How To Use Content and Design To Better Engage Your Customers

By Olivia Dello Buono February 12, 2015

Content. It’s what drives visitors to your site, readers to your blog and converts prospects into loyal customers. So let’s say you’ve spent time and effort crafting a killer piece of content… but it’s not generating the results you were hoping for. What gives?

Your Design May Be To Blame

Sure, content may be king, but if the presentation stinks, it can be a major turn off for your readers. It’s important to plan out your attack when it comes to content (hey, this post started out as an outline), but when the focus is too heavy on this one aspect, design becomes an afterthought.

And while it’s true that readers are coming to your site for the content, this doesn’t mean your design should fall by the wayside. When you’re creating content for your blog or email list, you should be writing with design in mind (and vice versa).

So if content is king, then design is queen. And whether you’re working on content for a website, email or blog, here are the seven golden principles to keep in mind for ruling the digital marketing realm and potentially boosting your business:

1. Be Brand Aware

Is the copy on-point with your brand messaging? Does the design evoke the feelings your brand hopes to convey? Whether you’re a content marketer or designer, you should always be creating with brand in mind. Take note of how Alternative Apparel translates their brand approach over on their blog:

2. Stay Consistent

You could have a whole team of designers and writers working on the pages of your site, but it should never appear that way! Maintaining a consistent feel throughout your web and print materials helps establish trust between your brand and its customers. J.Crew is a brand that stays consistent in their messaging and presentation- be it their website, emails or catalog, both the copy and design are fluid throughout.

3. Add Images

Articles with visual elements receive 94 percent more page visits and engagement than those without. And adding in images helps break up large chunks of text, giving readers visual context to your content. This post on the Real Thread blog shows how even the simplest of images can make for a more visually appealing piece of content:

4. Keep Type In Mind

A strong, compelling headline can fall short if it’s written in, say, Comic Sans (*shudder*). Type plays a huge part in evoking the mood of a piece. Consider this when designing your webpage or email template. Charity Water uses different typefaces throughout their campaigns, yet they all remain cohesive and convey the message the brand hopes to get across:

5. Create Visual Hierarchy

Give readers a visual cue of transitions – they’re more likely to read a list with bullet points than one without. Plain text emails and articles can be hard on the eyes. Not to mention people no longer have the time or attention span (TL;DR) to take in long form copy. This Washington Post article is a great example of how to add visual interest to a lengthy piece of content:

6. Optimize With Mobile In Mind

According to Litmus, we’re viewing content on our phones and tablets now more than ever- in fact, 53% of all emails are first opened via mobile. In order for readers to access your content, your site needs to be accessible across all platforms. Into The Gloss gives readers a sleek, mobile-friendly layout:

7. Think Quality Over Quantity

That old adage isn’t thrown around for nothing. Sometimes an image and a few words is just as impactful as longer-form content. Trim down your content and design to the bare bones. The aptly-named website, The Minimalists, shows just how powerful simplicity can be:

What’s Next

Creating content with design in mind helps to create team transparency, ease the workflow and results in a better end product and experience for your customers. Use these examples to help you create a better marriage of content and design today!

Need help designing your emails? The AWeber design team can create a custom template just for you! Whether you want to modify an existing template or develop one from scratch, we’ve got you covered. Click here to request a custom template.