Creative Tips #11: If Looks Could Kill

The last Creative Tips started a review of the letters, proposals and similar documents that connect you with your customers and potential customers. I hope you've been collecting and sorting your mail into the three piles I suggested, because you're going to look at those piles now. (If you haven't, read that issue now and do the exercise in it, because you'll learn some useful stuff that will serve you for a long time to come.)

Big or Small?

In the first pile you kept letters that look like they come from big, successful companies. You may dislike big corporations in general, or a particular company; that's not our point here. All we want is a "look" that says "big, professional, expensive."

How did you deduce that without reading the text? I'll make some educated guesses: 1) the paper is of high quality, probably a little rough to the touch (what's called "tooth" in the trade), possibly watermarked; 2) there is plenty of "white space" on the page, wide margins, the feeling that there is plenty of room to breathe; 3) the typeface is very readable and the lines are spaced well so that your eye has no trouble following the text from line to line; 4) the logo is a strong but fairly simple graphic; 5) other permanent items on the page, such as addresses, phone numbers and directors' names are unobtrusive but easy to find if you need them. If you were to sum it up, you'd say "uncluttered and elegant," perhaps.

A small or medium sized business, a consultancy or a professional practitioner would use a similar layout with lots of white space, though perhaps not on the most expensive rag paper possible (unless specifically targeting a high-end clientele):

This sort of look would work equally well for a consultant, an eye doctor, or a legal office. (Legal firms list all of the partners on their letterhead, for which that nice wide left margin is perfect.)

Notice that the text of the letter lines up precisely with the left edge of the company product list above it. This is deliberate and is something you should do with anything typed on your letterhead. Always, always, always. It's one of those "fit and finish" points that make the difference between looking sloppy and looking professional. It's a common mistake to simply put the text in the center of the page, but in a case like this... well, take a look:

Looks awkward, doesn't it? That's only because the text doesn't line up with anything else on the page. We'll visit this again in more detail, but make note of it now because a sloppily laid out letter can kill your image, lower your credibility and lose you potential customers.

What Should You Look Like?

Years ago, I had a friend who ran a very successful roof repair business. One of his operating rules was: "Never show up to give an estimate driving the Mercedes." The rationale was obvious. "Rich people drive Mercedes, so if that's what this guy drives he's obviously over-priced." Wrong message. In fact, he had a used-looking-but-clean pickup that he used for estimate calls, and he wore working clothes. These had the effect of subtly telling potential customers that he was conscientious and professional but not too pricey, all before he had said a word.

A run-down, rickety pickup truck with bald tires and peeling paint would have sent a wrong message in the other direction: cheap, unsuccessful, probably a loser.

What if you're running a daycare center or you're a home handyman? Unless you're aiming for the very high end of your market, not only will an elegant style not work for you, it will kill your business stone dead, because it sends the wrong message: "expensive."

Your letters, flyers, emails and proposals all send a message, not only by what they say but by how they look. That look must fit who you want to be, or how you want your business to be perceived by your clients or customers. You don't want "sloppy," you do want "easy to read," but elegance and high style only work for you when they fit your business.

And that brings us to the next exercise in your image awareness training.

Write down five adjectives that you would want people to use to describe your quality of service or product. Below them, write a one-sentence description of your product. Below that, a one-sentence description of your ideal customer. (This even works if we're talking about a resume, where the "product" is you-as-an-employee and the "customer" is a company recruiter.) If you already have an old-style "unique selling proposition" worked out for your company, good. Pull it out and keep it in front of you.

Now look at some letters you've sent out, a proposal or two, your last resume. Armed with your new perception of "message" rate them against the five adjectives, the product description and your "why you should buy from me" selling proposition. Try to look at them from that ideal customer's viewpoint, not yours. What do they say about you or your business? Not the words (you know that by now), just the look. What does that look say to that customer about you, your company, your product?

If you see a wrong message, don't get depressed! There's nothing there that can't be fixed, and most of it will be easy to do.

Bonus Tip

If you're going to insert a picture, such as a product shot or photograph, into a Word or PowerPoint document, try to make it the size you need before you insert it. Your Windows or Mac picture gallery application, or any of the free programs such as Adobe Photo Album, Google's Picasa or a dozen others can do this.

The reason is simple: if you insert an oversized image (straight out of your digital camera, perhaps) Word or PowerPoint will reduce it for you, but the whole image is still there making your document huge, slow to save, hard to send. Programs like Word and PowerPoint also do a poor job of resizing pictures, so the quality is going to suffer, especially if the document is printed.

Happy typesetting,

Alan Gilbertson
Creative Director
G&G Creative

The Creative Tips newsletter is published by G&G Creative, Tujunga, CA. More at www.gngcreative.com or on the blog.

G&G Creative specializes in graphic design, photography and copy writing for print and the web.

Copyright © 2009 Alan Gilbertson. All Rights Reserved.