All Businesses Should Care About This One Thing

Imagine you’re a restaurant…

A city’s tourism department...

A brewery with a “local” focus surrounded by 6 other breweries doing the same thing...

No matter what type of establishment you run, I’m going to put this out there:

All of you should care about custom illustrations within your brand.

Why?

Because they will bring value to your business and help you reach your goals of:

Making money.
Attracting customers.
Building community around your business and your brand.

Today, I want to kick off a 3-part series spotlighting what I feel are the top 3 reasons that custom illustrations benefit your business.

Part 1 - They’re memorable to your customers.

Part 2 - They create a unique visual story.

Part 3 - They’re relatable, desirable, and shareable.

Are you ready to blaze your own path and stand apart from your competition?

Let’s get started with Part 1: Custom illustrations are memorable to your customers.

Why Memorable Matters

Custom illustrations provide memorable brand touchpoints, helping you stand out in your customers’ minds.

Think about it: we live in a world over-saturated with images all vying for our attention.

This means that most of the time, we’re tuning out what isn’t important without even realizing it.

It’s our brain’s way of helping us stay focused and remain productive.

This reality makes it incredibly challenging to stay top of mind for your customers.

Here are 3 reasons why illustrations will wake your customers from their image-burdened stupor, just like a secret spicy sauce:

1. Your Customers Aren’t Dumb

Customers recognize hand-drawn vs. stock—you can’t fool us!

That taco icon on your menu is 100% stock imagery, and everyone can tell.

That’s not the worst thing in the world, but stock imagery doesn’t do anything to instill confidence in your customers’ minds.

They haven’t even ordered their drinks yet and already you’ve branded yourself as an “average Joe”.

And not the kind of Joe that makes a comeback at the end of the movie.

Custom illustrations are eye candy—they catch your customer’s attention—which as we know, is incredibly elusive.

I don’t care what you peddle, eye candy needs to be on the menu.

2. Create Powerful Experiences

Illustrations communicate intention!

If you threw a stock icon onto your menu, what else in your business is just thrown together mindlessly?

Stock imagery says, “I’m hoping you’ll breeze past this and let the food do all the talking.”

Custom illustrations say, “I care about the full customer experience, from the second you walk in the door until you’re writing the check.”

Successful business owners know that if the food or beverage is your only selling point, you’ll survive, but you probably won’t thrive.

Think of your business as a full experience, images and all.

Illustrations stand out and give your customers another touchpoint to put together the story of what you’re about.
You want to tell your story? Tell it through your powerful visuals like illustrations.

3. Trigger Good Memories

Illustration harness the power of memories.

So much of the food and beverage business hinges on your diners’ senses, and senses give us a strong path to memories.

There’s a reason we don’t forget bad experiences with wait staff or the charcoal taste of a burnt pizza.

Additionally, illustrations placed on coasters, linens, your social media, and even your walls, if done well, will stay with your customers long after they leave the restaurant.

Take the opportunity to stand out beyond uncontrollable factors like the ingredients supply chain or your staff’s behavior by using custom illustrations.

Cater to the Customer’s Brain (and Tastebuds)

The customer’s brain is a crazy place, right?

And you thought you just had to champion their tastebuds!

As we’ve seen, an investment in unique visuals like illustrations is more than just something pretty to throw on the ‘gram when you remember to do it.

Illustrations communicate who you are to your customers!

They add to their experience as much as the food and beverages you’re serving them.

If you’re hungry for more beneficial illustration persuasion, stay tuned for Part 2.

We’ll dive into how illustrations provide an opportunity for brand expansion and are a tool for telling your story.

Until then, bon appetit!