With any marketing the design and the content have to work together and, without communication between the people who are creating these, one can cause the other to fail! This is true for websites, brochures, flyers, email marketing campaigns, sales letters, exhibition stands, in fact, anything used to promote a company.
These are five key points where the design and the content interact:
1 Headline – if it’s not compelling it won’t get results; if it’s in the wrong place or in the wrong font size or colour, people won’t be able to read it.
2 Content – if the message isn’t clear and easy to read people won’t take action; if the message is presented in too small a font, or packed too densely the reader may find it looks too ‘difficult’ to even get started.
3 The structure – if the message doesn’t have a structure that leads people towards taking action, it won’t work; if the design doesn’t present the message in the right order and place information where people are looking for it, they may not get the message at all.
4 The visual images – if there are no visuals to support the written message it can look boring to the reader; if visuals don’t help to get the message across or are in the wrong place the reader may be distracted or confused.
5 Getting action – if there are no calls to action, it’s much less likely that the reader will do anything; if the opportunities for action are in a form that isn’t obvious or placed where the reader isn’t expecting them to be, they may not even know they’re there.
Getting the design and the content flying in formation is essential when designing anything that is intended to present your products or services to their potential market.