Such a simple and obvious thing, and yet one glaring detail left out of a lot of different advertisements.
I’m referring here to the contact information.
Who would ever leave out such an important detail? Quite a few companies, actually, because it’s so obvious it becomes easy to forget.
The primary purpose of most advertising is to grab a person’s attention. Postcards are designed to be seen in that pile of mail, posters are meant to make a person turn their head and look over, and brochures are designed to pique someone’s interest enough to get them reading. Getting a person’s attention is what companies are thinking about the most when it comes time to design advertisements and get color printing taken care of.
That’s why the follow up is sometimes left on the cutting room floor.
Ever been flipping through a catalog, found something you have a lot of interesting in buying, and then you spend the next ten minutes searching aimlessly for the contact information? Eventually you might find it in the back corner on the second to last page, or someplace else equally annoying to find. With posters I’ve seen so many of them with great, eye-grabbing images and a clever tagline, but I can’t for the life of me find who I’m supposed to contact.
Sometimes I’ll find a name in the bottom corner in fine print, but on many occasions they don’t bother to put a phone number, address, or email address.
You need to make sure this kind of information is never left out of any of your advertisements. Sure, a person can search your company name online to find out how to contact you, or maybe pick up the Yellow Pages, but why make them go to any effort? After all, the initial interest you gain with your ad isn’t always going to be enough to make a person go to a lot of extra effort.
The point of advertising is to gain their interest and give them a convenient outlet to get into contact with you. You’re paying for color printing for a reason, so get the most out of your money by giving people easy access to you. And it isn’t a huge addition to an advertisement to have contact information in the corner.
That’s what makes it so surprising how often it gets left out. This isn’t a major design change or something that will cost you extra money. All it amounts to is some additional words on the page.
Next time you’re making some advertisements just be sure to take that extra time to ensure your contact information is there for people to find. Make a checklist of all the things you want on your advertisements to be positive you don’t forget anything. The obvious is what is most like to be forgotten, because you aren’t expecting to forget it.
