How graphic design can help get your customers’ attention
You want your customers to hear what you’re saying. But getting their attention can prove tricky for a whole range or reasons. Such as;
- they’re not hanging out where your message is
- they haven’t got time to hear what you’ve got to say
- it’s the wrong time, their focus is elsewhere
- they don’t even see what you have to say
- they find what you have to say confusing
- they don’t think it’s relevant to them
- they’re paying attention to something else
- they’re not sure which part of your message is for them
- …the list goes on.
That’s where graphic design – good, considered, professionally delivered graphic design – can help.
One of the fundamental keys to graphic design is clarity.
Clarity of message. Clarity of layout. Clarity of delivery.
Here are a few ways that graphic design can help bring clarity to how you deliver your marketing messages…and therefore how to get your customers’ attention.
Get the message right – remember it’s about the benefits
When you have something worth saying to your customers, graphic design can help refine and get the message right.
It’s all about tailoring what you want to say and putting it in such a way that means the most to your customer. Your message must be clear in communicating the benefits to your customer of whatever it is you are selling. As human beings, benefits make us sit up and take notice as they make the message more personal and more compelling.
A perfect example of the modern times are smartphones. All the advertising is tailored around selling the benefits of the brands’ handsets, based upon what it is they believe is most relevant and important to their target market (sexiness, ease of use, great range of functions, camera quality, etc, etc)…not the technical stuff that makes no difference to our lives (because we don’t care how it works!).
Be in right place at the right time – timing is everything, over and over again
Shouting loudly doesn’t mean you’ll be heard. Especially if you’re shouting in the wrong place! It sounds obvious, but it’s all too easy to spend time and money unnecessarily.
Consider where your potential customers hang out (both in real life and on the web). For example, if you have a consumer brand, social media could play a role in helping you spread your message and engage with people. If your product or service is specific to a trade, then a printed or online publication could be the perfect place to pay for an advertising campaign or editorial.
Then make sure your message is put under the noses of your audience at the right time. And that’s not just in one instance. It’s widely accepted to take 7 – 11 separate exposures to a brand or marketing message to get an audience’s attention, to the degree that they might take action.
Having the right pieces of marketing material designed to suit the right marketing channel(s) will help you get your message across at the right time.
Make your message stand out
Just as natural evolution has led to animals creating successful ways of attracting a mate, so within graphic design the purpose of attracting attention is central to success. Indeed, if every piece of marketing material looked the same it would be a boring world.
That’s why it’s essential your marketing collateral stands out from your competition, which is where considered graphic design can really help.
People naturally filter out messages and brands that don’t fit their initial set of criteria. Such as, ‘do they look like they are offering what I’m after, does the quality / price / value for money match my requirements, do they look trustworthy?’ Considered graphic design can therefore help ensure your messages are delivered in such a way to help you get over those first few hurdles in the customers’ purchasing cycle. From then you can really start to engage with them.