As a watercolour illustrator I work with lots of small businesses on custom illustrations and artwork to enhance their brand story. It is a wonderful way to bring personality and delight into your business, from illustrated postcards to client gifts, bespoke painting and drawing can elevate your brand and connect with customers in a really unique way.
Here are ten ways you can elevate your brand, charm your clients and customers and continue to put your business at the forefront of people’s minds.
Custom Watercolour Illustrated Postcards & Greetings Cards
Commission a beautiful artwork of your shop, building or space and have them printed onto postcards or greetings cards to sell.
Not only are you celebrating your own premises, but you are encouraging people to tell others about it when they send them and allowing them to support you in the process!
I love to collect interesting postcards and I also love to tell my friends and family about my favourite places to visit. An exquisitely intricate watercolour illustration of a wonderful shop, hotel, restaurant or space is something I would not only buy, but love to receive and in turn supporting other small businesses.
2. Watercolour Illustrated Marketing Material to Make Your Brand Touch Points Sing
Captivate your audience with beautiful watercolour illustrated marketing material to include within your packaging or email orders.
Skye McAlpine, cookery writer and Sunday Times columnist, commissioned me to create a series of bespoke illustrations for her homeware brand, Skye McAlpine Tavola.
Something I loved about working with Skye was the delight that came with receiving an order. Not only the elegantly wrapped homewares, but a selection of different cards with my watercolour illustrations depicting their interior and homeware scenes. On the back each included a delicious recipe or some beautiful styling ideas to extend your experience of the brand.
This is the magic of small businesses and how you can make your customers feel when interacting with you.
3. Watercolour Maps to Put Your Business on The Map
Beautiful illustrated maps to tell people where you are or what’s nearby. These could be digital maps for your website, emails or social media, or printed on things like flyers or displayed in your shop or restaurant to spread the word, introducing people to your business and how to find you.
A bespoke illustrated map is also perfect for hotels, to tell your guests where to visit while staying, a resort map for larger hotels and resorts to show people what’s on offer and where to find it. For restaurants to direct people where to visit before or after eating with you, or to tell people about other small businesses in the area.
Don’t let being an online business stop you, there are lots of creative ways to use a map, which doesn’t have to be geographically accurate. Supplier maps, how to find us, our favourite local businesses, origin maps if your business has a story to tell, or a hand drawn map of where your staff come from and a bit more about them.
I love how may different ways maps can be used, and as someone who is always drawn to an intricate, detailed map, I find them particularly exciting as a tool for communicating in a wonderfully unique way.
There are so many creative ways that an illustrated map can make people stop, look a bit harder and find out more about you.
4. Watercolour Illustration for Exceptional Client Gifting
As a landlord, estate agent, architect, property developer or business owner. what an incredibly personal touch it would be to gift your clients or customers a bespoke watercolour illustration of their own home / shop / property. Or for a larger building of apartments for example, a print of the building would be perfect and could be used to anyone moving in and recreated for years to come.
I have created illustrations of numerous businesses over the years. It is the ones that are owned and run by actual people, who pour their heart and sole into the bones of the building, that are so grateful to see their pride and joy captured in ink and watercolour. Some of my favourite examples are The Bell in Ticehurst and The Crown in Hastings.
This is a wonderful thing to be able to gift, you are showing your appreciation for working with you and also demonstrating the value of their home or business, that it’s more than a transaction, it’s their home or livelihood.
5. Bespoke Watercolour Illustrated Seasonal Greetings Cards
Creating your own bespoke greetings card with a watercolour illustration is a fantastic way to send a seasonal message to your clients at Christmas, Easter, Summer, your business anniversary, whenever you choose. Illustrated cards are perfect to send to your suppliers, press contacts, business friends or loyal customers. A friendly greeting as a little reminder that they are valued and that you are there for them when they need you.
I love how personal these are and also how flexible. A bespoke illustration that can be edited or tweaked to make them seasonal.
This Christmas card I created for Neptune in Tonbridge was based on a watercolour illustration I did of the store, which I then added the wreaths and festive foliage to. A great way to reuse your illustration but keep it fresh and relevant to delight your customers.
6. Illustrated Business Cards to Delight Your Customers
What better way to show off your business than with a watercolour painting of the building or an insight into what you do through a beautiful drawing.
Your details on one side and your beautiful watercolour illustration on the other, would not only add to the personality of your business story, but would create a tiny piece of artwork for people to keep, making sure they remember you!
7. Hand Written Illustrated Menus to Enchant Diners and Tell Your Story
Use a beautiful hand written menu with watercolour illustration to delight guests at your events or parties. Not only does it provide information, but it brings personality to your brand as well as being a unique keepsake they can take away.
This could also incorporate menu suppliers that you work with, tell customers the origin of their food and drink, or the journey from field to plate.
Show them your craft, illustrate the menu with tools you use to create your menu, tell them about your chef or your kitchen, or your garden outside where you grow your seasonal vegetables. This is your opportunity to inform and intrigue through watercolour illustration, telling a story with more than just words.
8. Hand Written Watercolour Illustrated Invitations
Hand written invitations incorporating watercolour illustration give your guests. These can be physical printed pieces, or provided as digital files to send if you prefer. These can even be printed, then personalised with guest names to make them even more special.
You could incorporate an illustrated map, watercolour illustration of the building or place the event is taking place, illustrations that tell a story to entice the recipient, paintings of the food or drink they can look forward to or even to tell them what to wear.
I love how brining watercolour illustration into invitations immediately introduces your guests visually. The saying goes ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ and with minimal text and intricate illustration, you can communicate in a joyous way to enchant your guests.
Telling a story early on and adding handcrafted details sets the tone for your event and gives your guests a feeling of what is to come.
9. Live Illustration to Capture Events and Celebrations
Bring a really unique touch to events with live watercolour painting(s) taking shape over the duration or the event. This could be capturing a stunning interior, picturesque exterior, beautiful gardens or surrounding landscape, which could even be turned into postcards to send guests to keep as a thank you for attending.
Live watercolour illustration can also be people. Portraits to capture your guests dressed up in their finery, which is a wonderful way to give people something to take away or create a picture of who has attended. Quick line drawings with colour to bring them to life are a really special addition to any event.
The process is mesmerising to watch allowing you and your guests to enjoy the process, not just waiting for the finished result.
10. Watercolour Workshops.
Incorporating watercolour painting into events or holding standalone watercolour workshops is a creative way to engage your customers.
It could be a drop in session where people can come and try out a bit of painting for no cost, to provide a bit of interest and give people a taster for a new creative outlet. It could be a couple of hours as a watercolour workshop, with some guidance about tools and materials, mixing colours and guided painting. Or it could be a whole day, learning about the basics of watercolour painting, then a break for a lovely lunch, followed by an afternoon of painting, focusing on a particular subject.
The painting workshop could be centred around the venue and immersing your guests in their surroundings, a seasonal subject like flowers or a festive arrangement for Christmas, painting your own house giving people a chance to reflect on what home means to them, or even creating your own greetings cards.
Watercolour workshops are a unique idea to include as part of a mindful retreat, a special birthday (someone suggested it for a private 70th birthday party which I think is just wonderful), quiet hen do activity, corporate groups to bring collages together, especially those who often work remotely. Being so versatile in the setup and duration, makes it fantastic to tailor to your needs and bring wonderful creativity to your brand.
I am so enthusiastic about reducing waste and not creating for the sake of it, especially printed collateral. Introducing beautiful watercolour illustration into business not only brings personality and adds to your business story, but it will be something people will keep. Displaying on their fridge, mantelpiece, post to someone else or even to frame. That puts your business at the forefront of their minds and will be a visual prompt to come back to you or recommend your business to other people. A wonderful way to reduce waste and extend your marketing.
If any of these ideas spark your imagination and you would like to talk to me about working together, I would love to hear from you. Send me an email or use my enquiry form here.
If you would like to read a bit more about my business illustration click here, or to read more about my watercolour workshops then visit my workshop page here.
I am a huge advocate of small businesses and I love helping people to tell stories and being able to help you bring that to your customers is a pleasure. If you would like to get in touch with me directly, you can send me an email here. I can’t wait to work with you soon!
