Digital marketing has taken over the world. Over the last few years, there have been numerous articles and blog posts about how digital marketing is the future of marketing and that everything from email marketing to social media presence is essential to staying ahead of your competitors.
While this may seem like a convenient solution to an overwhelming amount of information out there, it can also be incredibly overwhelming for businesses who don’t necessarily understand the ins and outs of digital marketing or design (or even Photoshop). Because of this glut of information, many businesses are seeing their paid search ads get blocked or their landing pages get penalized by search engines because they don’t have proper content promotion strategies in place.
To stay relevant in order to keep getting clicks on your ads, it’s essential that you know how to design effective print ads as well as which design tips will make you successful.
Create a visual identity for your brand
Since you’ll be using images to create your print ads and logos are almost always too small, you’ll need to choose a layout and brand identity early on. If you have a logo designed, use that as your visual identity. For example, if your company is called Super Awesome Awesome Incorporated, you’ll need a layout that incorporates that logo and colors, as well as a typeface and design style. Once you have your brand visual identity established, you can begin creating your visual identity for your print ads. Before you begin designing, it’s important to understand your audience. This will help you decide which designs will appeal most to your audience and create a successful ad campaign. You’ll want to find out who your audience is so that you can make your designs more appealing to that group. There are a few ways you can find out who your audience is. -If you know your brand demographics, you can find out who your audience is based on their buying habits. -You can find out who your competitors’ audience is based on what they’ve done. -You can find out who your target audience is based on what they’ve searched for.
Show, don’t tell
Many print ads use exaggerated text, images and colors that illustrate the product in a very extreme way. It can seem as though your print ads are trying too hard to be creative and don’t make an effective argument for purchasing your product. To avoid this issue, try to steer clear of any text that contains “don’t tell” or “show” language. This is a common mistake made by print design experts. Avoid words such as “smooth”, “intoxicating”, “delicious”, “bold”, etc. Instead, try to find words such as “enjoy”, “understand” or “enjoyably” to illustrate your product. You can also try finding words that are associated with your brand so that your audience can associate them with the product you’re selling.
Make it easy to scan
While it’s important that your print ads are visually appealing, they should also be easy to scan. This will help your audience navigate through your ad more quickly and understand what you’re trying to sell. To make it easy to scan, make your images large, use bold colors and place your text in a way that includes the product in the image. For example, if you’re selling alcohol, you’ll want to make sure your image is of a person enjoying their drink. To make it easy to scan, try to include the product in the image where possible. This will allow your audience to see what the product looks like and understand what it is without reading any text.
Don’t be afraid to play with color
When it comes to print design, many print design experts recommend keeping your print ads simple and using white text on a grey background. While this may work in the digital world, it’s not going to be as effective in print ads. Print ads should be the primary marketing tool for many businesses, so you should use any design tips to make them even more effective. To maximize the impact of your print ads, you can try adding a splash of color. While you don’t want to go overboard and use bright, distracting colors, you can experiment with how many primary colors you add to your design.
Use photography strategically
You may be tempted to use every single photo you’ve taken for your print ads, but this is a mistake. While it’s great to use your product photos, you should also try to use other types of images that show off your business in a different way. For example, if you own a restaurant, you can try to use other photos that have a different tone than your product photos. For example, you can try to use images of the chef cooking or of the interior of the restaurant.
Be personable and show your value
In order to make your print ads more appealing to your audience, you need to humanize the brand. This can be done in a few ways. First, you can personify your brand. This means you can add human traits to your design, such as adding a name to the logo, adding a name to the design or using the name of your company in a fun way. You can also use personification by adding a story that relates to your product. This can be done in a few ways. The easiest way is to add a short sentence accompanied by a visual that explains what the product does. The second way you can use personification is to add an image that includes a person or people that are enjoying your product.
Keep it simple when showing off your product
- When you create your print ads, make sure that they show off your product in the simplest way possible.
- This will help your audience understand what your product does and how it works. When choosing the images that will accompany your product, you should try to pick images that are as simple as possible.
- This will help your audience understand your product through visuals that are as simple as possible.
Conclusion
With so many new digital marketing techniques being introduced, it can be easy to miss out on the fundamentals. It’s important to remember that the best way to gain an understanding of any new marketing strategy is to start with the fundamentals. From there, you can build on your foundation and keep adapting as technology changes. By following the tips outlined in this article, you can create an effective print design that will help your company stand out in a crowd.
