Canva for entrepreneurs

The new “it” word is visual marketing and everyone is talking about it. Entrepreneurs and small business owners shouldn’t brush it off because it’s definitely not a fad. Images are extremely important – and here’s where Canva, a graphic design application, is making it easier for entrepreneurs.

What is Canva?

Canva is a graphic design start-up which launched in 2013. What’s great is that this application can be used for people with zero graphic design skills to those who are graphic design professionals. Canva has more than a million images, a multitude of layouts, and a variety of perfect-sized templates to create any graphic design you can think of.

Why should you use it?

We all know that as an entrepreneur we wear many hats. Not only do we have to dapple in marketing, but now we need to understand the importance and value of visual marketing.

“Content is King they say BUT Visual Content is Queen. They complement each other.” @tigerlilyva11

Visual marketing is marketing which involves photos, videos and any other form of visual elements. A visual element is far easier to comprehend. This is what grabs your audience. It is therefore key as an entrepreneur to create visual content for your social media pages.

Did you know that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual? And visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text?  It makes sense then to use graphics or images in your posts.

Canva makes graphic design EASY for ANYONE. All you need is a little creativity and imagination. They have such an array of templates, that it’s almost impossible to go wrong! Canva is a free application, which is really useful for start-up entrepreneurs that do not have the budget for fancy software or graphic designers.

Step by step guide

Firstly, you’ll need to create an account. You can either do so via Facebook or with an email account. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll find “Create a design”. Here you will find a number options, for example, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, Infographics, Blogging covers, etc. The list is extensive. However, if none of these options suit you, you can opt for a custom design.

Once you’ve chosen your design, whether it is a template or custom design, you can start creating your post. You will find there are over a million images to choose from. Some are for free, whereas others may cost $1. You can also choose your own images, and upload them by clicking the “Upload” button on the left hand side. Unsplash is a really great source of images which are also free.

Below the search box will be a variety of layouts created for you. All you have to do now is drag and drop your image or use the image they have. Change the text in the text box fields and boom you’re done. It’s really that simple. The Text option has some amazing fonts which are free to use.

Once you’re done with your design, you can choose to share or download your post. You will also have the option of naming your post in the title just left of the share button. It makes sense to have some sort of naming convention here, for example, Facebook Post 3 October Canva Guide.

The “Share” button is handy for if you want to share the image with another team member, you can email it to them and they can log in and make changes. You can also share your post directly to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Finally, by clicking download you will be given options on how you want to download your post. This can be in the form of .png or PDF for example. You can then save this post to a folder on your desktop to upload at a later stage.

For in-depth tutorials and training, you can find 3 step tutorials from Canva’s Design School.

The only way to really get your head around Canva is to start designing your posts and playing around with the application. It’s a really great tool and easy to use.