EPISODE 32 OF THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS PODCAST: Stop Getting Caught up on Pretty

Sonya McIntyre-Reid:

Hey, guys. Okay, this is going to be a bit of a short ranty episode, but I was on my run this morning and it just made me really, really frustrated at the number of business owners that caught up on something looking pretty rather than it being functional, actually getting results. I've seen it so many times in my marketing career, whether it has been clients who haven't stayed clients for long because we have very different values and goals, or bosses and employers. So often people get incredibly hung up on how pretty something is, whether it be a photo, a layout on a website, or an ad without taking into account the user experience and functionality, not to mention whether or not it actually gets results.

            A prime example of this is Facebook Ads. So often I see people focusing on how beautiful a product image is rather than its ability to grab attention in the newsfeed. Now, don't get me wrong, I think following brand guidelines is important, that is the set colors and fonts for a brand. But there are times where you need to take some creative liberties and roll with what is working. This could be introducing a color or font that is not seen in the brand guidelines because we know it will cause a patent interrupt on social media.

            What I mean by this is that it is something out of the ordinary that causes people to stop for a fraction of a second, and hopefully longer, to absorb the information in the ad or the post. So many of us are on social media mindlessly scrolling through not really processing any of the information we're scrolling past. We're scrolling, but we don't know what we're scrolling for. We've all been there, right? That's how we end up watching some random Instagram story of their dog licking an ice cream. And you don't even know who this person is. Am I right?

            Another example of this is quote graphics, like text quotes on social media. So I was always of the opinion that you need to take it and make it your own branding. But if you refer back to our episode with Desiree from Fashion Fingers, this is something she does not do. And their organic reach and engagement is sky high. I've never seen anything like it. Looking at their page, it's not pretty, but on the backend you see the stats and it works. That's why I think it's very hard to judge the results of marketing based only what you see on the front facing assets.

            We'll also come across this when it comes to websites. Right now, I'm building a site for a business owner who has never had an online presence before, but now wants an online store because, hello, corona. He is part of a chain and wanted to link to the main head office's website for their monthly specials. I had to convince him that this is not a good idea because it means you are diverting traffic away from your website and the asset you own onto someone else's. Thinking about how you can funnel people through a website and make the information easily accessible is so important. It might not always look pretty, but the end of the day what we want is sales and inquiries.

            Another example is that sometimes people want a sub-shop section. So people have to take an extra click and load an extra page just to get to the products that they're looking for. If you can avoid these unnecessary steps, do it. People are impatient, they're often on their mobile, they don't want to have to click and load through a million pages to get to what they're after.

            I'm not saying that appearance isn't important, good design is. But if I had a choice between the two, I'd pick results over prettiness every day of the week. There is often this tension between the design team, the web developers, and the marketing strategists, and getting that balance can be really, really hard.

            Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant, guys. And I hope that I've driven home the point that pretty doesn't always equal sales. Until next week.