How to Enhance Your Small Business Visual Appeal

The visual appeal of your business is, simply put, how it looks. This doesn’t take into account the quality of your products or services, or the levels of customer service you display, or anything beyond the visual aesthetic. Let’s go over some tips that can help you to improve the visual appeal of your business, because it’s a really important element that many small businesses don’t really take into consideration. We’ll go over some tips to improve the online visual appeal, and then the offline visual appeal. Online visual appeal deals with your digital presence such as a website and social media. Offline, obviously, deals with the visual appeal in the “real world” (although online and offline work very closely hand-in-hand.)

                   Things to Consider

First of all, what type of industry are you in? A children’s dental clinic is going to have a very different visual appeal than an auto repair shop. Understanding your industry and your customers plays a big part in how you’ll want to style your business. None the less, there are some universal tips that apply to any type of business.

  • Let a professional help. If you aren’t a graphic designer by trade, don’t just rely on the advice from the person who works behind the counter at the print shop using stock photos and templates. There’s no substitute for a great logo and branding to represent your company.
  • Take a unified approach. The branding on your website should match the branding in your office, or retail location, or shop, or whatever type of business you have. Think of the most popular brands on earth, they always stay true to their core styles and designs and that’s why they are so recognizable. If Coca-Cola started using different colours than the red and white that everyone is used to, it would confuse and shock their customer base.
  • What defines your business? Before you choose a logo, a style, a design or anything else for your branding, what defines your business? What sets it apart from the competition? You should try to represent this in your logo. It’s not easy to do, that’s why we love to work with experienced professionals. DIY is great, but not always.

                   Online Visual Appeal Tips

Here are some questions that you can ask yourself about the online visual appeal if your small business.

  • Is your website modern and up to date?
  • If a brand-new visitor lands on your site, can they tell that your company is still active?
  • Is your site easy to browse and navigate, is there a clear path from landing on it towards making contact, filling in a form, or placing an order?
  • Is branding consistent across the various places that customers can find you online?

                   Offline Visual Appeal Tips

Finally, here are some tips to help you increase the offline visual appeal of your small business. Keep in mind that there are many different industries out there and different types of work places, so just follow what’s relevant to you.

  • Location, location, location. Even if you aren’t in real estate, location is always important. Are you relying on foot-traffic in a place that isn’t within walking distance of where your customers reside? 
  • Curb appeal. To borrow another buzzword from the real estate industry, how does your business look from the outside? Is it welcoming and inviting? Would people ever walk by, get curious, and come inside? If your location doesn’t make sense and your business doesn’t have any curb appeal, it might be time to consider relocating.
  • Can you incorporate elements from your online visual presence into your offline work area?

As a rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to really try to tie things together when it comes to the online and offline visual appeal of your small business. The goal is to create a synergy, and to have unified branding across all platforms.

About the author

Mary Ann Keeling is a freelance writer and business consultant who loves sharing her insights on the latest business opportunities. She also enjoys and takes pride in delivering leading social media campaigns.

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