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Designing Your Next Marketing Piece:
5 Tips for Design that Works with Copy
 A sluggish economy, more competition, a downturn in consumer confidence, cutbacks in business spending. These days, it's more important than ever to make sure your marketing pieces shine.
It's tempting to put all your energies into graphic design. I admit. It's fun. It's art.
But graphic design never made someone pull out their wallet and it never will. You see, people just want to be persuaded they're making the right decision to buy. Art won't do that. Graphics won't do that. The right words will.
Let's say you are springing for a brochure. You know a good designer. He's reasonably priced. He knows a lot about cool fonts. He uses awesome photos. He's an absolute wizard at layout. You've worked with him before and his pieces always come out stunning.
Yet if the brochure was lined up with three others, from companies that offer the same stuff you do, how would it stack up?
What are people looking for? Does anyone ever say, "I'll use this planner for my next event because I like the colors they used in their brochure?
Your reader is looking for a reason to buy from you.
How important, really, is the design? It has been said that good design can't make up for bad copy, but bad design can destroy the performance of good copy. So, although they go hand in hand, nothing can fix your piece if the copy is bad. It is the copy that sells.
5 Tips for Design that Works with Copy
1. Be sure the designer understands your target market. If she insists on working in a vacuum, without attention to your audience, the purpose of the piece, the marketing angle, perhaps she isn't right for the job.
2. Recognize that design that calls too much attention to itself is not good design. You want your reader to focus on the message, not the graphics.
3. Remember that your first goal is readability. Killer design is useless if your copy is buried. The design works if it makes the copy look and feel easy to read.
4. Watch any screened images behind the text. Use screened images sparingly and make sure they don't overpower the words.
5. When unsure, always cut design elements before copy. By the time the text reaches the designer, it should be tight, with every unnecessary word cut out. Always cut design before copy.
If you focus on these tips, your all-important sales message will not get lost in the design.
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