“This is beautiful!” one of the advertising people exclaimed. “It should definitely be in the running for first prize.” The three other advertising guys agreed. This brochure was, indeed, a thing of beauty. It was the shining crown of this advertising competition.
Then why was the group still there, arguing about it? Because the marketing person disagreed.
It was late. Everyone was hungry. Tempers were getting short. “What is your problem?” one of the advertising guys finally demanded.
The marketing person heaved a big sigh. “It’s brown on brown,” she said.
“That’s one of the qualities that makes it so beautiful!”
“It’s a brochure for a nursing home. The target is the old person they’re trying to get to move into the nursing home.”
“So?”
“So, it’s printed on tan paper in brown ink in 9 point type.”
“So?”
“The target reader is not going to be able to read it!”
Moral: No matter how beautiful your marketing materials are, if they can’t do what they’re supposed to do — communicate — they don’t deserve a prize.
Lesson: It doesn’t do any good any good to tell a compelling story if nobody can get it. Your first job is to make certain that your words can be received and comprehended. Colin Wheildon’s research found that the harder you make people work to figure out what it is you are saying, the less likely people are to comprehend what you’ve said — that is, provided you haven’t already lost them before they’ve reached the end of the page. The effectiveness of your words depends on their being conveyed in a way that supports your meaning. Your words are only a part of the “story” you are telling about your business. When people are reading your words on a printed page, scanning them on a computer screen, or hearing them on the radio or television, they are also experiencing:
- Readability – how easy/difficult it is to discern the words, based on your choice of typefaces, font sizes and colors, background colors, placement on the page…
- Language — how easy/difficult it is to figure out what you’re saying, based on your tone, accent, use of colloquialisms, the complexity of your sentences, the formality/informality of your approach…
- Visuals — the stories told by the photos, illustrations, colors, designs, and moving images you use…
- Kinesthetic — the weight and substance of the paper your messages appear on, how loud your volume is set, the sort of music you use…
Think about the goals of your advertising. Do you want to win beauty contests or do you want to communicate why, of all the choices people have available to them, they should choose your product/service? A well-designed advertisement can’t make a weak story strong. But a poorly-designed advertisement can undermine a strong story — even if it looks beautiful.
