When you invest in marketing then you definitely want to be sure that you’re doing it right. Why put money into something that could be working against you? Whether it’s your brochures, flyers, or your latest direct mail piece, find out why your marketing pieces may be underperforming and how to fix them up so they’re working in your favour. Bring on that ROI.

Your design is working against you.

TOO MUCH.The best designs will enhance the content, not mask it. You want people to be able to read what you have to say so that you can get your point across. Sometimes the design is taken way too far, like the above example. There is such thing as too much. Try not to overcrowd your piece, focus on a specific message, choose a colour palette that works together.

Click here for some colour palette inspiration to get you on track.

Your typography isn’t helping your content.

Building off of the last point, you’ll want to make sure that your content is typeset so that people can easily read and understand your message. According to Practical Typography, the optimal point size for body text is 10-12 point. Try sizing down from 12 point for the body copy and experiment with 10, 10.5, and 11.5 sizes. Also remember that different fonts set at the same type size won’t always look like they’re the same size on the page. You’ll want to experiment until you find something that looks right.

However if you’re designing business cards, seven or eight point font will typically work out well.

You didn’t guide them to the next step.

What do you want people to do after receiving your print piece? You need to tell people what you want them to do after and make it easy for them to respond. Don’t just assume that they’ll look for your phone number or website and follow up. Try to help guide them to the next action that you want them to take.

It looks cheap.

If you’re skimping on the stock people won’t want to hold on to it. It will influence how they perceive your business. You’ll want to leave a great lasting impression so don’t sell yourself short when it comes to your printing. This study suggests that for every $1.00 spent on print advertising generates an average of $12.57 in sales. It pays to invest some money and effort into your print pieces.

You didn’t spell out the benefits.

People shouldn’t be left wondering what the benefits are. If you really want to sell people on what you have to offer, you need to really show them why they need your products or services. Use benefits-oriented headlines to grab a customer’s attention and using bullet points to spell out exact benefits will also catch their eye. Don’t hide the benefits inside a paragraph of copy. Make them stand out so that they’ll catch the attention of someone who is skimming your piece.

If you liked this then be sure to check out these other posts:

• Why you should dump email marketing for direct mail [infographic]
• The do’s and don’ts of business cards
• Here’s what you need to know to write compelling copy