Every now and then someone will ask me, “How important is design these days when content is all anybody talks about?”
Now, content certainly includes video and audio, but I’m talking here in terms of the written word, either printed or viewed on a screen.
I recently judged the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) awards competition. I walked into a massive hotel conference space to find hundreds of tables arranged in long rows and covered with a vast array of print ads, magazine articles, direct mail pieces, posters, printouts of web landing pages and more.
It was impressive, but also overwhelming.
How could I decide from all the entries in a relatively short amount of time, which ones should receive honors for their creativity and effectiveness? And as I struggled with this question, I began to wonder how farmers must feel with this volume of communication being sent their way. How do they decide which pieces deserve a second look?
Two hours later, I walked out of that room with a firm belief – in a world focused on creating branded content, good design is perhaps even more important than ever.
No doubt farmers are faced with with a similar experience when they open their mailbox, flip open a magazine or fire up their computers. Almost every day, they have to sift through whatever printed and electronic communications come their way.
For marketers, these mailboxes, farm magazines, computers and mobile devices are the brand battlefields. The only sure way to get an edge in the struggle for farmer attention and consideration is good design. It’s the secret weapon and the almost unfair advantage when done well.
Good design can make an idea easier to grasp. It can convey a feeling or attitude about a product or service. It can make body copy more inviting and less daunting.
It can mean difference between getting tossed, or getting absorbed.
Great copy, stories and information (i.e., content) can exist. But without tasteful, impactful, appropriate design that entices the reader, it’s just another piece of communication that farmers – as well as NAMA judges – choose to ignore.