The power of design in business cannot be overstated. For a business to prosper and flourish, it relies on attracting consumers and providing them with products or services that they want/need, making marketing essential. And successful marketing hinges heavily on good design.

Design and marketing are often interdependent. In a time when everyone is acutely aware of marketing strategies, proper design is critical to a campaign’s success. If your design does not meet the standard of your consumers, your marketing strategy has fundamentally failed. 

In many ways, design and marketing are simply two sides of the same coin: they are geared towards the same goal but use different tools to get there. Both design and marketing aspire to bridge the gap between the product and the consumer. This means that design and marketing are more potent if they work together. 

So how do design and marketing successfully collaborate? There are a couple of points to consider.

While simply throwing a line out to the water and waiting for fish to bite is a valid fishing technique, it is not guaranteed to net you a catch. The principle applies to business design and marketing as well. Yes, designing for everybody can technically get customers. But not every business has a fishing net. Often, the products or services a business offers are more like a fishing rod, and there is more benefit in identifying a particular fish to catch than trying to catch them all. In the same way, when you design for your business’ specific target market, the odds of a catch become higher.

Smart fishermen will carefully select their rods according to the size and weight of the fish. They will adjust their position in the water, depending on whether the fish swim in the shallows or the deep. Some will switch their bait specifically for the fish they want to catch. This is the right attitude in designing for a target market: the design and marketing must adjust according to the audience.

But you’re not the only fisherman out at sea. In reality, the sea is probably overcrowded with fishermen just like you, all waving their bait at the poor befuddled fish.

Every day, we are bombarded by marketing in the media we consume, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Wherever we look—in digital and print billboards, newspapers, magazines, transportation, social media and the internet in general—our environment is heavily saturated with advertisements and endorsements. Good design must work with good marketing to find a way to make your product stand out in the sea of offerings available. Good branding is one way to accomplish this. The way you brand your products determines how the public perceives your business. If the branding is effective, then the fish are going to bite.

But maybe the sea is just too overcrowded. Maybe the best move is to find a different spot (or a different sea.)

In fishing, it is important to recognize overfishing and overcrowding. When there are too many fishermen, the fish population dwindles, and ultimately there won’t be much fish to catch. In the same way, a market can easily be as packed as a can of sardines, and it won’t be healthy for your business to blindly jump in and join the fray. A good designer sees this problem and overcomes it by positioning your product in such a way that it separates itself from the rest of the pack. This opens up opportunities for a more abundant consumer population, and can even create a market demand all your own.

Good design and good marketing must work hand-in-hand to achieve the best results for your business. It is vital that at the center of this collaboration is the consumer, and thoughtful design and empathetic marketing will make a difference. Happy fishing! 

We strive to achieve great heights in design. Contact A2 Design Lab here.

 

Illustration / Designer: Darriel Tactac
Campaign Strategist: Margaret Cantos
Writer: Chris Ignacio