Most visual marketing — print advertising, posters, billboards, brochures, even TV spots — is a study in missed opportunities. Potent visual marketing combines an arresting headline or script with an image that takes that headline or script and amplifies it. But in actual practice, most examples simply toss in an image that kind of goes with the copy rather than taking it to another level. And there’s nothing easier to ignore or dismiss than a visual cliche. The next time you think about the visual in your marketing message, ask yourself if it’s adding anything. If it isn’t, it’s subtracting.
