The majority of marketing has pivoted to the online realm, with social media marketing, SEO and link building being a far more favored form of marketing for many businesses, but that does not mean that print media should be neglected. In fact, your print media, which includes flyers, brochures, catalogs, posters, business cards and even outdoor signage still play a pivotal role in building the brand and contributing to the success of a business.
However, print media can only be helpful if it looks good and is created in the best way possible. To help businesses ensure that they’re producing the most effective and best looking forms of print media they can, here are a few tips and things to do and consider that should help you and your business in upping your game and making the most beautiful forms of print media.
Consider the Coating
When you go to print your media, it’s important to remember that there are various different types of coating that you can apply on the pages to give them a different effect and look. There are a few main types of coating that can be applied on paper, which can make them appear either glossy, matte or semi-glossy. Some might think that the paper choice makes no difference, but it can actually be important in evoking certain connotations towards your business.
For example, a matte finish makes the paper look solid and tough and could be used to help your business portray a reliableness. On the other hand, glossy coating makes the paper look shiny, and works great for creative business due to how it makes images and pictures look fantastic. It’s important to remember that coated paper can be a bit more expensive to work with, so factor that in when deciding to use coated or non-coated paper for your print media.
Learn Page Hierarchy
When designing a good piece of print media, it’s important that you format the document in the best possible way to make it easy to read and also attention-grabbing. You want to position the most important information near the top of the page as possible and draw them there with larger H1 headings. From there it’s important to then guide them down the page, using subheadings and consistent fonts to lead them through the information as you intend. A good structure to follow is to have your big headline and an opening visual, followed by structured copy, smaller visuals and pull quotes.
Make Sure to Use Visuals
Although using print media affords designers the opportunity to incorporate more copy into the content and use their language to describe their services and make it more appealing, it’s important to remember the importance and power of images. For starters, a piece of media that has more graphics and images will be more engaging and eye-catching to potential readers and customers. Furthermore, the right images and visuals will be able to quickly convey what your business is like far better than words can.
Even though it may be more expensive, it’s also important to do your visuals justice, and print in color as much as you can, especially on important documents. If the cost is too much, at the very least have the front and back pages of your leaflets full of color, to help draw people in.
