Mike Sutyak

Every business has a marketing effort in some capacity, and all the marketing materials are in need of design. Design is one of the most overlooked areas in business.

If you’re going to put the effort into creating a marketing tool, it just makes sense to engage whoever will see it. How many business cards or brochures have you thrown away without more than a glance? Why do you think they never had a chance?

The answer to those questions whether you consciously make that decision or not is design.

The implicit message has everything to do with whether or not someone will listen to what you have to say.

Here are 7 design pitfalls to avoid:

1) Straying away from your brand
When you put together your company brand (ie. logo, letterhead, web site, etc.), there were certain fonts and a basic color scheme. Stick to it. If you put out marketing materials that are not consistent with your brand, you’ve just created a gap between you and your audience. When they see that flyer or brochure and then head over to your web site, make sure they know they’re in the right place. This is all a part of the trust building process.

2) Multiple fonts, sizes and colors
Two different font types are good. It mixes it up a bit and adds some graphical dimension to your design. Beyond that, though, it tends to start convoluting things. Same goes for font sizes and color. If you vary the text sizes and color within one piece of marketing material too much it begins to subconsciously disconnect the reader. If you’re going to use different colored text, make sure it matches your color scheme.

3) Fancy hard to read fonts
There are plenty of cool fonts out there. If you’re planing on using a font for more than a name, title, or tag line at most, stick with the simple readable fonts. When reading, the more work your brain has to exert on making out what the words actually say the more likely you are to just stop reading altogether.

4) Bold everything
Bolding is a technique used to make important phrases or points stand out. When people have to look at an inordinate amount of marketing pieces every day, they tend to scan over it briefly first to see whether there’s any value in it. Their eyes are drawn to bolded terms or phrases. Use this to your advantage. If everything is bolded, in most cases they won’t read any of it because the importance of those phrases and points is completely lost, along with the fact that it’s harsh on your eyes!

5) Writing a novel
The least amount of information needed without leaving anything out. Sometimes it’s a tough tightrope you have to walk, but think of it this way: would you rather have them read a few important points or nothing at all? Overwhelm your audience and risk losing them.

6) No images or graphics
Give them something to look at besides words. Using images or graphics within a layout tends to break things up. If you have a page of text with nothing else it’s overwhelming to your brain (and boring). Make sure these images and/or graphics have some relevancy to your message and don’t over do it. Having too many images can have a negative effect as well. Striking that balance of information and imagery is key.

7) Be like everyone else
Wouldn’t you like to stand out from the crowd? Give your audience something that will make them tell someone else about you. If you give them something remarkable, they will spread the word faster than any marketing campaign you will ever come up with could. They will remember you the next time someone else brings up a need you fill and it may have nothing to do with whether or not they’ve even used your product or service themselves. Create that impression through your design.