Of course, this doesn’t apply to you. When people encounter your marketing materials they are obviously going to stop everything they are doing and diligently digest the eloquent language that fills the pages of your brochure or marketing deck.
Yeah… that doesn’t happen.
People are in a hurry. They have things to do. They don’t want to have to “try.” You need to quickly establish why they should care.
Our industry is infamous for filling up marketing decks with copious amounts of information. Really! Why is your time more important than that of your core audience? You skip emails, only read the bold, and push information away. Are those you are talking to any different?
No, they aren’t any different than you are. Be respectful.
Make it easy for your audience to absorb your value proposition. 7-pt font is not easy, paragraphs are not easy, and complex graphs are not easy.
I can already feel the wave of comments coming.
“Our industry is different, people need the information we are providing, what we do is complex…”.
It goes on. Fair enough. However, that doesn’t change the fact that on first contact the person you are talking to really isn’t that invested in you or whatever you are selling.
Most marketing decks are perused minutes before a meeting or, even worse, during the meeting. That’s their shelf life, their purpose. Sure someone may circle back to that information at some point, however, that doesn’t change the fact most marketing decks are not designed for their intended use.
My advice: Build something compelling that someone can move through quickly. Hit the high points. Simplify your message. Make it look good.
In doing this your message will be much easier to absorb and your chances of advancing the dialogue will improve.
By Kyle Dunn