TAYA Training for Graphic Designer?

Posted March 15, 2021 in
IMPACT+ HQ IMPACT+ HQ

Blake Cormier

IT Nerd Turned Content Writer

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Hi everyone!

I posted recently about expanding our in-house marketing team. As part of that, it looks like we'll have the opportunity to add a part-time graphic designer sooner rather than later -- which is great news for our content marketing efforts. My plan is to have her work on layouts and designs for premium content, as well as things like infographics for blog articles and web pages. I'm sure having better visuals will help our content to have a bigger impact on our prospects.

Because this is going to be a big part of our inbound and TAYA strategy, I'd like to make sure she has a solid foundation in both of those concepts as soon as possible. I'm going to send her some articles from IMPACT and HubSpot about inbound and TAYA, and maybe even ask her to read the book or join IMPACT+ and take some of the courses. But while it's good to understand the strategy and principles, I don't want to overwhelm her with too much info if it's not directly applicable to her role. 

So I'd like to ask for your input on this. What resources would be good to get a designer up to speed on TAYA, specifically how it applies to visual design? 

I'd also be interested in any resources about how I can make good use of her skills to produce better content.

Thanks!
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Connor DeLaney
Marcella Jalbert or  Joe Rinaldi - I'd love to hear each of your takes here being two of our designers at IMPACT who have helped us design a lot of our graphical efforts. 

Jennifer Goode and Elle Spears , since you both bring great perspectives on the workload of onboarding recently, would love your thoughts on how much can feel like too much vs a good pace to get you moving!
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Elle Spears
Happy to provide. So, the biggest thing I can say is that the reason something feels too much happens sometimes because we are talking about concepts and not applying the concepts to actions ourselves for the places we work for. One of the great things that Jen did for me was allow me to apply the concepts I learned in the books and courses to projects. Game changer. Now the concepts are stuck in my head, firmly rooted in application and more relevant. The projects don't have to be big either. For instance, a graphic project I did was creating a simple infographic for PTO instructions. You wouldn't think TAYA wouldn't apply but an internal audience is still a target. I got to practice some of the concepts and feel like I was actually adding value. 
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Steve Hoffer
Understand how to change a 'feature' discussion into a 'benefits' discussion. Frequently, you'll be given a list of features about a product or service. If you take that feature, and add 'because...' to the end, and keep going. That will help spell out the benefit. 

Example: This car has electric windows...because using a switch to put down the window is easier than a hand crank. The electric windows are the feature, but the benefit is having something that easier than a hand crank (who even remembers those?)

Focus primarily on the common problems that users are likely looking to solve, make sure your graphics person is talking to sales personnel, and make sure sales personnel agree on the benefits. Sometimes a little nuance is needed to get a benefit communicated correctly.
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Joe Rinaldi
Sure thing Connor DeLaney !

Blake Cormier That's super exciting you'll be adding a designer to your team! I'm obviously a little biased but for starters just reading They Ask You Answer would be a great place to dive in. It's a quick read but as a designer it really helped me understand the "why" behind the designs I was creating and having that foundation allowed me to make sure I was creating designs that best supported the TAYA methodology.

In terms of getting some introductory inbound knowledge, I think HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Certification is a solid crash course. 

These two resources combined should give your new designer a really solid foundation of TAYA and Inbound Marketing knowledge plus they're relatively quick to get through. Hope this helps! 
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