Creating a Strong Brand: How Canva Templates Can Help You Stand Out
If you’re a small business owner, you probably use Canva to create marketing and content for your business.
You might be wondering, “should I actually use Canva templates for my business or is it better to create designs myself?”
If this is you, read on!
Visual content is becoming increasingly important for small businesses, as it helps to establish a professional image, reinforce the brand, and engage with customers. Whether it is through social media posts or other forms of visual content, having a strong visual presence is an important building block of growing your business.
Let’s dive in.
What are Canva templates?
Canva templates are pre-designed graphics and layouts that can be used as a starting point for creating a wide range of visual content, such as social media posts, digital products, and online courses—really, the sky is the limit.
You can get Canva templates in a few ways:
Free Canva templates
Premium Canva templates
Purchasing a Canva template from an online store
Canva has a template library where you can browse templates. If you’re on the free plan, you only have access to free templates. Canva Pro gives you access to all the templates you find in Canva and are denoted by a crown icon in the top right.
If you’re creating marketing for your business or something really specific, purchasing Canva templates from an independent seller is a great option to get something that stands out and solves your unique problem.
I often get asked: what can I change on a Canva template?
While templates come pre-populated with design elements, layouts, and color schemes, it’s super easy to customize just about everything about the template. You can change:
Colors
Text style, size, font
Imagery
Icons and graphics
Why are templates important?
Canva templates save you valuable time
Designing visual content from scratch can be a time-consuming process, but with Canva templates, you can save some serious time. Rather than starting from scratch, you can apply your brand colors and type in just a few clicks.
I love that when I open a template, I can change one of the primary colors and Canva automatically asks if I want to swap that color (or type!) everywhere within the file. On top of that, Canva is an all in one tool. For example, you can search and swap out stock images from their image library vs. going to a stock photo site, saving them, and coming back to your design.
Most templates are preloaded with images and look great right off the bat, so you can focus on the content itself rather than worrying about the design!
Using templates is a cost effective way to grow your brand
Hiring a professional designer or purchasing expensive design software can add up quick. Canva templates provide a cost-effective alternative, as they allow you to create professional-looking designs at a fraction of the cost (and time investment).
Canva offers a range of pricing options, including a free and Pro version. The free version provides access to a wide range of templates and design elements, while the paid version offers even more options and advanced features. This range of pricing options makes Canva accessible and affordable, regardless of your budget.
If you plan on purchasing templates from an online shop, the free version of Canva is all you need! But if you’re willing to invest (Canva Pro is $119 per year), the Pro version of Canva has some really great stock photo and element options that I love to use.
Stronger consistency in branding and marketing materials
Stronger branding…with a template? Let me explain.
Consistency in branding and marketing materials is crucial for small businesses, as it helps to establish a professional image and reinforce the brand in the minds of customers. A consistent look and feel across all visual content can help a small business stand out from the competition and create a stronger brand identity.
Pairing a high-quality Canva template with your brand colors and style is a great way to uplevel your look while staying true to your brand style. I recommend looking for templates with a design style that is close to your brand vibe, then making a few tweaks to make it your own.
This is important to note because at the end of the day, your brand is what is steering your creative ship. Templates are super helpful to achieve consistency, but in order to do that you need to keep your core elements (such as color and type style) consistent over time.
Tips on getting a high quality look with templates
Use great imagery. The Canva stock library has a ton of options to use!
Use a limited color palette. Keep it to 3-4 brand colors, max.
Avoid using over 3 different type styles
Test and tweak. If you buy a template pack, pay attention to your analytics as you share your graphics. If you get high engagement on one style, use the template as building blocks to create more of that design style.
Use Canva Magic Resize (this is a Pro feature) to quickly resize content to suit different platforms.
Conclusion
Canva templates offer a range of benefits for small business owners, including time-saving features, cost-effectiveness, and consistency in branding and marketing materials. These benefits can help you create a strong brand identity, save time and money, and stand out from the competition.
If you’re interested in upleveling your Canva skills, you might be interested in these articles:
