When it comes to design and marketing, the temptation is always there to do more… more colours, more text, more images… more sales pitches. But the thing is that in the end, more isn’t always better, and a lot of the time, it’s actually worse. 

If you’re not sure how that could be the case, think about it for a moment – have you ever walked into a cluttered store with signs, banners, and flashing lights all over the place? It’s completely overwhelming and you’ll probably want to leave as soon as you can. The same thing applies to design and marketing – if you try to throw everything at people all at once, no matter how important the information might be, they’ll more than likely ignore it and run the other way because it’s just too much. We’re so bombarded with information at every turn that the last thing we want is for any more to be launched at us – so don’t do it. 

That’s why the less is more way of doing things is such a good idea, and why doing things as simply as possible wins out every time compared to the ‘busier’ marketing around. With that in mind, keep reading to find out how you can use this idea to your advantage and get ahead of the crowd to reach your ultimate business goals. 

Photo by Leeloo The First

Simplicity Grabs Attention 

People have really short attention spans, and studies actually suggest that the average person’s attention span is now around eight seconds – and that’s technically shorter than a goldfish! So if that’s the case, that means you’ve got less than ten seconds to make an impact before someone scrolls past you, throws your flyer away, or clicks to another website. 

A clean, simple design is something that’s instantly going to grab attention because it doesn’t overwhelm the brain, and that’s what you need to think about no matter what you’re selling. In the past, having white space in your marketing wasn’t seen as a good thing – you were wasting the space you had. Today, however, it’s ideal. Instead of forcing the audience to process a ton of information that they don’t want, need, or have time for (less than ten seconds, remember), you can make it a lot easier for them and much more inviting to engage with their message, so it’s a great move to make. 

Simplicity Sells 

If your marketing message is buried under loads of text, clashing colours, and too many images, the fact is that people won’t stick around long enough to work out what it is you’re selling or why they need to buy it from you. They’ll go somewhere else where it’s easier to understand what’s on offer, and even if your business is actually the better one with better quality products for fairer prices, they’re not going to know that, so they won’t buy from you. 

So instead of trying to say too much all at once, think about the one main message you want to put across – you’ll need one message per ad, and if that means coming up with multiple ads saying different things, that’s far better than one confusing and jumbled ad saying everything that no one ends up paying any attention to. 

So when you’re designing your marketing, ask yourself what’s the one thing you want people to remember, and what action do you want them to take after seeing your leaflet, blog, guest post, social media post, or whatever other type of marketing you’re working with. And then you need to make all that obvious – don’t make potential customers work hard or they’re not going to be happy and they’re not going to buy from you. 

Simplicity Means Stronger Branding 

If you want to have good branding, you need to think about making sure people can recognise you – just think about some of the biggest brands around, and you’ll know that you instantly recognise them from just a colour or a font type or a tiny logo. But more than that, these things you recognise and that are so familiar are all really simple – they wouldn’t be so memorable if there were lots of details getting in the way. So that’s why you need to make your branding simple too; it just makes it stronger in the end. 

The reality is that minimalist branding sticks with people because it’s easy to remember. If you want your branding to be recognisable and memorable, you really don’t want to overcomplicate things, no matter how tempting it might be. You’ll need to keep your logo simple, use a limited number of colours, and – crucially – make sure your message is the same no matter what type of marketing you’re using or where you’re placing it. Consistency is something that doesn’t just make it easy to remember your brand, but it’s also a great way to build trust, so it’s well worth coming up with a single system and look. 

Simplicity Means More Trust

Following on from that idea above, the simpler the better with your marketing and branding because you’ll gain a lot more trust, and trust is how you grow your business. After all, people tend to associate clean, uncluttered designs with professionalism and credibility, and if your website or marketing materials look messy and all over the place, people aren’t going to trust you very much. 

Think about it for yourself. When you end up on a clean, simple website, it instantly feels more reliable and professional than one that’s outdated and crammed full of too much information, most of which doesn’t relate to you anyway. The same goes for print materials – a well-designed business card, brochure, or flyer speaks volumes about your brand and can make a massive difference. 

If you want to make a great impression, it’s wise to invest in high-quality, well-designed materials. It’s really one of the best reasons to work with an online print shop because they’re going to offer professional printing services that ensure your design looks clean, polished, and appealing, which is what’s going to bring in the customers, sales, and levels of success you’ll be working towards. 

Simplicity Saves Money

There’s something else to think about even if none of the above is making much of a dent in your ideas… more isn’t just overwhelming – it’s also expensive. It’s true. Every extra colour, design element, and unnecessary feature adds to the production costs, and that’s going to mean you make less profit (especially if fewer people are paying attention to the marketing, which is highly likely as we’ve said already). However, keeping things simple is way better for your budget, and every business owner needs to be aware of what they’re spending and they’ll want to save money wherever possible. 

Printing high-quality, minimal designs is going to cost less than complex, busy ones that use a lot of ink, pages, and content. In fact, the same applies to digital marketing – overloading an ad with too many details often makes it perform worse, meaning you’re paying more for lower results. That’s not good business, but you’ve got the power to change it for the better. 

Simplicity Work On All Platforms

Whether you’re designing a billboard, an Instagram ad, a business card, or a website, the same rule applies – less is more. 

Why? It’s because a clean, clear design is far easier to adapt to different formats, and that means your brand is going to look consistent. Since consistency is so important, this all makes a lot of sense and should be at the top of your priority list for your next ad campaign. If you’re able to keep your designs focused and simple, you’ll know they’re going to make an impact no matter where they’re seen.