Ian Campbell

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Favorite Competitive Analysis Tools

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To be competitive in today’s digital world, your brand needs to stand out from the crowd and engage effectively with your audience. Custom graphics that are consistently on-brand can take time to develop--precious time that you may not have. 

Creating custom graphic designs to support your brand doesn’t have to be a daunting task. The days of purchasing expensive software with a serious learning curve (*ahem--Adobe) are basically over. Today’s digital marketer or entrepreneur has much more user-friendly options at their fingertips. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Adobe fan for sure, but not everyone wants or needs to go to those lengths for simple branding designs. 

Two products available right now aim to make graphic design much more approachable for the Average Joe--Canva and Snappa. These products share a lot of similarities, which may make it tough to decide which one’s right for you. That’s why I’ve broken down some of the key components of each to help ease that analysis paralysis.

Even their logos are undeniably similar.
![Canva and Snappa logos: Twinning?](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2ofuItOpQb5gHNnbLUOO96/0f3e5e2af877f8e4fe19fba55e191593/Untitled_design__1_.png)
   
__Here’s the breakdown: __

### __Let’s Begin at the Beginning__
Both Canva and Snappa sign users up in roughly the same way; you’ll enter your name, email and a password for your account. With Snappa, you’ll then receive a confirmation email. Right away, you’re sent an email with a video link to a quick Snappa tutorial, guiding you through account set up and beginner creation of custom graphics. This is certainly helpful if you are a complete beginner.

While Canva doesn’t send an onboarding video, they do send emails with tons of tips and tricks, and always route you to their robust help center and knowledge base if you can’t find your way. __In terms of onboarding support, Snappa wins.__
 
 
### __The Dashboard__
Once you’re logged in, the experience begins to diverge. The look and navigation is quite different at first.

__Canva__
![Canva Dashboard](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1mmtrxjQGBIc2j5Exx5v7z/7052711a833511082b953ab8a0d74434/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_8.52.32_PM.png)

Canva is instantly colorful and whimsical and provides ample visual inspiration in the form of templates (for a variety of digital and print applications) that can be customized however you need. You can also start with a blank canva if you choose. Canva also offers a navigation menu on the left hand side to help you find your way, some of which is only relevant for pro users, such as the custom brand kit. 

Once you decide on the type of content you want to create you click on it and travel down the rabbit hole of the endless ways you can edit and customize it. Users can upload their own images and icons, and switch fonts as needed. You can also search through tons of other templates if you change your mind about your initial choice.

__Canva__
![Canva - You can search templates](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/WFtTvTKpabvHPrkol9Ayu/80befd881f794842030c0f0dfb26939b/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_9.10.24_PM.png)

__Snappa__
![Snappa's Dashboard is a blank canvas](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/a7sYm0vEu3zJWHaMmZTEe/508454c96b653cd7ae3cc452874d00da/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_8.52.51_PM.png)

Snappa’s dashboard is essentially and effectively a blank canvas; knowing right off the bat what you want to create is key. Once you decide if you’re, say, building an Instagram post vs. a Twitter post, you can click on it, and THEN you’re offered the option of starting a design from scratch or using one of Snappa’s colorful and enticing template designs. 

![Snappa templates](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5pw1NhINw5wbBSmHjnAnBR/9d1463f02981ce068c2bada4adca28fe/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_9.07.44_PM.png)

Both Canva and Snappa eventually get users to the same point--of selecting from numerous professional design templates or starting a design from scratch. They just have slightly different routes to get you there. Canva immediately splashes you with color and ideas, while Snappa’s dashboard design urges users to be a bit more premeditated in how they start their design. It’s really a matter of choice, depending on your personal style. I will say that __Canva’s left-hand-side navigation menu provides a slight usability edge here, so I dub Canva the dashboard interface winner.__
 
 
### __The Content__
Canva has waaaay more design ideas and templates that transcend just the digital, including brochures, book covers, cd covers, posters, resumes, newsletters and more. Snappa doesn’t appear to have templates for physical printed designs - or maybe they are buried somewhere? Snappa’s focus is clearly on the digital; they even have templates for display ads, which is really helpful! After a bit of digging, I did find that display ad templates are available through Canva as well, though they are not right on the front page. 

__Canva__
![Canva design ideas](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/26aJj9VeEu4Mi5NUBJOyIg/26e79fc7bfe542e3596770c113565724/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_9.50.52_PM.png)

__Snappa __
![Snappa design ideas](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/7xhEoCJCzvVF2qmEvFJBKR/4c3ac8ffc917e84f1b5fb810c2daaa29/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_9.50.14_PM.png)

In terms of content variety, it’s apples and oranges. Snappa’s focus is strictly on the digital realm, and they cover all the bases there. Canva offers templates for both print and digital applications. 

However, when it comes to the editing dashboard, Canva appears to be more versatile and user friendly as well. The selection of backgrounds, fonts, and other design elements is more vast and therefore superior in my opinión.  Also, once you’ve entered Snappa’s editing dashboard, you can’t get back to the home dashboard easily, which I found a bit annoying, because sometimes you need to backtrack! __The verdict: Canva winds up on top in terms of design template variety and editing options.__


### __The Pro Upgrade__
Both Canva and Snappa offer a pro upgrade for about $10 monthly. Canva Pro is free for 30 days, Snappa Pro doesn’t have a free trial window. Both of these pro upgrades unlock vastly greater options for templates, stock imagery and the opportunity to upload custom fonts. 

__Canva__
![Canva upgrade options](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3bQA2mZdYLAE9F8mBFOYtp/bcb72091b4ff178e5de8a210ef31c6a1/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_8.41.47_PM.png)

__Snappa__
![Snappa Upgrade Options](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6zTZkSMgptcNfOPP9Yr5pn/ec20383ea1bee022a28097e6e147da50/Screen_Shot_2020-04-12_at_8.38.26_PM.png)

The pro pricing is similar, which makes it a tough choice at a glance. However, there are a handful of distinctions. Snappa includes social media integrations at the pro level, which could be pretty handy. Snappa limits the number of users at every subscription level, and Canva doesn’t have an explicit user limit. 

Canva also cleverly organizes customizations (fonts, logos, color palettes) to help build a “brand kit” for consistency across users at the pro level. And if you don’t feel like upgrading? Well, Canva seems a slightly better value. At the free level, Snappa limits users to 3 downloads monthly. If you’re working on audience engagement with your brand, 3 designs monthly might not hit the mark. Canva doesn’t limit downloads of designs at the free level. Canva also offers a few more templates to choose from at any level. __The winner? With a 30 day free pro trial and more design variety, it’s Canva again, folks.__


### __Bringing it All Home__
Marketing pros and digital entrepreneurs (and pretty much any brand or business out there) need custom graphics to make their brand soar.
Obviously, not every brand can afford the cost of advanced graphic design software like Adobe Creative Suite. Depending on your unique needs, either Canva or Snappa would work beautifully for you. 

If your needs are strictly digital, you are a solo user, and you are ok with limited monthly downloads, Snappa would be a fine choice. 

__If you want more bells and whistles, greater design versatility, numerous users, and unlimited monthly downloads--like the ability to build print designs in addition to digital--Canva is where it’s at.__ Canva is the clear leader, in my opinion. But, hey, see for yourself--both of these awesome, user-friendly design programs are super easy to take for a spin.
 


Creating engaging graphics to promote your brand doesn't have to be a daunting task - Canva vs. Snappa 

Canva vs. Snappa

Managing your brand's digital designs is easier than ever before. The simple online design program Canva, and alternatives like Snappa, make it super easy to create and share all sorts of creative designs. Canva vs. Snappa: which team are you on?



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In the video below, Ty Kilgore shares his experience with personas and how spending time to create in-depth personas will create a strong foundation that will help guide the rest of your marketing efforts.

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<p>
All right guys, one mistake that so many digital marketers make early on in their career, and I know I kind of made this mistake as well, is figuring out and fine tuning who your target demographic is and who you’re actually trying to target as a business owner or as a marketing strategy. 

You’re trying to understand who you’re trying to reach and sometimes what happens is that people are making things too broad. 

In today’s marketing world, in order for you to have success, you have to narrow in on who you’re trying to reach and what their pain points are. 

So understanding who your target demographic is, is everything when it comes to digital marketing. 

It’s something that I thought that as I got into it, I was learning the tactics and I was learning the strategies and I was learning how to do keyword research and how to do content creation but one of the big missing elements, looking back on my career now, is realizing the pain point of figuring out who I was trying to serve. 

I continue to see this as I audit sites and as I look at different people’s business models.

What I find in the marketing world is too many people have the 'me too' or a 'following' mentality meaning they are just trying to follow what other established businesses in their industry are doing.

In business, you absolutely have to make yourself unique. You have to have a strong 'why'. And you absolutely have to make yourself stand out amongst your competition. You cannot just follow what other people are doing and expect to have success. 

But when you look at people’s marketing strategies, they are mostly just following what other people are doing. 

So let me just break this down a little bit. Whether your selling B2B or B2C you have to know what is keeping your potential customer up at night? What exactly is their pain point and how can your product or service or information provide relief for that pain?

You need to spend the time to create in-depth personas for the people who will be buying from you.

In the beginning of my career, I did not really put a lot of emphasis on creating personas but I have since realized the importance of doing so. 

### The very first step in figuring out who you serve is to ask yourself some very obvious questions. 

- What is their name? 
- What is their age? 
- What is their education level? 
- What are their pain points?
- What are they trying to achieve? 
- What keeps them up at night? 
- What are some of their hobbies? 
- What kind of car do they have? 
- What kind of house do they live in?
- What type of individual concerns do they have on the weekend? 
- What does their weekend look like? 

Now, you might think that’s a little over the top. __*It’s not!*__

Once you understand everything about your customer, you can provide a better
marketing strategy for them. 

For example, if you’re creating a blog post, you absolutely need to know if you're targeting Persona A, Persona B, or Persona C and then provide them with the specific information that they can relate to.

I see many businesses get this wrong and are not writing to specific personas. 

__Writing to personas will make the difference in many aspects of your marketing efforts. __

When you understand who you’re trying to reach, the pain points they have, their 'why'--in additon to knowing why you are in business--you can address and target so much more effectively.

So beyond the tactics of keyword research, page copy, ad copy, SEO, social media, etc., you need to understand on almost an emotional level why your product/service is helpful. When you get down to that level, you will absolutely attract the correct audience. 

As I work with companies and I talk to them about what their marketing strategy is going to be and why they’re coming out with a new product, I ask them the following:

- Why are you making this new product? 
- What is it going to do to your customer to <a href="https://www.liveagent.com/ticketing-software/" target="blank">help them solve a pain point?</a>

You need to start with the persona your trying to serve, not keyword research.

When you understand what makes you unique, how your uniqueness can benefit the overall market that you’re playing in, how you share that story, and how you help solve that pain point in the eyes of your customers--when you do that effectively and  have all of those things working together, it’s amazing to see how the marketing content will actually write itself. 

You’ll find that your voice and the reason why you’re in business, and how you are helping people, will become that much more clear. It drives all of your marketing decisions. It helps put pen to paper or fingers to keys and provides
you with clarity as compared to being all over the map when it comes to what you’re trying to do.

Do not be in the situation where you’re putting out content and just hoping that something is helpful. I audit too many sites, I work with too many companies where I see that a lot of the stuff they put out--nobody’s watching, nobody looks at. The reason why is because they missed this key important step. 

### Here are the steps you need to take to create value with your content:

- Create a persona. Go through the exercise of figuring out a name, age, education level etc.
- Figure out who is serving this demographic well. If they are serving it well, how are you going to be different? If they’re not serving it well? Why? And what can you do to serve them better?

Once you figure out those two things, then you can take a second to put yourself in their shoes. Then when you’re coming up with new content to write, new ads, new marketing material, etc., you'll better to be able to create content that will actually benefit their life.  And when you approach it that way, reaching your audience becomes a lot easier.

### In review

I want you guys to absolutely take a look at who you’re serving and who is your target demographic. 

Envision for a second, you are a college professor in a stadium type classroom setting and the chairs are all empty and you’re at the bottom. 

What is your product and service and who do you want walking through that door?

If you don’t know who you’re wanting to serve, then that is a huge reason why your marketing isn’t effective. 

And if your marketing isn’t effective, you’re not going to be able to make sales. 

And if your sales aren’t effective, you’re not going to be in business very long. 

It’s absolutely key that you know who you serve, not just that you have a great idea or that you have a great product.

Without knowing who you’re serving, you will not be able to market the way that you need to.

Creating User Personas in Marketing

You need to spend the time to create in-depth personas for the people who will be buying from you.

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