Using Graphic Comics in Your Brand’s Communication

Visual communications in design have become an essential component of modern branding and marketing. Corporate identity design cannot exist in isolation from the project itself, it is always its organic logical, aesthetic, and functional continuation. Identity design and other graphic design branches closely work to ensure the unity of perception of the entire range of your brand goods and services and ensure that the whole non-verbal information is effectively conveyed to the user. You won’t believe it but marketing comics are also an excellent way of your brands’ communication that can bring ultimate marketing results.

What are comics?

In the visual communication system, the meaning is conveyed both by verbal (text) and visual means, the language of symbols through visual images, semiotic signs, color, photographs, drawings, ornament, fonts, animated logos, and other compositional constructions. 

Studies have shown that 10% of people remember the information they hear, 20% remember the material they’ve read, and 80% of the target audience remember what they’ve seen and once did.

Short comic stories, a type of visual art known as comics (or, less frequently, sequential art) consists of images that frequently include text, often in the form of speech balloons (bubbles) or image captions that make it a perfect match.

In marketing, one strategy approach to make your campaign more interesting and give you an advantage over competing businesses is by using comics. When discussing complex or divisive subjects that need to be more approachable, using funny business comics into your marketing message can help you lower barriers with your audience and extremely stand out from the crowd.

Comic books, editorial and parody cartoons, and comic strip about communication are the examples of common formats. Books like graphic novels, comic albums, manga and tankōbon have been more prevalent since the late 20th century, and greatly affected the internet digital comics and now the marketing business comics, which have grown in popularity since then.

Main elements of comics

Visual art like comics have a clear structure like any other graphic design. Typically, a comic book is made up of a variety of components that all work together to tell the tale.

Panel

One illustration on a page is called a panel, and it is typically bordered. One or more panels can be found on a comic book page. By illustrating an action using figures and voice bubbles, each panel advances the plot.

Gutter

The area between the panels is seen here. The size of these spaces, which affects how simple it is to read the pages, can be huge or little.

Tier

This one is single row of panels.

Splash

This is a full-page drawing that frequently appears at the start of a comic book to introduce the tale and create the scene and mood.

Spread

Spread comprises an illustration that is spread out over more than one page.

Captions

A box that is distinct from the other panels and is typically used to give background information about what is happening through a narrator’s voice is the caption.

Speech bubble/balloon 

These contain the dialogues of the characters and inside the panel. Each balloon has a tail, which points to who is speaking during the dialogue.

Of course, if you don’t create the whole book, there will be fewer elements in your business comic strip. The full list of major comics elements however remains as above.

Why to integrate comics in your marketing

Engaging the audience by exhibiting your business in many ways is essential for a marketing campaign to be effective. Using solely text content is not viable when starting a social media, email, or blog campaign. Everyone is aware of and employs the usage of visuals, which are essential to any communication. You must now create concepts that will set your brand apart from rivals. One approach to make your campaign more interesting and give you an advantage over competing businesses is exactly by using comics.

You may tap into a compelling source of website content by including comic-based visual art into your brand storytelling efforts. This method is typically quicker and less expensive to generate than other video content forms.

Comics can be used to convey practically any message, but they especially shine when explaining abstract, difficult-to-understand, or otherwise unsexy concepts or goods. They are not constrained by the considerations of the real world, unlike images or movies. Anything from how a web browser functions to the proper usage of semicolons can be explained by a comic book artist.

Health-related subjects are another area in which comics can shine, mainly when the health issue in question may be rather uncomfortable or even terrifying.

Thus, integrating comics into your marketing communications can assist you in lowering barriers with your audience, particularly when talking about difficult or divisive subjects that require a more approachable tone. Comics are a fantastic medium to tell a compelling story or have the desired psychological effect on an audience since viewers frequently identify with and highlight the major characters. Of course, there are other methods, like animation video marketing. Although animation can achieve the same result, it is more expensive and takes longer to produce. And comics are more accessible and less expensive to make.

How to use comics in your communications

For PR and other marketing professionals, graphic storytelling is a creative way to communicate their message. They use a variety of narrative techniques to motivate audiences. Comics are the simplest technique to make sure people comprehend and remember your messages. Here are the ways to use comics in variety of mediums:

Social media

 Social media is the largest forum for information sharing by people of all social statuses. Comics will make sure you communicate effectively in addition to aiming for likes and gaining more followers.

Digital journals

The rise of illustrated journalism is a result of how people now consume information. They want the most basic form of the news. Comic books, cartoons, and other visual storytelling techniques are now widely used by news organizations to present traditional stories. You ьфн do so many things with comics.

Storytelling ads

The aim of comics is to make a straightforward tale interesting, which encourages readers to read and reread it. You may all agree that a post with cartons will be read more than one time than one with simple text. Like what comics offer, anything enthralling and emotive can be read more than once.

Tutorials

People will also take action based on the knowledge they have. Many people can relate to comics, which make grasping complex data more approachable. Once it is evident what has to be done, this will force them to take the necessary action.

Feedback

Use comics to get people to respond. People are more likely to react to information presented in comics than in plain text. Because of the thorough coverage, the information will reach a large number of people who are prepared to take the next step.

Sky’s the limit! There are more ways to apply your comics for marketing success. Feel free to share some more application cases you’ve come up with in your marketing strategy.

What kind of comics might work for your brand?

Like infographics, and much other graphic stuff, comics and visual content that looks like comics have a high potential for viral spread.

Like movies, comics have many different genres and communication methods. These range from serious social criticism to light-hearted adventure tales. Online, humor tends to make content more shareable, but depending on the subject and the audience, you might want to take a more sombre approach.

Business comics will be perfect for your brand. Adult-targeted online comics typically mix wry observations with straightforward graphics and can reach many audiences at once. Feel free to vary.

What style will best represent your business?

Here’s also much freedom for your marketing strategy. Connotations vary according to various styles. Hand-drawn doodles comics typically convey a friendlier vibe, whereas polished vector images convey professionalism but may come off as a little impersonal, etc. Additionally, a cartoony approach or animated comic strip about business is excellent for simplifying complicated subjects, but in some situations (and to some individuals), it may come off as dumbing-down your message. Anyway, realistic, cartoony, simple, or slick, the choice is yours. Pick the best style as per your current marketing goals.

What are the Benefits of a Custom Comic Book for Your Business?

Communication comic strips or real graphic novels, they bring much profit to your business in the most engaging way. They typically provide context through brief, simple lines as well as additional visual and text clues (such as character sighs, door slams, etc.).They are beneficial for kids with learning disabilities as well; for example, autistic kids can learn a lot about recognizing emotions from the pictures in comic books, etc. 

One strategy to strengthen your campaign and set it apart from competing products may be to use comic books. Including comics in your marketing communications can assist you in lowering barriers with your audience, particularly when addressing difficult or divisive subjects that require a more approachable tone.

For your target audience, sales copy is more effective and interesting when it is presented as a personalized comic book. Use intricate tales and distinctive characters to convey more details about your good or service.

Where can you find a comics artist whose work will fit your brand goals?

Recruiting talented graphic artists and striking deals with them for the projects, editing the content, building the budget for the projects, creating the graphics, marketing and distributing them, and so much more are what the Explain Ninja team may help with during your brand video production. 

Examples of comics in the business

 Here are also some great examples of comic strip stories that appeared in business magazines and other digital sources to better illustrate the meaning of comics in marketing. Enjoy it.

Cruel Nature

A comic strip called Karu luonto (Cruel Nature) featured wild creatures debating existential issues and other issues. Both the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat and the current affairs magazine Suomen Kuvalehti published it. Finnish is the original language. Idea, illustration, and writing: Virpi Oinonen.

Laakio & Pettersson

The cartoon was published in the business publication Bisnes.fi. The conversation covered subjects including applying stupid knowledge management tactics, sloppy greenwashing, and terrible management of sports and the arts. Finnish is the original language. Idea, illustration, and writing: Virpi Oinonen.

Two Accountants

Two accountants in a comic strip for an accounting firm have opposing worldviews and methodologies that frequently clash. In a year, the comic was published as a part of an internal change management program. English is the original language. Idea, illustration, and writing: Virpi Oinonen.

Rocío Diestra’s stories

You will learn all you need to know to make comics for social networks, from the concept to the storytelling to the design, in digital comic Illustration for social media like that. Working on a graphic novel with Penguin Random House publishers, the crisp linework and thought-provoking topics made captivating social media material forming a unique communication strategy for any brand. This  web comic, which is shown below, illustrates the visual communication you may achieve by using drawings to reveal a character’s inner world.

Conclusion

Visual communications in design have become an essential component of modern branding and marketing. Comics can therefore be used as a crucial tool in a variety of fields and are not just for entertainment. When turning leads into customers, they can have a big impact on a company success. They make a customer to respond to a call to action, just like in any other promotional messaging, provoke feedback, engage and stuck on their minds. Even while comics are often straightforward, they often contain profound messages. Here, you can use comics to expand your marketing objectives. To get more from comics and cartoons, always try to comprehend the underlying causes. Feel free to create your communication comic of any style and format of animated sales videos.