Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

Notice how some ads spring from the page and right into your brain when you turn a page in a magazine? Look again through the newspaper and try to see which ads have a great service of product offering but, they don’t evoke any feeling inside of you to do something about the message they are conveying. Best of all, get two ads side by side – one which hits you in the gut and one which doesn’t and see what the differences are.

The 40-20-40 Rule

This is a rule from the catalog industry, which believes that successful design comprises 40% good product and service offerings, 40% is preparing the right product list and the final 20% is creativity.

This may seem to belittle creativity and lead you to think you need to find products which “sell themselves”, but actually this is not the case. Being creative involves understanding and being daring enough to leave out design and product aspects rather than just trying to stuff everything onto the space available.

Do not over face your reader – give them enough to provide a taste of what is on offer – you serve the full course when you have the client ready to make a buying decision!

Always Be Selling!

Advertising is ultimately about selling and the point of your piece is to grab attention and generate interest. This actually follows form one of the salesman’s acronyms – AIDA – this stands for:

• ATTENTION
• Interest?
• Decision
• ACTION

In fact, your ad will have to satisfy all four of these conditions because you still need the prospect to make a decision to contact you, and take the conversation you have initiated further down the buying path.

Be Concise and Clear

You never know who is going to read your piece nor what frame of mind they will be in when they first encounter it. First impressions do count because, it is unlikely that a reader will look at the ad once and then come back to it, unless they have already been stirred by the contents. Most of what we create is destined for the trash, so maximize the opportunity to get your message across in one instant.

Be brief and to the point.

No clichés or puns and get straight to the point.

Know Your Audience

The more you can find out about your target audience, the more likely you are to tap into trends and fashions which they are more interested in. As a basic minimum, find out the following about your target audience:

• Simple demographics such as age, sex, employment status, specific common interests;
• What type of buyer are they – considered or impulse buyers?
• What application do they have for your product or service –i.e. identify their problem and show you have what they need to solve it;
• What are their basic needs, desires and fears – in bare terms, human behaviour can be boiled down to response to one of two motivators – greed and fear – simple, crude but very effective; and
• How do they behave as a group e.g all vote Republican, all go to church, all are active.