Here’s the truth: the way our business looks online DOES matter.

We don’t like to believe it in most parts of our life…but looks always matter on some level.

• tell me you haven’t judged a business or other personality by the way their website looks
• tell me it wasn’t completely jarring to meet someone in person who looked like an unkempt hobo
• tell me you have refused to buy from someone simply because they didn’t seem TOGETHER
• tell me that you jumped to buy something because of the way the “package” looked

Looks matter because that’s often all our audience has to go on to judge our ability to solve their problem.

Sure you can have a solid content strategy, but without the visual pieces in place, that trust you built might lose it’s power.

That’s why I asked Karen Gunton to write a post for you about how images are an important part of a successful launch.

Enjoy, pass on, and then head to the comments…

– > Karen will be answering questions down there …

3 Branded Images You Need To Create For A Successful Launch

As if you don’t already have enough to do as you plan out your launch, I am going to remind you of one more thing.

Visual content.

You may already have these images somewhere on your to do list, but it is worth having a checklist all in one spot. Whether you create your launch images yourself or hire a designer to do it, it will save you time/money/hassle to work on them all at once, and you definitely want to make sure you don’t miss anything you need!

1. Buttons & Banners

Start by making a list of all the places you will need to put a button or a banner. For instance: your sales page, your email list, your website sidebar, your membership site, your products/services page. Have your attention grabbing headlines and compelling calls to action ready to insert!

Time saving tip:

Make 3 sizes of buttons/banners. A square, a wide banner, and a skyscraper banner.  Use the same background colour, the same headlines/text/calls to action, and the same image… just move them around for the different size formats.

Where to make them:

My favorite free online tool for creating branded images is pixlr.

You can create the exact size image you need, you can use whatever fonts you have on your computer (and you should have your brand fonts installed for your own use!) and you can save the images and edit them later (allowing you to use them again).

2. Shareables

These are the promotional images you use to spread the word about your launch online–for instance: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, twitter, blog, newsletter, group forums etc.

Start by coming up with some compelling content that will draw readers in to click on your link and read more about your launch – like testimonials, inspiring quotes, evocative questions, interesting statistics or helpful tips.

The best shareables resonate with your audience – they will share them online for you and help you spread the word!

Time saving tip:

Make a batch of shareables at once – they can all have a similar look but contain different compelling content. Square images will work on every platform, and save you time allowing you to get the most bang for your effort.

Where to make them:

My favorite free online tool for creating shareable social media images is picmonkey. It is super easy to use, and has a bunch of creative options that will allow you to have some fun creating your shareables.

3. PDFs

PDFs can be worksheets, checklists, printables, guides, ebooks, instructions, lists and more.

Basically anything that you want to offer to your customers as part of your launch – either as a freebie for joining your list or as part of the product itself.

Get your content ready in whatever word processing program you like to use.

Time saving tip:

PDFs do not have to be elaborate! Consider creating a simple banner image as a header, using your brand colors and fonts in your headings and subheadings, and breaking up text with colorful bullets, text boxes, or inserted images.

Once you have created your document you can use it again and again for new purposes – just replace the text.

Where to make them:

I like to use word or open office to create PDFs as they include 2 things that make it super easy! You can create a modified banner image to insert into your header and/or footer which will automatically brand every page of your pdf.

You can use styles to create headings, subheadings and more. Use the inbuilt styles and just tweak them to match your fonts and colors.

One more helpful hint:

If it is not in the budget to hire a designer for all of your image work, but you don’t feel confident doing all of it yourself, consider getting a designer to make a few templates for you.

A “blank” banner template could be used as a banner image, a shareable, and a PDF header.

A square template could be used for shareables and for sidebar buttons. Use picmonkey or pixlr to add text to your templates as you need them.

Branded visual content will set a professional tone for your launch and will also help you to make your launch a success: getting noticed online, engaging with your audience, and drawing them in to find out more about your new product or service.

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Who’s this Karen chick? Well – she’s the person who’s created some very cool images and done some of the design work you’ll see inside Fearless Launching…but here’s her official deets…

karen gunton is a teacher, brainstormer and visual marketing specialist, and she is passionate about helping business owners SHINE online. take her Karen Gunton’s free resources to learn how to create your own branded shareable images for social media.

Now get to the comments and make Karen feel welcome (i.e. grill her with your own visual marketing questions!).