When you’re trying to follow a career path that you love, it can be tough. You may doubt yourself along the way, and you may wonder if you’re even cut out for it at all. Or, you may even find that you’re just not happy. And that’s so understandable. Because not everyone is happy in their careers. This can often stem from not really being sure of what it is that you actually want to do when you’re a child. or teenager. If you’re someone that kind of left school and then went into a ‘good job’ that you know your parents wanted you to get or that your friends were going to do, then you may not be following your passion. And while passion doesn’t always pay the bills, it is important to be happy in your career. Because you’re a long time working.

For a lot of people, the dream has always been to work for themselves. Maybe you want to start your own company or be a freelancer? Or maybe you’ve just always wanted to be your own boss and enjoy the freedom that comes with setting your own hours and doing your own thing? Then what are you waiting for? Maybe now is the time that you change careers and get on track by doing your own thing? If you’ve always been afraid of failing and that’s stopped you from going ahead, don’t panic, because here are ten things that can help you to make it when you go solo.

 

Do Your Research Beforehand

The first thing that you will need to do is to make sure that you’re doing some research. Because when you want to go into business for yourself, you need to know what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. So do some research into the business field that you want to go into, who your target audience will be, and what you need to do to get your business off the ground.

 

Just Start

And then, you absolutely have to just start. Because there’s only ever so much research that you can do. If you’re not really sure on how to do this, these tips from The Muse are so important. Because you really do need to just get going. You’ll want to think about how you can start working on your business idea, building a website, and generating interest just right off the bat.

 

Fill Yourself With Self-Belief

If you know that you’re doubting yourself, or that fear or your confidence levels are holding you back, you need to work on that too. Because if you want to be a success, you absolutely have to overcome imposter syndrome to do that. You can’t worry that you’re not good enough. Or chase perfection. You just need to believe that you can do it.

 

Do It On The Side First

So just do it. But do it on the side first. As you’re still working in your job and on the career that you already have, you’re going to want to start things on the side. So have a go at getting your site together, start doing some work, build your product or sell your service. Spend any spare time you have working on the business to see how it gets going.

 

Market Like Mad

But you also have to make sure that you’re really marketing yourself. And get serious about it. Think about how you can come up with a marketing strategy that’s going to get you the traction you need. You may even want to turn to experts, like Marbury Creative Group, to help you here. Because you will want to work on your specialist areas of marketing with those that know it best.

 

Be Authentic

And when it comes to actually making this work out for you, you have to be authentic. There’s just no two ways about it. If you’re trying to copy someone else, you won’t win. You need to double down on who you are, where your strengths lie and really play to that.

 

Really Push Your Activity

Then, when it comes to the marketing and activity and business that you’re doing, you need to go all in. You do to as much as you can as often as you can. Stay consistent with your marketing and social media posts and really try to ask for as many sales as you can get and you will find it works for you.

 

Network

It’s also going to be a huge help for you if you can network. Networking is a HUGE part of working for yourself. So constantly look to be making connections. See what you can do to try and make friends with people in your industry, go to events, and just try to be as present as possible in the industry. This is not only a great way of getting known (and landing great PR), but it can also help you to generate more business too.

 

Put Yourself Out There

And as much as you may find this hard at first, you just have to put yourself out there. You really do. Because when you start your own business and when you’re doing your own thing, you absolutely have to make sure that you are selling yourself. You need to put your skills and your business out in the world and ASK for the business and the sales. If you can’t believe in yourself and what you’re doing, why will anyone else?

 

Have Something To Fall Back On

But then, before you decide to do this and to go full time with your freelancing or business, think about getting a financial safety net together. Because if you’re worried about how you will pay the bills while you’re trying to bridge the gap with your money, The Balance has some great tips on how to get some money together. That way, you won’t have to worry that you can’t pay your rent when you’re doing things alone.

Creating a strong brand is the key to successful marketing. The content of your marketing materials is important, of course, but the way that you present it needs a lot of thought too. People always put time into color schemes, good use of pictures and the layout but often, the fonts and typography that you use is chosen without too much care. We often underestimate just how much difference the font can make but it has an effect on your customers. These are just some of the great ways that you can use typography to improve your brand.

 

Send the Right Message

When you create a brand, what you’re trying to do is send a message to the customer. You’re trying to give them an understanding of what your company is about and what your core values are. Telling them is one option but people aren’t interested in a long wordy advert, you need to send that message visually. The typeface that you use is a good way to do that. For example, if you want to tap into an older demographic that is attracted to a traditional company, you shouldn’t use a modern looking minimalist font. You should also think about what the purpose of the words is. If, for example, it’s a call to action, a more angular font that conveys a bit of urgency and stands out is a better choice than something more ornamental. When you’re mixing fonts, make sure to put proper consideration into how well they go together, otherwise, everything will look a bit out of place.

Be Aware of Readability

Even though you’re trying to convey a message through the font, you still want people to read the information that you’re putting out there for them. The font can really help to keep their interest until the end. Some are a lot harder for people to follow, particularly more decorative ones. There are some different choices depending on what you’re trying to do. On a website, you should use a font that is specifically designed for reading on computer screens to avoid eye strain. Helvetica and Georgia are some of the best; they might be fairly simple but they’ll improve the readability of the site. You’ve got a bit more freedom when you’re creating physical marketing materials but you need to make sure that you don’t sacrifice readability for style. You still want to express something about your company but you have to strike a good balance between the two.

Be Unique / Create Your Own Typeface

If you want to know how to market your company well, look to some of the biggest companies in the world for inspiration. Coca-Cola and Youtube have both created their own custom typeface which customers will instantly recognize as theirs. If you create your own corporate typeface, it makes your marketing materials more unique and iconic so they’re far more likely to stick in customer’s minds. It also means that similar fonts and typefaces used by other companies will make customers think of your company.

Don’t underestimate the power of a good font when you’re trying to build a brand.  

I’m sure you know that the visuals that represent your business are important. But do you realize HOW important graphic design can be? Let’s take a closer look at why you should have a strong focus on graphic design for your next marketing or social media campaign.

1. Build Connections and Brand Recognition

Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, NBC. Do those names almost immediately make you think of their logos and marketing materials? This is the power of brand recognition at work. In its simplest form, it is the basic reputation your business or brand builds over time. At a more advanced stage, it allows consumers to identify your brand, products and offerings quickly among a sea of competition.

Apple is a great example of a company that has worked to build a recognizable brand. In fact, millennials feel the strongest emotional bond to Apple partly because of its graphic design. Its sleek website is a graphic design choice that puts the products in the forefront. Plus the signature apple logo is included on all products and even used as the home button on Apple’s website.

Graphic design and visual content form the basis of this recognition and connection-building process. It is the power of persuasion at its finest, and it’s absolutely necessary to succeed in today’s market.

People form a first impression of something within a mere 50 milliseconds of viewing it. You need to be fast and bold if you want to grab their attention.

2. Communicate with Clients Better

Content, in general, is designed to do one thing — get a message across to your audience. You may go about achieving this in many different ways such as emails, blogs, infographics, images, social media or videos to name a few.

You are essentially creating visual aids to represent and communicate your ideas to the general audience. You know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. When used appropriately, an image or visual content can portray and communicate much more than a block of text.

3. Instill Professionalism in Products

Let’s say you want to create an advertising campaign that shows off a customer using your product. Hiring someone with no creative or visual talent to draw a stick-figure next to your product is not just silly, it’s unprofessional.

That’s not to say every single marketing campaign or visual piece you produce needs to be serious. It’s okay to have fun. The point is that you want your company to seem and appear professional, to everyone including vendors, clients, and partners.

Consider graphic design for banks or credit card companies. Professionalism is key in these businesses as they handle finances. Discover does a good job of using a clean and simple logo that also looks professional. The orange color makes it fun, but the plain black text gives it an element of security.

4. Visual Stimulation to Build Curb Appeal

How many times have you walked by a business or store you’ve never heard of and thought to yourself, “That looks cool I’m going to check it out!” This is a form of advertising and marketing.

This suggests that the graphic artistry and visuals you present to potential customers can directly influence their desire to engage and do business with you. An attractive and appealing website, for instance, can bring attention and keep bounce rates low. Good video and visual marketing strategies can keep customers engaged and interested.

Much like the visuals allow your business to seem more professional and communicate more openly, they also give your brand a certain initial aesthetic, which is important for snagging new clients.

5. Lay a Strong Foundation

Before you launch any new campaign or strategy, you first need to sit down and plan out the entire rollout or process. Designers will also hash out the particulars of the visuals. This creates an incredibly strong foundation that the rest of your marketing and development can stand on.

Nike’s new rollout for their Air VaporMaxFlyknit 2 sneaker is a clear example of a strong marketing plan that leans heavily on graphic design. The company’s homepage is a collection of elements such as videos, sketches and text that are all working together to lead toward the announcement of the new shoe.

Nike even created an Air Max Day to celebrate the official release of the shoe. It’s obvious that many different teams at Nike were involved in pulling all the elements together to create one successful marketing campaign that relies on graphic design.

6. Money, Money, Money

The final — yet most important — reason why graphic design is so vital relates to the one thing you’re after, money. You see, poorly designed graphics are incredibly costly — both for the time and work invested and for the impact it could have on your brand.

Competent designers and visual artists can deliver something that is going to be effective and positive for your brand but also won’t break the bank. In the end, a strong focus on graphic design and visual content — as well as choosing the right people for the job — will have an immense wave of benefits for your organization and brand.

Get Creative

Now is the time to emphasize graphic design if you haven’t given it much thought. As much as you can’t have a business without a product or service, you can’t have a marketing strategy without the content — visual or otherwise. Using graphic design to market your company will not only bring in more money, but it will also benefit your brand, curb appeal and most importantly, your customers.

About the author: Lexie is a freelance graphic designer and blogger. She enjoys covering the latest design trends and has a large cup of coffee in arm’s reach most mornings. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner.