Marketing materials marry design with content, but which is the most important? A copywriter will tell you the power of persuasion lies within the copy, but a designer will claim it's in the eye-catching design.
So who's right? They both are.
Let me explain.
Your audience wants to be seduced; they want to be wooed by high quality sales messages that are not only engaging when read, but that also look the business.
A glossy mailing that arouses curiosity is more likely to be read than a folded piece of A4 paper covered in Courier font.
OK, I'm being flippant; some of those direct mail letters do work in some markets, but personally I can't stand the things and always chuck them away when they arrive through my door.
But there's no getting away from the fact that a quality mailing will give a better return.
Words and design go hand in hand The main trick for any mailing is to ensure the copy and the design marry.
For example, if you send out an elegant flyer that's accompanied by text that's very informal and more akin to something you'd expect to find in a text message (extreme example), it won't work.
Or will it? Perhaps that sort of disparity would work - it would certainly get your mailing noticed and talked about.
And, after all, that's what it's all about isn't it? Getting noticed? There's a challenge for someone - to come up with an elegant 'up market' style flyer that contains text-speak language.
I'd love to see the results.
The same goes for copy.
There are a certain breed of people out there who feel the desperate need to flag up the tiniest of errors just because they can.
No one is perfect (nope, not even me) and errors do happen.
But there are some copywriters who will - shock horror - make spelling or grammatical errors on purpose.
A well-placed typo can bring attention to a key point; flouting the rules of grammar can have the same effect - after all, rules are there to be broken aren't they? And people have been breaking grammatical rules for centuries.
Of course there is a huge difference between a well-placed faux pas and an ignorant and careless mistake.
Your reputation in your hands What it comes down to is your piece of marketing holds the key to your customers' perception of your company.
It's human nature to judge 'a book by its cover' (please excuse the cliché) and however hard you try not to, you won't be able to help yourself.
So one sloppy mistake, one misjudged mailing, one ill written letter, will tarnish your business forever (well, for quite a while anyway).
So who's right? They both are.
Let me explain.
Your audience wants to be seduced; they want to be wooed by high quality sales messages that are not only engaging when read, but that also look the business.
A glossy mailing that arouses curiosity is more likely to be read than a folded piece of A4 paper covered in Courier font.
OK, I'm being flippant; some of those direct mail letters do work in some markets, but personally I can't stand the things and always chuck them away when they arrive through my door.
But there's no getting away from the fact that a quality mailing will give a better return.
Words and design go hand in hand The main trick for any mailing is to ensure the copy and the design marry.
For example, if you send out an elegant flyer that's accompanied by text that's very informal and more akin to something you'd expect to find in a text message (extreme example), it won't work.
Or will it? Perhaps that sort of disparity would work - it would certainly get your mailing noticed and talked about.
And, after all, that's what it's all about isn't it? Getting noticed? There's a challenge for someone - to come up with an elegant 'up market' style flyer that contains text-speak language.
I'd love to see the results.
The same goes for copy.
There are a certain breed of people out there who feel the desperate need to flag up the tiniest of errors just because they can.
No one is perfect (nope, not even me) and errors do happen.
But there are some copywriters who will - shock horror - make spelling or grammatical errors on purpose.
A well-placed typo can bring attention to a key point; flouting the rules of grammar can have the same effect - after all, rules are there to be broken aren't they? And people have been breaking grammatical rules for centuries.
Of course there is a huge difference between a well-placed faux pas and an ignorant and careless mistake.
Your reputation in your hands What it comes down to is your piece of marketing holds the key to your customers' perception of your company.
It's human nature to judge 'a book by its cover' (please excuse the cliché) and however hard you try not to, you won't be able to help yourself.
So one sloppy mistake, one misjudged mailing, one ill written letter, will tarnish your business forever (well, for quite a while anyway).
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