Would you love to have professional looking graphics and imagery for your pet business feel unsure about taking the next step?

Investing in how your brand looks can help take you to the next level and get more people to know about what you offer.

But the whole ‘brand’ thing can feel uncomfortable. You don’t want to feel like you’re taking yourself too seriously, and it’s something I’ve struggled with.

This week on the podcast I’m chatting to Alison Price from House of Henry, a graphic designer for the pet industry.

We’re exploring the different ways design can elevate your brand, boost your own confidence and bring more customers and sales.

You can listen in on the player link below or read the key themes covered as a blog post.

Can you tell us about your background?

I’ve been a graphic designer for over two decades now, starting in PR and creative agencies before setting up my own business in 2004.

I set up House of Henry and created branded products for pet businesses and now I’m purely graphic design, helping people with digital and printed graphics and branding.

What are you finding is working well for pet businesses at the moment?

Social media graphics, as it’s so noisy out there and if you have the right graphics it’s possible to cut through the noise.

We’re all so glued to our phones and I’ve found pet businesses are keen to get themselves out there in a more professional way.

For product businesses, having professionally designed social media graphics and brochures makes a difference.

This Christmas I’ve worked on some that have been more like magazines with clickable links to the products, they look fantastic.

For the service providers such as a groomers, price lists, both digital and print, and welcome packs and information leaflets are really effective.

Also eBooks and PDF downloads for lead magnets, where pet professionals provide guides ranging from how to fit a muzzle to brain games.

This allows them to share their expertise, build a relationship and that know, like and trust, and potentially convert the person into a client.

The lead magnet can be used to build their e mail list, meaning the person is in their sales funnel and can become a client in the future.

What qualities should you look for in a designer?

Have a look at their work as try to see if they have a style you like, so my style is quite magazine like, but other designers have a different look and feel.

It’s important that you can communicate with them and they understand you. A good designer will take your brand and build on it, and help you take your business forward.

They’ll care about you and want to ensure you’re putting yourself, your product or your service out in the right way.

I was resistant to the whole ‘brand’ thing for a long time, what would you say to people who might feel nervous, or they’re ‘too small’ for this kind of thing?

To take it slowly and actually that’s why working with someone who is trained to do this rather than try to cobble things together yourself is important.

There’s a lot of questions that need to be asked at the beginning about your intentions as a business and your purpose.

So who you are, what you do, who you help and why. These are the foundations you’ll go through with your designer.

The key thing is to be who you are, and that will shine through and you’ll be confident and know that with the right branding, you can present the best version of yourself.

Put that out there, have branding that represents you and the right people will be attracted to you.

What do you need to give your designer?

It depends what you’re looking for.

If it’s for social media, I would need your logos, brand colours and images, and these can be your own, ideally professional but as long as they are decent quality that’s ok.

I have a library of stock images that I can use if appropriate.

If it was for a PDF, eBook or brochure, I’d need the copy as well, so you would need to either write this yourself or employ a copywriter.

You’d also need to advise on the titles of the pages, headings and subheadings. I can help with this as I put it together, but you would need to give me some guidance at the outset.

Can you share any examples of where design has really made an impact?

Yes, Sarah Jones from www.myanxiousdog.com worked with me on a social media graphic that was shared 1500 times.

That was amazing, it just skyrocketed. The reach was incredible and it meant so many people were able to discover her products.

The awareness day packages have also done really well do, with National Terrier Day founded by Michelle Burgess from Scruffy Little Terrier and Muddy Dog Day by Jo Milnes at Distinctive Pets trending on Twitter.

These are my favourite moments when it comes to helping businesses, seeing this is just brilliant.

Alison is no longer working as a graphic designer however her advice is valuable no matter who you’re working with.

If you’d like to connect with people who can support you in your business, head over to my free Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/publicitytipsforpetbusinesses

If you found this post helpful, you might like to read Finding your voice in your pet business content with Rikki Sullivan or Get Your Pet Business found on Google with Rosie Robinson.