Keeping Marketing Clean & Presentable

Have you ever seen a marketing piece so cluttered that your eye didn’t know where to focus? In which the marketer was throwing so much at you at once that the point of the entire message got lost?

Especially when you have a great product, this is easy to do. There is so much to talk about that you feel that you cannot leave anything out. The risk, however, is that by cluttering the page, the prospect may get overwhelmed and not buy anything at all.

Take a tip from apartment rental companies. One of their key rules of thumb is not showing prospects more than three apartments in any given visit. They know that if you show prospective renters only one or two options, they will leave without renting because they don’t have enough choices. But if you show them more than three, they will leave without renting because they have too many choices and need to think about it. If you want people to make a decision right then and there, three is the magic number. The same principle applies in marketing. Don’t overwhelm your prospects or you risk losing them.

If you think you are at risk of over-cluttering, here are some tips to keep in mind.

• Select the top three points you want the audience to remember.
• Keep the layout simple and clean.
• In your text and graphics, focus on these key points so the reader knows what they are.
• Have a clear call to action.
• Make it easy to respond. Phone numbers, tear-out cards, and other response mechanisms should be easy to find.

Print marketing provides you with some of the most valuable real estate in the world. Use it wisely. Need help? Let one of our experts guide you in the right direction.