What Makes a Design or Photograph Effective?
A marketing project's effectiveness is determined by many factors. All art must communicate to its audience. This is true for fine art as well as commercial art. For an art project, such as a graphic design, a web design, or a photograph, to be effective, it must communicate your message to your target audience and only your target audience. You don't want to waste time and money communicating to those who will not become your customers.
Therefore, it is very important to identify your marketing message and exactly who your target audience is. Once you have defined these you then need to establish your marketing plan. With your marketing plan, you will know what art projects you will need to create over the year to communicate your message to your target audience. It takes many factors working together to make a marketing project effective.
Your Marketing Projects Will be Effective if
- They are designed for your particular target audience
- They are distributed in locations that your target audience will see your message
- They support each other by repeating your marketing message to your target audience
- Promote public awareness of your company
- Develop your brand
- Deliver sales
A Photograph is Effective if
- It is professionally executed with no technical errors
- Visually appealing
- Communicates your message without the need for words
- Is targeted to your particular audience
- Compliments the design that it is enhancing
- Brings you business
- Generates a profit
A Design is Effective if
- It is professionally executed with no technical errors
- Visually appealing
- Communicates your message clearly with the proper written copy
- Is targeted to your particular audience
- Compliments the written copy, illustrations, and photography that enhance it
- Is distributed correctly so that your target audience will see it
- Brings you business
- Generates a profit
A Website is Effective if
Visitors can:
- Find it (through search engines and other marketing tools)
- Find it attractive
- Find it useful
- Find it easy to navigate
- Find the information that they came there to view
You:
- Get visitors to find you
- Get visitors to find what you want them to view
- Get repeat visitors
- Get business from these visitors
- Generate a profit
You Will Know How Effective Your Art Project is
Your website can tell you how effective it is as well as how effective all your other marketing material is. If your marketing project does not generate revenue one way or another then it is worthless. There are many ways to measure a marketing project's productive value other than direct business. Many times community awareness and trust can be very valuable. Remember all your marketing projects must support each other to promote your business. Just simply having a website is not enough. It needs to be marketed on and off line through other graphic design projects. It also needs to be updated with relevant content.