The Power of Sight

To which of the five senses does your product or service appeal? If you are a restaurant owner, your main appeal is to the sense of taste, obviously, but the sense of sight is also influenced. You know how important it is to give food the proper presentation. A photographer's product appeals to the sense of sight. So do the services of a caterer, interior designer, landscaper, car salesman, swimming pool contractor, formal wear sales or rental business, fashion designer, etc.

In fact, most businesses sell products or services that in some way benefit from their appeal to the sense of sight. Even a dentist's work is often done to make a person's smile more attractive, or to encourage a better self image or to increase the patient's self confidence.

So why, oh why, don't more of you understand the importance of creating visual ads? I am speaking of ads placed in phone books, newspapers, flyers, on bulletin boards, etc. Far too often, when given the choice between placing a simple in-column ad containing nothing but verbiage, and placing an attractive color display ad, businesses opt for the cheaper ad. This is usually based on nothing more than the desire to save money.

But wait a minute. What sense does it make to neglect the opportunity to showcase your product in every possible way? Why, if you are a photographer for instance, would you think that it is more effective or more professional to place an ad with just words into a medium that gives you the opportunity to showcase your talent? Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Given the choice between doing business with a company running a "cheap" looking ad and a company that has an attractive full color ad, which do you think is going to draw more attention and, therefore, more business? This is common sense, people. Given the same appropriate information in both ads, human nature itself dictates that the ad with the greater visual appeal will work better.

When it comes to any print medium, always aim for the most professional visual presentation you can. Your ad is the first and possibly only opportunity you have to impress a potential customer with the quality of your business. You will want to catch the customer's eye, look professional, parade your color logo, influence people to take you seriously and eventually do business with you. Skimping on your image-building by skimping on your ads will not help.