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Provide a nudge, at least, towards buying
Avoid insulting readers. It's not good to have them ask themselves "Just how stupid does that company think I am?"
If words matter, make the words readable. If they don't matter, leave them out.
Don't offend; don't make families change the channel when your ad comes on. Be prepared to say the actual words in your ad in front of your children.
Accommodate the physical and technological reality of your advertising medium. If it's a billboard, it will be a long way from the reader, so make the type big. If it's a web site, have the images load before the viewer moves to another site.
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July 2004: Nothing's changed, except probably digital photography and digital music has inspired people to get bigger hard drives. November 2002: This was originally written in late 2000 -- Dell seems to still be the leader in PC sales, and nothing has changed, except there are not as many companies trying to catch up. Compaq gave up and merged with HP, IBM's given up on the consumer market, .... The future of PC Sales You can print this out and save it for two years, and see if I'm right. Big stories in the papers the last couple of days about Dell, IBM, etc., and the decline on personal computer sales. Front page of today's Wall Street Journal, for instance, talks about a five-computer family that won't upgrade for another couple of years. But go look for an ad that is easy to read and tells you why you should upgrade. You won't find a Dell ad that has readable copy with all the little details. No-where. No-how. and the rest of the retailers are just as bad. FOLKS, if your prospects can't read your type, they won't buy your product. PR LESSON? Go over to the ad department, and just ask the boss to read the type out loud. If he can do it, your organization has better typographers and graphic designers than does Dell, IBM, Compaq and many others. Future sales will continue to slump if the ads remain unreadable, and just tell you specifications, instead of explaining what you need to buy in order to accomplish great things. (What great things? Video editing, still photography, and more.)
This was originally written back
on Thursday, December 28, 2000, but it still applies.
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