize a corporate marketing budget can be difficult. We’ve included a sample marketing budget breakdown in the pie chart below as a possible example.

Use a tech company with annual revenues of $5 million as an example. If the average marketing and advertising budget in the tech industry is 10.78% of revenue, then the total marketing budget would be $539,000.

The breakdown for our tech company would be as follows.

Industry:   Tech

Annual Revenue:   $5,000,000

Marketing Budget:   $539,000

Contact MARION for Expert Help with Marketing Your Business

MARION has been helping Texas businesses for nearly 40 years. We have the people and processes in place to serve your business needs for nearly any channel across most industries. Our competencies include SEO, web design, content marketing, email marketing and automation, PPC, social media marketing, trade show display design, and print and collateral design.

Contact a member of our team today for a free consultation, and we’ll implement a growth plan together.

A bad user experience, also known as “Bad UX”, is something probably every company has from time to time. We tend to think of digital interfaces when we think of UX. However, that association derives from the time the term “user experience” first originated in the 1990s, when widespread use of the Internet began.

UX is, in fact, a broad subject that applies to practically any facet of life. For example, here’s a sidewalk as an example of poor UX design:

Keep in mind, though their popularity goes hand-in-hand, there is a difference between web design and UX design – they are not the same creature.

Examples of Bad UX Design

You will discover several bad UX design examples throughout this article. Most of the examples will involve bad UX design websites, as the MARION team has unfortunately encountered these too often in our industry.

We’ll cover some bad website UX design topics like:

• Autoplay videos
• Hidden navigation
• Difficult navigation
• Dark UX
• Discoverability
• Performance

Websites with bad UX are still easy to find. It’s no surprise. It’s not easy to devise a brilliant website that meets or exceeds every expectation. Still, some could try a little harder. Below is a rogue’s gallery of bad user experience website examples.

Autoplay Videos

Autoplay video. Think CNN. Think Netflix. It isn’t only that you choose an article or film and suddenly scramble to turn the volume down. You also experience a perturbing lack of control when these things happen. You did not choose to watch anything; the website or app decided it for you, along with the effort of switching the annoyance off.

CNN’s autoplay videos along with its persistent popups in every session begging for email subscriptions make it one of the worst user experience websites.

Hidden Navigation

Making a website or app easy to navigate for everyone should be a top priority. Because modern websites need to fit both desktop and small smartphone screens, the navigation is often converted to a hidden feature revealed only by toggling a button or icon.

Usually, when the width of the screen falls below a certain threshold, the full menu is hidden, and the mobile menu toggle appears. Sometimes, websites resort to hiding navigation on both desktop and mobile screens. How a user interfaces with a product is generally referred to as user-interface, while the whole experience is considered “UX.” Navigation is typically a part of UI and UX, but keep in mind that there are differences in UI vs. UX.

Here’s an example of hidden navigation: Medium.com. There’s nothing to indicate the icon at the top right is clickable and contains many important links.

Usability studies show that this practice can be improved by adding icons that kept in plain view at all times for essential features. Here’s an example of web design that includes effective icons: The Yahoo mail app inbox. Because icons alone are often not enough to help people identify their purpose, a text label is also included.

Difficult Navigation

The University of Advancing Technology offers a challenging curriculum. But, to find a course you must first take this eye-test of a multi-layered flyout submenu, in tiny gray text over a black background on their website.

And we all know and love the Amazon header. This combination of usability disasters is incredibly busy and unattractively designed. In the desktop view, you see a horizontal row of destinations, but most of the menu is hidden under the mobile menu toggle.

The menu “hamburger” icon is squeezed into the top left corner. Because it’s fighting for its life in the space provided, the menu toggle is exceptionally difficult to find.

Dark UX

“Dark UX” or “dark patterns” refers to ways some websites intentionally deceive, conceal information, confuse, or attempt to trick the user. To learn more about the many techniques of Dark UX, such as misdirection, privacy Zuckering, roach motels, and others, visit https://www.darkpatterns.org/.

Darkpatterns.org was conceived by Harry Brignull as part of a campaign to raise awareness of dark patterns. Darkpatterns’ twitter feed, @darkpatterns is a great place to expose these shady techniques should you run across any.

Here’s one of the most pernicious examples of dark UX trickery: the giant green download button ads. For the unwary, these buttons trick the user into thinking he’s found the download link for a product he needs. But in reality, they are misleading and possibly dangerous attempts to get the user to do something he did not intend.

Google has provided policing of this practice and will block websites that display these types of ads, however, they are still in wide use as of this writing.

Discoverability

When something is hard to find on a website, it falls under the UX category of discoverability. For example, see the Facebook Friends List, below. The link is hidden in the left menu at the bottom, but only visible after clicking More. Why is it so hard to find? It doesn’t make sense.

Friends are what Facebook is all about. It’s at the end of long list of ugly clip art style icons. The Friends List is not the only hard-to-find option on Facebook. To update your security settings, you may need to consult Google for the latest Facebook security How-To.

Performance

Probably the most serious of all usability issues is a slow loading website. It’s the most serious because it’s the one that will prevent someone from ever seeing your content. Many usability studies show that websites that take more than 2 seconds to load have high bounce rates, that is, the user simply chooses not to proceed to the site at all. Enlisting the help of a quality SEO firm is one way to combat slow load times.

We checked performance of some well-known ecommerce sites and were surprised to see this major retailer receive a grade of 4 (out of a possible 100) for its mobile experience. The desktop experience was not a lot better at a grade of 15. Frequently, taking some simple configuration steps will help improve website load times.

Get help from our SEO agency in Austin if you’re struggling with slow load times!

Get Quality Design with Help from MARION

While our article mainly concerns digital UX, naturally, at MARION, we are concerned with good vs. bad UX design in everything we create for our customers, whether it’s a website, a business card, brochure, or box!

Our Houston, DFW, and Austin web design team and marketing strategists are at your fingertips. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation!

For the best results, a graphic design firm should not be at the mercy of their client when it comes to properly performing their jobs. Professional agencies that offer graphic design services tend to work best when there is respectful and clear communication between themselves and their customers.

As the client, knowing what feedback to offer will greatly improve the quality of the project you currently have on the chopping block. There’s nothing wrong with giving feedback when it’s warranted – it just depends on how you say it.

7 Tips for Giving Graphic Design Feedback

Here are 7 tips on how you can give helpful graphic design feedback to your agency.

1. Be Clear with Your Expectations

Feedback is only useful when it’s specific. If it’s vague, you can’t blame your agency for producing less than desirable results. For example, you can provide a graphic design brief or links to a competitor’s website to give your agency a visual idea of what you’re after. Try to focus on communicating as much information as possible to avoid frustrating, and potentially unnecessary rounds of revisions.

2. Research, Research, Research

Good feedback often requires copious research. There’s no reason to be ashamed if you have no clue what makes a good business website or how to make a good logo. Online research can give you some of the context you need.

Struggling to build a brand that resonates with your target customers? Download our free eBook today and follow the 4 step process to building a brand that works!

For example, you could pull up samples for layouts, colors, or design inspirations; anything you feel can help the project along. Take your existing brand guidelines into consideration during this time to keep the project on track.

3. Be Direct and Honest

Don’t be afraid of restraining your feedback in fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Professionals should be more than capable of taking your feedback and molding it into exactly what you need for your business. Be direct and honest with your expectations, but be kind and courteous with your words

4. Ask Questions

It’s okay if you’re unsure how to approach a project. If there are specific aspects of the project you’re confused with, make sure you ask questions. Remember, no question is a stupid question (no matter how ridiculous it may seem), because it only increases your own knowledge. If you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask!

5. Stay Focused on the Goal

What’s your end goal? Does it align with your brand guidelines? It may be difficult, but you must leave your personal likes and tastes at the door and make sure you’re focusing solely on the interests of your business.

Just because you personally don’t like purple doesn’t mean a purple logo for your business is a bad idea especially if it matches the tone of your brand. Remember that you and your business are two separate entities. Keep your personal bias out of the equation and stay focused on your goals.

6. Don’t Involve a Lot of People in the Decision-making Process

Nothing’s worse than bringing in a group or committee to come to a decision on a graphic design project. Heads will inevitably butt, feelings will become involved, and worst of all the decision-making process will be prolonged and delayed. Sure, you could always try to compromise to accommodate everyone’s opinions, but that may lead to even more disagreements amongst the group.

With that being said, sometimes you have no choice but to work with a group or committee. In such instances try to ask direct questions to keep the project on track such as “does this color show empathy and compassion” or “does our logo appeal to an older audience?”

Asking questions such as “what do you think” will only prompt a wave of personal opinion which may or may not be beneficial to the project.

7. Consolidate Your Feedback from All Sources

It’s important to pool feedback from all sources, especially if you’re working with a group (as explained in tip 6. Sure, not all of the feedback suggestions you receive may be the best ideas for the project as a whole, but presenting your compiled list to your graphic designer will allow you both to sit down and find what’s best for your brand, and what needs to be thrown out to the trash bin.

Final Thoughts on Feedback for Graphic Design

Communication between clients and agencies are a must for any successful graphic design project. It all boils down to what you communicate and how you communicate it. If you’re clear, concise and respectful, your feedback should be well-received, and the changes incorporated into your project with no problems.

Are you in search of a top-rated marketing agency? We can help. MARION has decades of experience and houses a team of graphic design professionals ready to take on any project you need. Our graphic design firm in Austin & Houston is on standby to meet your graphic design needs.

Contact us today to learn more about the services we can provide for your business.

A good design brief template is like a map. Without it, you’re going to get lost. Writing a design brief for graphic designers requires attention to detail as you attempt to communicate the scope and goals of your project.

Before jumping in with both feet, you need to have a firm understanding of what’s required on your end to craft a highly effective graphic design brief.

At the end of the article, we will provide a template you can use for your own projects in the future.

What Is a Design Brief in Graphic Design?

A design brief is an outline that focuses primarily on the business objectives, outcomes, and results of project design, rather than the actual design itself.

You, as the client, are not responsible for creating the design (leave that part to the professionals at MARION). It’s your job to focus on your objectives and to provide guidance for the graphic designer.

What Information Is Included in a Design Brief?

Design briefs are straightforward. The information you need to provide will give your graphic designer an intimate look into your business. As a general rule of thumb, the more information you provide the better.

What does a design brief include?

• Who your audience is
• The scope of the project
• The tone of the project
• Due dates
• How you intend on measuring the success of the project
• The problem you’re solving
• Your competition
• Aesthetic design ideas
• Any other relevant information about your business

Your graphic design brief should give your graphic designer everything they need to hit the ground running.

Want to work with the professionals? Take your project to the next level by working with MARION for graphic design in Houston.

5 Tips for Writing a Design Brief for Graphic Designers

Now that you have a firm understanding of what a graphic design brief entails, let’s look at 5 tips for successfully writing a design brief for graphic designers.

Keep in mind that you may need to specify the channel you intend to communicate with the design. For example, our Houston web design process may end up looking very different from a design intended for print collateral.

1. Highlight your specifications

What are the specifications of your project? Do you have a brand style guide that must be followed? What size do you need the design to be? Will you require business cards? Flyers? Posters? Web banners? Car decals? Do you have any existing .PSD files from previous designs?

Do you need help creating a brand style guide? Download this free brand style guide today, and take a step toward building a more professional brand!

Provide as many specifications as you can. The more details, the better. Chances are, if you leave some important details out for the sake of being concise, you’ll end up with more time-consuming back-and-forth later.

2. Identify your target audience

Give an in-depth breakdown of your target audience. What is their income bracket? Do they own businesses? Where do they shop? How often do they purchase from your business? What’s their age range?

Try to paint a customer profile so vivid that your graphic designer can practically see the faces of your clientele.

3. Set a budget

One of your top goals should be to maximize the amount of money you intend on pouring into your project. Setting a budget lets your graphic designer know what they can and can’t do.

Having a budget in place also lets your graphic designer know if you can afford their time and creativity – top freelancers and agencies won’t consider your design brief if you don’t have an adequate budget.

Your project deserves a top tier graphic design team. Why don’t you try working with Houston marketing agencies like MARION! Our design team has been serving Texas-based businesses for nearly 40 years. We have provided countless Houston and Austin custom website designs, collateral creation, branding services, and more!

4. Create a corporate profile

Identify as many details about your business as possible. How long have you been in operation? What’s the size of your business? What’s your reputation? The best design briefs get into the nitty-gritty when it comes to in-depth details about your business.

Make sure you leave the sales pitch at the door. You’re not trying to sell your business in your design brief; you’re making sure your graphic designer understands every aspect of your business so they can sell it visually.

5. Set a deadline

As with any project, you should set a realistic deadline for work completion. Consider every step along the way and give your graphic designer plenty of leeway to finish the project without feeling rushed (that way they’ll deliver a higher quality end product).

You should avoid rush jobs if possible. However, if you need a project done ASAP, be upfront with your expectations. That way your graphic designer will know what they’re signing up for.

Creative Brief Examples for Graphic Design Projects

It’s one thing to explain the details of a creative brief. It’s quite another when you can see examples for yourself. If there was any singular theme in this article, it’s that the more details you add to your brief the better. Here are a few examples we’ve found that will give you a good idea of what an excellent creative brief entails.

Design Brief Case Study #1:

Reebok Shoes

This example does a lot of things right. It gives an adequate company background, notes the objective, highlights the execution requirements and more. What this creative brief accomplishes exceptionally well is the description of the target audience. In essence, this brief is “customer-centric.”

Design Brief Case Study #2:

PayPal

This particular example hits all of its pain points pretty well, but where it stands out is its unique design. This creative brief makes it clear that it doesn’t matter how the content is presented. What matters is that the information is communicated effectively.

Get Expert Graphic Design Help Today!

Knowing how to write a brief for a graphic designer requires attention to detail to ensure your project is completed to your specifications.

If you’re in need of graphic design in Austin or Houston that will breathe life into your projects reach out to MARION today to see what we can do for you.