The hidden treasure behind visual communication. “The ability to draw and communicate visually can no longer be seen as optional.” – Bette Fetter If you are going to be a successful business you have to be able to identify yourself with a visual style. Visual communication is important, it establishes a first and lasting impression. Your business idea must have an image. This image will communicate to your audience who you are on business card, on a website and on any other printed or online platform. Words are a good start in being able to tell people who you are and what you do, but you also need to SHOW them a story of who you are. This story will visually convey why you are an expert and paint a vivid picture in the viewer’s mind and in return make you stand out from anyone else in your field. This makes you unique and helps them identify with you or your company on a more personal or emotional level. Our graphic designer Ryan Mohler, creates and designs t-shirts in his free time and has been utilizing Stillwater’s Summer Tuesdays event in Lowell Park in effort to raise awareness of his brand.  Ryan sells graphic tees and is promoting an online product launch. This is his first year trying to market or sell anything on his own and he has noticed that some booths that attract a larger audience than others. “The booths that attract more people have great displays, the communication with their audience is much clearer. They have the proper content and verbiage along with lots of branded interactive elements with giveaways, with their logos on them. People love spinning wheels and bag tosses.” Ryan will be participating again a third time next week and says he is having a problem with people not fully understanding what his booth is. “People walk by and sometimes I go unnoticed, it is almost like my booth is invisible. It is difficult clarifying pricing and expectations with those that actually do stop in.” He has small printed signs with symbols on them but it’s hard for passerby to process the physical process in their head and with Ryan’s limited budget he is working up to printing larger process signs. Ryan wants people to see right away what is going on and to stop hearing passerby say “oh, that looks cool” and not stop in because they think it is going to take a long time. “Talking to everyone is great but your voice can only reach so many people, they need to be able to see your message clearly. You might be busy talking to one person and you don’t want to be interrupt their experience to quickly explain to another person, they need to visually see and read for themselves while they wait for the experience or sale.” Ryan goes on to talk about how important showing people the process is and how he plans to utilize it better at his next event.   [caption id="attachment_788" align="aligncenter" width="378"] Ryan's vendor tent at Stillwater's Summer Tuesday.[/caption]   “You really need a story to show things, to show how excited kids are to have their handmade designs processed into a tangible thing. We are going to try to have more before and after photos up to show the process and maybe an actual design a kid made showcased, so people can fully understand what is going on here.” It’s not all about signs, although that may be our favorite part.  Here are a few tips to try when you’re new to sales and marketing.

• Engage with them - ask about their interests and to try to get to know your audience better.
• Strongly present your product or service - their response will help give you advice for future presentations.
• Be inviting - be friendly - don’t shun them too much if they’re not as interesting as you’d like.
• Know your target market and how to capture their attention.
• Don’t just wait for them to come to you - go find them.

  By: Apryl Cave