Your communications should reflect your skills, your experience and your aspirations. Most don’t -- here’s why, and some tips on how to fix it.

Poorly conceived, overly complex communication plagues business today. Bad design has reached epidemic proportions costing businesses opportunities, sales and complete relationships. And worse than that, there is nobody in most companies to diagnose the problem. They stare at their existing marketing which was hatched in-house and wonder why it doesn't work? To us, the answers stare back with stark clarity, yet it goes unnoticed.

Let's examine the common symptoms of how bad design infects businesses. Trust us, you are not alone. The clinic is full!



Symptom 1. Businesspeople often leave their design sensibility at the door when they arrive at work. They choose their clothes, their car and even the coffee they drink in large part based on design (function, form, feeling, taste, etc.), yet they frequently take this influence for granted. As a businessperson intent on success, you take pride in delivering quality products and services, but does your marketing effectively communicate that commitment?



Symptom 2: Your competitor's message looks a lot like your message. When an owner, a partnership or manager is confronted with writing a sales message or brochure, clichés, overused themes and competitor's messages come to mind. The result is an image and message that is so common that it not only describes most of the companies in an industry, it describes the industry itself. The point being: if you follow the path every competitor has taken, you will be in a rut. For many businesses, taking a new road is very scary. Finding your unique message: Crafting a message to captivate prospects can challenge even the best copywriters. But pushing words into place requires talent. And admitting that you need to work with a copywriter is a vital step towards long term business success--and a gigantic stress reliever. Without a message worth sending, you don't have anything to design. The message must drive the solution, even if the solution only requires two words.



Symptom 3: Hoping for Magic. You market when sales flatten out hoping for a magic burst in business based on a one shot advertisement or direct mail campaign. If the effort fails to meet your "hopes," you get discouraged and become reluctant to advertise again. This is counterproductive and ignores the simple fact that successful marketing requires (1) attempts, (2) assessments, and (3) refinements. Marketing has an "ing" on the end because it is an ongoing process. Succesful marketing demands consistency and dedication. Done well, you will quickly uncover the best balance of investment and return. 



Symptom 4: Amateur Typography. Computers don't "set" type. People do. And just keying in letters, is not "setting type." Typography determines whether a reader stops for a message or misses it altogether. Typography provides the road map for the reader. it creates tone of voice and affects a document's personality. Great type establishes consistency across a company's full range of communications: stationery, brochures, reports, websites, etc.. Skilled typography draws readers in, coaxes deeper investigation and provokes curiosity.

Symptom 5: Tired overused colors. Your corporate colors are blue, burgundy or hunter green. They were selected based on a preconceived industry definition promulgated by copycats year after year. If these are the colors you gravitate towards, you are probably conservative and risk-averse by nature. From a marketing standpoint, it's probably time to change hue.

Fix Number 1: Designing Business. If you put your entire staff in a room and ask, "Who wants to design our new logo and brochure?" hands will raise. This is a sure sign that "bad design" is always a question away. Smart owners and managers avoid such questions. They understand that design is an important investment. They know who are the sharpest marketing minds and they give them decision-making power. They trust them. To underscore the importance of design, BusinessWeek ranked outsourced professional services in the following order: (1) Design & Communications (2) Legal Services (3) Financial Services. The logic behind the ranking is simple: if you don't create and maintain a credible public image with long-term value, you will have no need for legal or financial services.

Fix Number 2: Understanding production saves money. Computers allow one to create things that are impossible to print, embroider, screenprint on fabrics, etch or model in three dimensions. Professional design comes with accountability. Visit any printer or manufacturer and ask them what frustrates them the most and "amateur design" will leap from their lips. One printer summed it up perfectly, "They created the brochure themselves, they tripled our production time because of their mistakes and while pretending to save money by doing it themselves, they hurt their business, paid more and lost a lot of time."

Fix Number 3: Putting it all together -- an excercise: Put all of your marketing in front of you. Get your advertisements, stationery and business cards. Get your brochures and mailers. Grab mugs, mousepads, pens and pocketfolders. Spread it out. How does it make you feel? This is a very large part of your life! And it makes an enormous statement about you and your business. Putting it all together goes far beyond your public presentation. This public presentation doesn't simply represent your company, it is your company to customers, shareholders and employees.