Many print and digital publications offer free or discounted graphic design services when you purchase an ad. While it is tempting to take advantage of these offers, they can come with an unexpected price tag – a low response.
A low return on your ad investment may be caused by:
• The ad design is not well executed and easy to navigate with a clear call to action.
• The ad design does not stand out. It looks similar to other ads in the publication.
• Your logo, images, fonts and color palette have not been applied to the design according to branding guidelines.
In-house designer experience
I worked as an in-house designer for a yellow page advertising company for several years. While the graphic design position offered good pay, benefits and Adobe-certified training, the production environment focused on quantity over quality – creative and effective ad execution. While ensuring information accuracy and readability, a minimum number of ad designs had to be completed each day. The publishing industry has changed dramatically in the last 20 years with graphic design being outsourced to vendors across the nation and across the world.
• Graphic designers at publications often have no interaction with the advertising client to gather a better understanding of the business and services or the target audience. There is no opportunity to provide suggestions to improve the ad, such as fine tuning the copy, including a call to action or creating white space to help focus the reader’s attention.
• The design work may be completed in another location and the designer is unfamiliar with your community’s demographics, your business and your competition.
• The design work may be performed in another country to reduce operational overhead.
• The designer may have restricted time limits to work on your ad.
• There may be a small number of designers tasked with creating all of the ads for multiple publications.
• The designer’s access to high quality stock photo images and graphics may be restricted.
• The designer may be technically skilled but has limited experience in marketing strategy.
Why should you pay your brand designer to create an ad when you are being offered free or discounted work?
• Your brand designer is invested in the success of your business and the success of your ad.
• Your brand designer is comfortable working with your brand guidelines, ensuring that your logo, images, fonts and color palette will be correctly applied to the ad.
• Your brand designer is familiar with your advertising campaigns, so their work will creatively align and build on your advertising investment.