Have you ever wondered why some people learn more easily through graphics than they do through words?A study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that the use of simple graphics increased the persuasiveness of a message by 47%.Here are some ideas for using color and graphics to enhance your image ad copy:
If the customer has a “company color,” incorporate it into your design.
For example, using a line at the top of the page in their color to separate the header from body text, or putting major headings in their color, are subtle ways of communicating to them.
Avoid using clip art.
It usually doesn’t enhance your document. It’s not smart to throw something into the document just because it’s available. Your goal is to include appropriate graphics that reinforce your message.
Avoid highly technical graphics, complex diagrams and charts.
Simple graphics are better. They will attract more attention and they will be easier to understand. If you must include schematics, drawings, network diagrams, or similar technical visuals, consider putting them in a technical appendix or providing them as attachments.
Graphics should be oriented horizontally on the page, just like the text.
The reader should never need to turn your ad sideways to look at your graphic.
Write an active caption
…that not only explains what the graphic is showing but also emphasizes a customer benefit. In long image ads, it’s a good idea to number the graphics, too.
Discussing an idea in the text and then illustrating it graphically is more effective than showing the graphic and then discussing it.
NEVER put all the graphics at the end of the document with the exception noted from above regarding highly technical drawings. If people have to determine between the text and the graphics, they won’t get the full value of either.
Use the kinds of graphics that are appropriate to the role of the audience.
For example: CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and other senior executives are likely to look at payback calculations, ROI charts, or gap analyses.
Technical evaluators will appreciate a compliance matrix more than any other kind of graphic. A compliance matrix lists each requirement, shows your level of compliance with it, and references where in the document the evaluator can find detailed information.
The “business beneficiaries” of your solution that is, the people who will use it or maintain it will be most interested in graphics showing the cycle of operation.
Think about graphics while you’re outlining or organizing your ad, before you have written any text. Graphics that are thrown in as an afterthought typically look like afterthoughts.
Keep in mind that colors also communicate psychologically.
Red - Suggests excitement, heat, strength and is a good color to use in a sale ad.
Yellow - Conveys brightness, airiness, refreshment. Warning: yellow gets lost on white paper, so always surround areas of yellow with a border of black or another dark tone.
Blue - As a cold color, can convey formality and haughtiness in its darker shades and fragility, daintiness and youthfulness in the lighter tones.
Orange - A color of warmth, action, power.
Green - Another cool color, suggests cheapness and coldness in its darker tones while conveying freshness and crispness in its lighter shades.
Purple - A color of royalty and stateliness.
Maroon - Suggests luxury, solidity, quietness.
Brown - Implies age, wholesomeness, utility.
White - Means purity, cleanliness, chastity.
Black - Conveys mystery, strength, heaviness.
By following these tips, your image ad will be more colorful, more interesting, and will probably have more impact.
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If you understand the concept that advertising is a multiplication of a selling conversation, then the basic ingredients of advertising media are easier to grasp. First, there must be an audience. A newspaper printed as a single copy could not function as an advertising medium unless the single copy were passed from person to person to create a worthwhile audience. (In that case, the advertiser probably could go from one individual to another and be more effective while reaching at least as many prospects in the same amount of time). A potential advertiser will require evidence that an audience does exist, and will want to know the size and location of the audience, as well as other characteristics.
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