You Are Not The Customer

Do you like your current collateral design and language? Does your mobile app UI or website experience appeal to your sense of taste? Remember, you are not the customer.

When creating marketing material and presentations, it’s important to take a step back and tailor content to your audience, not your own personal taste or intellect. Applying the same concept to all your channels, web, mobile app, etc., will allow you to reach a broader market with more success and engagement amongst your members, customers, and stakeholders.

Write and Design to Your Audience

Often those writing copy have a writing style that is unique, or complex. You may have bold design ideas. When making copy or design choices, remember, you are not the customer.

When language or design is not consistent with the broadest segment of the market, it jars or disrupts the average stakeholder. As a result, your personal style, marketing collateral, web design, mobile app UI, proposals, etc. may appeal to the top 1 to 2%; missing out on the 80% that it should be engaging.

Real estate is a great example of this. According to Ryan Castillo of Redfin, the number one tip before selling is a fresh coat of paint. He recommends, “go with a neutral color scheme that will appeal to a wide range of buyers” (2021, para. 2). Applying the same principle to your marketing channels will appeal to a greater range of stakeholders.

White Space 

Empty space surrounding content or elements of a page is known as white space (Babich, 2021). White space allows you “to highlight and emphasize your points and guide the reader where their focus should be”  (Cullen, 2018). According to James Davies (2022), the benefits of white space include:

This does not mean you have to give up on bold design. Bold design becomes an element to drive your point across within the white space that focuses the reader. See the bell curve above. It uses bold colors surrounded by white space, providing where the reader’s focus should be.

Concise Evocative Language

People are busy. They have limited time and believe it or not, they don’t care about how great you or your services are. They care about how to solve their problems. Mary Cullen (2018) states, “Don’t waste this precious time to talk about your past successes. Instead, speak to how you can offer them value.”

This requires concise and evocative language. Cullen (2018), goes on to state,

“Use active verbs, remove unnecessary words, and choose language that’s familiar to your prospect and will make your proposal more engaging to them — and persuasive.”

Use their language speaking to how you can bring them value. Remember, you are not the customer.

Apply This Process to All Channels

A phrase I use often when discussing mobile app UI is

Your members are brilliant, and they have zero patience to learn anything new. That’s why keeping the mobile app clean and simple will make it easier for them to engage.”

Whether it’s their patience, time, or even self-interest, to reach your audience more effectively, apply these practices to all channels including but not limited to:

• Write and design to your audience.
• Use white space.
• Make your language concise and evocative and apply these practices to all your channels.
• Oh, and remember, you are not the customer.

J. Mark Wallach, MBA, is the Manager, Mobile Business Development for Results Direct | RD Mobile, a digital services agency committed to associations. Mark increases engagement, member retention, and non-dues revenue for associations with mobile apps and event platforms.

Reach out to Mark at mwallach@rdmobile.com for more information.

References

 Babich, N. (2021). What’s White Space Design? 5 Real Examples, Adobe

Castillo, R. (2021). 10 Ways To Give Your House a Facelift Before Selling, Redfin

Cullen, M. (2018). 19 Strategies for Creating a Sales Proposal that Closes for You, HubSpot

Davies, J. (2022). White Space Is King: 7 Benefits Of Having White Space On Your Site, Digital 22