spine=.

No one does a better job of showing you how to use design to build
lasting customer relationships than Roger C. Parker.
Jay Conrad Levinson, Author, Guerilla Marketing

Design is everyones business and Roger C. Parker shows you how to

do it right.

R O G E R C. P A R K E R

Daniel H. Pink, Author, A Whole New Mind

MICROSOFT

You have brilliant ideasnow get them noticed! In this easy-to-read book, popular author and
marketing expert Roger C. Parker teaches you how to design high-impact messages that your customers will read and remember. He gives you expert tips and techniques, best practices, samples, and a
companion Web site full of additional resources that demonstrate how to use design as a powerful
marketing tool. No matter what your experience level, youll learn how to combine the principles of
good design with Microsoft Publisher to successfully build and promote your brand.

PUBLISHER

Put the power of design to work for youeven if youre not an expert!

Author of Looking Good In Print

Plan for marketing success with Rogers easy-to-use worksheets

and templates

Ads Newsletters Sales sheets

Postcards More!

Craft compelling messages that engage your readers

full attention

About the Author:

Master basic design principles and exploit the power of color,

type, and graphics like the pros
Learn insider techniques that make your marketing materials
credible, recognizable, and reusable
Choose the most effective medium and distribution method
to match your needs and budget

Companion Web site includes:

Copywriting and design resources
Downloadable worksheets and templates
Numerous examples of effective design

Roger C. Parker is a
marketing expert and
popular author who
teaches non-designers
how to create compelling,
professional-quality marketing
materials. His books have sold
more than one million copies
worldwide, including Looking
Good in Print, which is in its sixth
edition. His other books include
PowerPoint Presentations by
Design and The Streetwise Guide
to Relationship Marketing on the
Internet. In addition, Roger has
contributed numerous articles
to the Work Essentials section of
Microsoft Ofce Online.

design to sell

Boost the power of your:

Gain the competitive edge as you:

design to sell
ads
newsletters
direct mail
and more

For more information, see the Introduction.

PARKER
To see more learning resources,
visit: microsoft.com/mspress

Part No. X11-97536

ISBN-13: 978-0-7356-2260-9
ISBN-10: 0-7356-2260-4

90000

U.S.A. $29.99
Canada $39.99
[Recommended]

780735 622609

Business/Microsoft Ofce/
Microsoft Publisher

Use Microsoft Publisher to plan, write,

and design great marketing pieces

Front Matter Title

Advance Praise for Design to Sell

Design is everyone's business, and Roger C. Parker shows you how to do it right!
Daniel H. Pink, author, A Whole New Mind

What a needed book by Roger Parker, a dean of design! Today's multi-tasking generations
will give your printed materials more than a split second's worth of attention with
attractive design. Learn what you need to make this happen.
Paul and Sarah Edwards, authors of 16 books including a new edition of Making
Money with Your Computer at Home

In Design to Sell, the dependable Roger Parker has produced yet another of his insightful
guides. As always, he is down-to-earth and practical in everything he recommends.
Furthermore, he explains why he recommends it and why it will work, and the-the height
of usefulness-shows how to apply it.
Jan V. White, communication design consultant; author, Editing by Design.

Nobody does a better job of showing how to use design to build lasting customer
relationships than Roger C. Parker.
Jay Conrad Levinson, author, Guerrilla Marketing

Today, design is more than a pretty picture-it is business strategy. Learn from Roger how to
design your own way to success!
Cliff Atkinson, author, Beyond Bullet Points

Big firms, with bottomless pockets, can hire expensive designers to help them tap into the
power of design. Until now, smaller firms have usually had to do without. Now, however,
Design to Sell provides the step-by-step guidance firms of all sizes need to use Microsoft
Publisher to make design work for them-instead of against them.
Doug Hall, author, Jump Start Your Business Brain, host, BrainBrew Radio.

The key to our successful launch of the Island Institute 22 years ago was our annual Island
Journal and a variety of other design-coordinated materials, and throughout, Roger
Parker's consistently solid design and marketing counsel have kept us on the right heading.
The success of our current campaign has only re-enforced the understanding that even the
best product will benefit tremendously if it is clearly presented in a compelling and well
designed manner. Roger Parker's sense of these qualities is unsurpassed!
Peter Ralston, Vice President and Co-Founder, Island Institute, Maine
www.islandinstitute.org

As always, Roger Parker is the pioneer in thinking and writing about design-treating
design as an RIO-generating business tool and not a purely aesthetic function. With his
clear, simple instructions, you will understand both the real purpose of design in businessto drive sales-as well as how to create materials that achieve that function using Microsoft
Publisher.
Robert W. Bly, author, The Copywriter's Handbook

xv

Design to Sell

We all need a visual edge to be noticed, read, and remembered. Design to Sell combines
Roger's wisdom and experience as a writer and design expert with a user-friendly set of
keys that permits you to unlock the full functionality of Microsoft Publisher.
William Reed, Tokyo, author, Mind Mapping for Memory and Creativity, #1
best-seller, Amazon Japan.

The worksheets in this book, alone, are worth the investment. Design to Sell not only
showed me how to use Publisher to produce my own newsletter, but also showed me how to
turn it from good to great! The details are amazing.
Sean Greeley, www.wakeupmarketing.com
[email protected]

From creating your message to grabbing the attention of your audience, Roger's Design to
Sell has the steps you need to succeed in creating your own marketing pieces. I especially
love the "ten tasks" that you will do over and over again. His action steps provide nondesigners, like myself, the detailed help we need to market ourselves using one of the most
popular software programs available.
Romanus Wolter,
Entrepreneur's magazine's Success Coach and author, Kick Start Your Success

This is the book I recommend to our clients, large and small, who want to plan and create
their own postcards as quickly and efficiently as possible. Design to Sell is the perfect
complement to today's advancing technology.
Steven Willen
President, AmazingMail.com

Roger C. Parker is a design evangelist who helps those who need design help the most: those
who must produce their own marketing materials on a tight budget, even though they have
had no previous design experience! Use this book to save time, money, and headaches.
Kathi Dunn, Award-winning designer for best-selling authors, fast-track speakers
and leading experts

I am a great fan of Roger C. Parkerthe design genius of our generation who has taught
desktop publishing excellence to hundreds of thousands.
Dr. Ralph Wilson, Internet Marketing Authority, www.wilsonweb.com

Design to Sell helped me learn how to give my printed material a visual edge without
having to spend thousands of dollars or years of study. It should be compulsory reading in
any marketing course aimed at small and medium businesses.
Bryan O'Shannassy, Bryan O'Shannassy & Associates, Australia

xvi

Contents at a Glance
Part One

Design and Profits

Chapter One

Using Design to Gain a Competitive Edge . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter Two

Planning Your Way to Design Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter Three

Principles of Design Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Chapter Four

Crafting Messages That Clients and Prospects Will Want

to Read. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Part Two

Jumpstarting Your Page Layout Skills

Chapter Five

Getting Started with Microsoft Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter Six

Creating a Foundation for Design Success . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter Seven

Building Design Excellence into Every Page . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter Eight

Taking Your Design Success to the Next Level . . . . . . . 76

Chapter Nine

Distributing Error-Free Messages in Print and Online . 76

Part Three

Putting Publisher to Work

Chapter Ten

Promoting Your Business with Postcards . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Chapter Eleven

Using Newsletters and Tip Sheets to Promote Your

Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Chapter Twelve

Profiting from Small Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Part Four

Wrapping It Up

Chapter Thirteen

Reviewing the 10 Most Common Design Errors. . . . . 220

Chapter Fourteen

Developing a Plan for Your Marketing Publications . 220

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Introduction

Introduction
Design to Sell is for anyone who wants to use design to increase sales and profits
through more effective and efficient marketing. It takes proven design and marketing
principles and shows you how to achieve professional-level results using Microsoft
Office Publisher, a robust and readily-available software program already found on
hundreds of thousands of personal computers throughout the world.
Ive long felt that Microsoft Publisher can make more of an immediate impact to the
bottom line success of the vast majority of associations, businesses, and individuals,
than any other software program. This book is a testament to that belief.

Who Should Buy This Book?

I wrote Design to Sell for readers who resemble the clients around the world whom Ive
had the good fortune to work with. These clients work in a variety of businesses, small
to large, and share many characteristics.
Typically, they are self-starters, they have a mission to perform, and they want to do
as much of the work themselves because they are not comfortable paying others to
perform services they can neither comfortably afford nor fully understand.
They also take pride in mastering any new skills needed to promote their firms
mission, success, and profits, so theyre willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work
needed to help their venture succeed. They believe in investing in themselves. These
individuals are typically found among the following categories of businesses:

Self-employed professionals striving to establish a name for themselves. Because

theyre just starting out, these individuals have few, if any, additional resources at
their disposal.

Owners and marketing managers at start-ups and medium-sized businesses.

These individuals want more hands-on involvement in their firms marketing,
because they need to save money and enjoy telling their firms story.

Department and product managers inside large firms. These individuals

generally need to wring every penny out of their marketing budgets.

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Design to Sell

Association, education, and non-profit executives. These individuals must keep

their constituents and supporters informed and enthusiastic, and they generally
dont have separate marketing budgets.

Why Design Matters

When asked why design is important, Jay Conrad Levinsonauthor of the best-selling
Guerrilla Marketing series of booksresponded:
Regardless of the brilliance of your words, your idea, and your offer, unless
somebody actually looks at them, they are lost in that enormous vacuum of
invisibility. How do you get people to look at them and begin to like them? One
word answer: Design.
As Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, his study of the six most needed mental
capabilities needed to survive in contemporary America, recently stated: Today, design
is everyones business!
My goal is to help you use design as a competitive tool, a tool that will help you profit
from both the accumulated wisdom of graphic designers and visual communicators
extending back hundreds of years, coupled with the technical virtuosity of Microsoft
Publisher running on todays ubiquitous personal computers.

How Much Do You Need to Know About Design?

Design to Sell is based on a simple premise: you do not need to be a designer to profit
from design!
You need to know enough about design to appreciate its power. You must understand
the hows and the whys. And you must know how to apply previously-made design
decisions while producing your ongoing marketing communications. But you dont
need to spend all your time designing to put design to good use!

Why Publisher?
Microsoft Publisher is not the most expensive page layout software program available.
Neither is it one of the two expensive and sophisticated software programs used by
professional New York City and San Francisco design professionals to prepare fancy
annual reports, advertisements, and glossy magazines.
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Introduction

But, at about a third of the price of its top echelon competitors, Microsoft Publisher
can take a firm or individual with no platformno tangible way of communicating
their competence and expertiseand give them the ability to build and promote their
brand and consistently keep in touch.
I know this is true, because Ive been helping clients and friends do this for years.
(As you read this book, youll find several examples of Publisher-powered obscurity to
awareness successes.)

Straight Talk About Capabilities

In a world where consumers obsess over product specifications, few buyers actually
ever approach the outer limits of their possessions performance capabilities.
Take automobiles, for example: Which cars offer the best performance: BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, or Porsche? In nearly every case, the limiting factor is not the car,
but the drivers ability to control it.
Likewise, its as possible to create commonplace, hard-to-read marketing messages
with more expensive programs, as it is to use Publisher to create an ongoing stream of
attractive marketing materials that can take you, your firm, or your clients, to new
levels of prosperity and profitability.

What Youll Learn in This book

Design to sell is divided into four parts, each part focused on the keys to marketing
your message effectively.
Part One: Perspective on Marketing with Design

In Part One, youll learn the basics of

creating effective, reader-friendly marketing messages your clients and prospects

will want to read. Part One provides a design and marketing context for the
information that follows.
Part Two: Jumpstarting Your Page Layout Skills

The chapters found in Part Two

cover how to use Microsoft Publisher to translate what youve just learned about
design and marketing into effective marketing messages. Youll learn how to
create a structure for design success and how to populate it with appropriately
formatted text. Youll also learn how to enhance what youve created so far, and
how to duplicate and distribute error-free marketing messages.
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Design to Sell

Part Three: Putting Publisher to Work

In this section, youll learn how to apply what

youve learned to specific categories of marketing messages: ads, brochures,

newsletters, postcards, and other projects.
Part Four: Wrapping It Up

Finally, we look at several before-and-after versions of

publications, each with important lessons to teach. The section concludes with a
quick review of how you can use the lessons in this books to avoid common
problems.
Companion Web Site

Design to Sell readers are invited to visit

www.designtosellonline.com, where youll find additional content to

supplement the book. The content youll find includes downloadable
worksheets, tests to check yourself, and updated resources.

The Most Important Lesson

Ultimately, Design to Sell is based on a simple premise: Design once, produce often.
This simple statement reflects everything Ive learned about marketing during the last
twenty-five years of helping firms and individuals create a presence for themselves in a
crowded market.
There is often a fundamental difference to be observed between graphic designers and
those who simply use design to become spectacularly successful in business.

For designers, the challengeand often the reward--is to constantly reinvent the
wheel in new and better ways.

For those who aspire to business success, however, the challenge is to use and
reuse fundamentally strong designs in a way that permits constant contact with
clients and prospects.

I dedicate Design to Sell to those who are attracted to the second alternative, and I
thank my clients around the world whose real-world successes provided the ultimate
foundation for this book.
Roger C. Parker
February, 2006
Dover, NH

xx

Part #:

Part Title

Chapter One

Using Design to Gain a

Competitive Edge
What youll find:
Discover how to use design to gain a visual edge.
Find out what design isand what design isnt.
Learn what design can do for you.
Discover who can design.
Learn the eight critical tasks that design must perform.
Understand the importance of doing it yourself.
Familiarize yourself with the tools of design.

Graphic designthe ability to create attractive, easy-to-read print communicationsis

more important today than ever before.
Today, to survive and prosper, you must be able to efficiently market words in ways
that help them attract attention and appear as easy to read as possible. Whether you
work for a boss, a client, or yourself, you need a visual edge if you want your words to
convincingly inform, motivate, and persuade.
The reason is simple: messages today face intense competition for attention. Every day,
thousands of marketing messages compete with your messageswhether these are
messages you prepare for your boss or for clients. As a result, if the messages you provide dont attract attention or are hard to read, theyll be ignored! There are simply more
than enough better-looking, easier-to-read messages for readers to turn to.
Design provides you with the visual edge you need to get messages noticed, read, and
remembered. And best of all, you dont have to be a professional designer, with years of
training and experience, plus access to thousands of dollars worth of professional
software, to gain a visual edge.

Design provides
you with the visual
edge you need to
get your messages
noticed, read, and
remembered.

Part One:

Design and
Profits

Design to Sell

Microsoft Office Publisher, a powerful yet accessible page layout program already
installed on hundreds of thousands of computers, makes it easy to add a visual edge to
all of your print communicationseven if you have not had previous design training or
experience!

Competing with a Visual Edge

Daniel Pink, in his recent best-selling book A Whole New Mind: Moving from the
Information Age to the Conceptual Age (Riverhead, 2005), lists design as the first of the
Six Senses he considers essential to economic and personal success in the twenty-first
century.
Pink describes design as a combination of utility and significance. He writes:
A graphic designer must whip up a brochure that is easy to read. Thats utility.
But at its most effective, her brochure must also transmit ideas or emotions that
the words themselves cannot convey. Thats significance.
Your mastery of the ideas and techniques described in this book will open the doors of
effective communications to you andhopefullyyour employer or clients. The power
to design is the power to earn and the power to sell.
Master the ideas in this book, and you will have the power to earn more money as an
employee or a freelance designer and the power to sell more if you are a self-employed
professional.

What Design Isand What It Isnt

Think of design as a lever, or a multiplier. Design takes everyday words and arranges
them in a way that attracts attention, presells their importance, and makes them easy to
understand.
Consider an unformatted page, as shown in Figure 1-1. Every word is set in the same
typeface and type size. Every word necessary to communicate your message is present,
yet few people are likely to read them. Theres no starting point for the message, and
theres nothing to help readers along.

Part One:
Chapter One: Using Design to Gain a Competitive Edge

Figure 1-1 Without the formatting power of graphic design, pages are boring and
hard to read.

Add graphic design, however, and the pages take on new utility and a new significance,
as you can see in Figure 1-2. The same words, when formatted, now reach out to readers
by advertising the importance of your message and making the words easier to use
that is, easier to read. Because they are easier to read, the words become easier to
understand and easier to rememberand thus are more effective.

Design and
Profits

Part One:

Design and
Profits

Design to Sell

Figure 1-2 Graphic design creates pages that not only attract readership, but are also
easier to read.

What Design Isnt

One of the best ways to understand the power of design is to consider what design isnt.
First, design is not entertainment or decoration. Design is not something you add to a
page to make it prettier or more fun. Design is not adding a holiday wreath to an
annual report released in December, nor is design adding a picture of a hammock to an
owners manual published during the summer.
Decorative design, which does not support the purpose of your (or your clients)
message, is not only wasteful, it is also transparently obvious, and it devalues the
4

Part One:
Chapter One: Using Design to Gain a Competitive Edge

importance of the words by projecting an

amateurish image.

Design and
Profits

Is This Effective Design?

If design is based on making appropriate decisions
about the layout and formatting of your message,
can we consider the message in this storefront an
example of effective design?

Second, design is never passive. It either

works for you (and your message), or it
works against you (and your message).
Design must be appropriate and relevant,
or it undermines your message by appearing unprofessional or making your message hard to read.

Design Is Not a Cure-All

Design, as we have seen, adds utility and
significance to your words. But design has
limitations. Here are some of the limits on
what design can accomplish:
Design cannot substitute for a lack of a
meaningful message. All the typo-

Certainly its not an example of subjectively beautiful design! But consider the goals:

graphical and color pyrotechnics in

the world cannot substitute for
poorly written headlines, missing
subheads, or long, disorganized
paragraphs.

Effectiveness The sign clearly communicates the

availability of the space for lease (but not for
rent).
Efficiency The message is communicated as inexpensively as possible.

Design cannot force readers to take

action. Type, color, and layout

Environment Prospects in cars speeding by can

immediately understand the message.

cannot compensate for a lack of

desire. If your message does not
describe benefits that readers want
to enjoy or is intended to persuade
readers to take immoral, illegal, or
expensive actions, all the typefaces
and color in the world cant compel
action.

Image A do-it-yourself image, in this case, is far

more effective than a fancy or art-directed
sign communicating the same message.
There are no absolutes in design. Effective design,
rather, is based on appropriateness, on making correct decisions in the context of a particular message,
market, and environment. Success depends not so
much on what you like as on what works best for a
particular situation.

Design cannot succeed without distribution. Messages have to be printed

and distributed to be effective. This

is why production efficiency is so
important. The more you pay for producing your designs, the less money you
have left over for printing and postage to deliver them. Thats one of the reasons
its so important to develop your own design capabilities.
5

Part One:

Design and
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Design to Sell

What Can Design Do for You?

Design is the purposefulrather than randomformatting and arrangement of the text
and graphical elements that make up a page (or a publication). Design is based on making appropriate decisions about the layout and formatting of your message. Layout
refers to the arrangement of partsof text and graphical elements. Formatting refers to
their colors, typeface choices, and spacing.

How Do You Measure Design Success?

Design should never be subjectively measured. The success or failure of a design
should never be measured in terms of subjective impressions based on color, typeface,
and layout.
Design is the purposeful arrangement and
formatting of the
text and graphical
elements used to
communicate your
message.

Instead, it is relatively easy to measure the effectiveness of design. Functionality is the

only meaningful way to measure designs success or failure:
Design succeeds when it furthers the message by attracting and maintaining the

readers attentionfor example, utility, in Dan Pinks words (quoted earlier).

Design succeeds when the layout and formatting of your message communicate

more than what words alone can communicatethis is significance, in Dan

Pinks words.
Design fails if it gets in the way of message. Visual pyrotechnics like bright colors

and fancy visuals might attract attention, but they might attract so much attention
that they make it hard for readers to concentrate on the adjacent text. This must
never happen.

Who Can Design?

A functional view of design has many implications. One of the most important is that
design is not so much a creative or intuitive ability as it is the result of mastering a
set of tools and techniques and applying them in a careful and consistent manner.
Design as a practical tool to multiply
the effectiveness of
written words has
little in common
with creative,
artistic, or selfexpression
endeavors.

As such, virtually anyone who wants to can learn how to create attractive, easy-to-read
pages!
Design as a practical way to multiply the effectiveness of the written word has little in
common with creative, artistic, or self-expression endeavors like oil painting,
portraiture, or photography.

Part One:
Chapter One: Using Design to Gain a Competitive Edge

Creative design is inwardly oriented, intended to satisfy the artists subjective desires.
It succeeds when the result satisfies not only the creator, but also those who share the
creators interests and passions (and can afford to indulge that interest by purchasing
the artwork).
The design of pages and publications, however, is outwardly directed. Design attempts to
satisfy the following demanding constituencies:
These are you, your client, or your boss, and (hopefully) they
are more interested in making sales than in displaying favorite colors or typeface
choices.

Result-oriented clients

These people are not reading for pleasure, but are reading for
information, and are always in a hurry.

Intended readers

Is the message itself, which

must be communicated as clearly and efficiently as possible.

Intended message [Roger, doesnt seem to fit with other 3]

These are people or organizations whose messages are competing for the
same readers. Your goal is to create publications that are obviously different from
those of your competition.

Competitors

Design is the process of acknowledging, understanding, and balancing the requirements of each of these groups.
Your goal is to create print communications that attract readers by promising an
easy read and then to deliver on that promise by making the message as easy to
read as possible.

Eight Tasks That Design Must Satisfy

If design is a lever, there are eight ways you can use design to multiply the impact of
your message. Use the following sections as a guide to evaluating the success of your
own designs, as well as the designs of othersincluding your competitors.

1. Design Must Attract Attention

Design takes ordinary words and makes them special by placing them on a page in
unique and interesting ways. Headlines play a crucial role in determining the success or
failure of your message, because if the headline isnt read, its unlikely that the body
copy will be read.

Design and
Profits

Part One:

Design and
Profits

Design to Sell

Consider the three steps involved in placing and formatting a typical headline:
1. Begin by placing the headline at the top of a page, surrounded by white space
(layout, or placement).
2. Format the headline using a large, bold, easy-to-notice typeface that is hard to
overlook (formatting).
3. Fine-tune the line and letter spacing and the break between the first and second
lines to make the headline as easy to read as possible (care and craftsmanship).

2. Design Must Presell the Importance of Your Words

To succeed, design must project an image appropriate for your message and your
markets expectations.
How would you feel if, after a 45-minute delay in the waiting room, you finally go in to
meet the doctor and find her desk a mess, her hair unkempt, and her smock wrinkled
and covered with mustard and coffee stains?
Youd probably think twice about taking her advice seriously! (And you might not even
let her examine you!) Before she opened her mouth, the doctors careless appearance
communicated an uncaring, unprofessional attitude.
Covers do sell
books. Design is
the cover you put
on your messages.

The same thing happens when your publications project an amateurish or a last-minute
image! Covers do sell books. And design is the cover you put on all of your messages.
In a bookstore, for example, have you ever noticed how some books immediately attract
your attention, inviting you to pick them up and thumb through them, while you barely
notice other books? Thats design in action!

3. Design Must Differentiate

Design sets your message apart from those of your competition.
How would you feel if you were participating in a candidates debate for public office
and you found yourself wearing the exact same outfit as your opponent? Youd probably be concerned that your words might be misinterpreted as coming from your
opponentand youd be right!
Likewise, what do you think would happen if the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, and USA Today all shared the same formattingthat is, the same

Part One:
Chapter One: Using Design to Gain a Competitive Edge

Design and
Profits

page size, column layout, typefaces, and colors? The papers would lose their identity,
and probably many of their readers.
Your messages must be clearly differentiated from those of your competition. You want
to make sure that your words are associated with your identity in your markets eyes.
Theres another aspect to this too. Effective design creates a synergy, or 1 + 1 = 3
effect, between your ads, brochures, business cards, letterheads, newsletters, and
Web site. When your messages communicate a consistent identity, the power of each
is multiplied.

4. Design Must Organize

Design provides a framework, or structure, for readers to use while navigating your
message. At a glance, your readers should be able to instantly identify the key ideas on
the page, allowing them to make intelligent read or not read decisions.
Well-designed pages, for example, contain a system of reader cues that indicate the
relative importance of ideas and an outline of the way the ideas are organized on the
page. At a glance:
Headlines

Clearly indicate the beginning of articles and their relative importance.

Subheads

Introduce new topics.

Pull-quotes

Summarize the important ideas on a page.

Highlight and separate information supporting the main ideas on a page,

which can be read or ignored as desired.

Sidebars

In addition, subheads, or mini-headlines, located within the columns of text perform

an additional function. They chunk the content by breaking long passages into several, shorter, bite-size elements that promise an easier reading experience.
A page without subheads looksand ishard to read, as you can see in Figure 1-3.
Theres neither a starting point nor an obvious hierarchy of information. You have to
read the whole page to make sense of its content, but reading the whole page looks like
a big job! And, after youve finished, theres no easy way to review the information you
just read.

Ideally, each of
your marketing
materialsfor
example, each
issue of your newsletterwill present
a unique image
that brands it as
coming from you
and not your competitors.

Part One:

Design and
Profits

Design to Sell

Figure 1-3 Pages without subheads provide no content clues for readers or incentive to
begin reading.

Pages with subheads, however, provide numerous places to begin reading and also help
you keep your place, as shown in Figure 1-4.
In addition, just as a large task becomes easier to complete when it is broken down into
a series of individual steps, subheads make it easy for readers to navigate long messages
as a series of short, easy-to-read topics.

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Figure 1-4 The same page, with subheads, offers numerous entry points and appears
significantly easier to read.

5. Design Must Provide Selective Emphasis

All ideas are not of equal importance. Some ideasand some wordsare more
important than others. The task of design is to help readers identify and focus on
the important words, separating them from those of lesser importance.
When everything on a page is emphasized, nothing is emphasized, as you can see in
Figure 1-5. Setting an entire paragraph in bold, for example, doesnt help readers pick
out and appreciate the meaning of those words that are truly important.

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Figure 1-5 When every word in a paragraph is emphasized, there is no emphasis.

Overemphasis
inevitably leads to
underemphasis, as
no single element
clearly indicates
that it is more
important than the
others.

Restraint when using the tools of emphasisthat is, color and bold typeis the key to
helping your designs communicate as efficiently and effectively as possible, as shown in
Figure 1-6.

Figure 1-6 When the tools of emphasis are used with restraint, it becomes clear which
wordsand ideasare the most important.

6. Design Must Make Reading Easy

Effective design is based on an understanding of the ways humans read.
Although designers frequently talk about readers, the term is actually a misnomer. The
correct term is skimmers. The mechanics of reading in most Western cultures is based
on consistent left-to-right eye movements, each movement covering three or four words.
Words are recognized by their shapesand instantly translated into thoughtsrather
than phonetically sounded out and silently spoken based on the letters that make up

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each word. Under ideal conditions, this translation takes place unconsciously and is
characterized by high speed and high message retention.
Anything that interrupts the consistent eye movement and near-instantaneous translation of word shapes into ideas, however, seriously interferes with message comprehension. If the words are not easily recognized and attention has to be paid to individual
letters, message comprehension drops like a brick and concentration weakens, making
it easier for your customer or prospect to lose interest and stop reading.
In this book, youll discover several ways to format your message to be as recognizable
as possible by:
Making the appropriate typeface and type size choices.
Choosing the appropriate type case and style.
Manipulating line and letter spacing.

Studies have shown that subtle differences in layout and typography can make huge
differences in how your message is received. Make the right decisions, and your message will be read and remembered. Make the wrong choices, and your message doesnt
stand a chance!
Readability is just one of the ways design leverages and multiplies your message.

7. Design Must Immediately Communicate

Design must make information obvious. Design involves understanding the meaning
and purpose of datawords, numbers, and ideasand presenting them concisely and
as visually as possible.
Words alone do a poor job of communicating comparisons, hierarchy, and sequence.
Consider this sentence: East Coast sales are 20 percent lower than Midwest sales,
which in turn are dwarfed by West Coast sales that are twice as large. Read as words,
its difficult to obtain a mental picture of the differing sales from each territory.
The same comparison takes on a new life when visually communicated using charts
and graphs. A bar graph, for example, can communicate the same information far more
effectively, as shown in Figure 1-7.

8. Design Must Save Time and Money

Design isnt just for readers. Design is for you, your boss, and your clients. Design helps
you communicate as efficiently as possible.

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Figure 1-7 A bar chart instantly communicates a comparison between the three sales
territories.

Its not enough to create an attractive, easy-to-read page if it takes you so much time to
prepare that your message is obsolete before it is distributed. Design must speed your
work. It does so when you use software features and techniques like these:
Keyboard shortcuts

Apply commands without removing your hands from the keys.

Apply numerous formatting attributes with a single click. Text styles can
also be set up so that one format automatically follows another. After formatting
a subhead and pressing ENTER, for example, the Normal or Body Copy typeface
can be set to automatically appear.

Text styles

Templates Give you a jump start on creating the various types of publications you

prepare over and over again.

Provide commands relevant to the

Shortcut menus (accessed by right-clicking)

selected text or graphics.

Make complicated choices easy by offering
professionally designed combinations of colors and typefaces.

Built-in color schemes and font schemes

Efficiency also involves recognizing the differences between design and production.
Design often refers to creating a basic publication framework from scratchthat is,
setting up a column format; choosing colors; and assigning different typeface, type size,
and line spacing options for each element of page architecture (headlines, subheads,
body copy, captions, and so on). Production, however, refers to adding text and graphics
to an existing framework, applying text formatting, and overseeing the printing and
distribution of a project.
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Everyone doesnt have to be a designer to profit from design! Its reasonable to hire a professional designer to create a template for a unique and repeatable looklike a newsletter designthat you can complete monthly without incurring additional expense.

Why Do It Yourself?
Just about everyone in businessand nonprofit associationscan benefit from
mastering the design basics and Microsoft Publisher skills described in this book.
The ability to efficiently create attractive, easy-to-read pages can save you time and
money, permitting you to communicate more effectively and more often with your
clients, prospects, and supporters.
Mastering design and Microsoft Publisher eliminates the need to pay
others to do what you can do yourself. Youll not only save money for yourself, or
your employer, but youll also be able to make a seamless transition between
writing and formatting.

Save money.

When you work with freelance designers, days can go by between

the time you prepare something and the time you get a proof back from your
designer. If you format, duplicate, and distribute your message yourself, however,
you can save significant amounts of time.

Eliminate delays.

By doing the work yourself, you can also end up with a more
effective message. Working with freelancers often resembles the game of telephonemessages get scrambled, or the person formatting your project doesnt
quite understand your ideas. This doesnt happen when you can both write and
format your message yourself.

Achieve better quality.

You know more about your message and its goals than
anyone, because you know your product or your service better than anyone else.
You know your markets needs better than anyone else. You know your competition better than anyone else. Youll also probably work more carefully on your
project than anyone else, because you are personally invested in it.

Put your knowledge to work!

When Is Design Appropriate?

Many feel that only formal and expensively printed documents warrant design.
Nothing can be further from the truth. You should get in the habit of paying attention
to design whenever youre preparing a print communication that you want read and
positively acted on. In addition to projects like ads, brochures, catalogs, and newsletters, you should also take care to design for attention and easy reading when you
prepare less formal publications such as:
Letters, faxes, and memos
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Proposals
Postcards
Rsums
E-books

In each of these cases, youre using designthe purposeful arrangement and formatting
of text and graphical elementsto sell the value of your words. In every case, you want
the reader to pay attention to your wordsand read every word youve written!
These publications in particular might be more deserving of design excellence because
theyre distributed to qualified recipients at or close to the moment of sale:
Rsums and cover letters
Proposals

Are sent to those who are looking to hire.

Go to prospects who have asked for more details.

Go to buyers who must be satisfied (or they will ask for a refund) or to
prospects who are using your e-book to see how informed and professional
you are.

E-books

If your words are important, its imperative that they be as attractive and easy to read as
possible. And only design can help you achieve those goals.

How Much Do You Need to Know About Design?

To build equity in your career, you dont have to take a few years off to earn a masters
of fine arts degree. You can learn as much, or as little, about graphic design and
Microsoft Publisher as you need.
Best of all, you can learn as you go. You dont have to knowing everything all at once
you can begin with simple formatting and then step up to increased responsibilities as
your abilities grow and you become more confident.
Youll find it easy getting started with Microsoft Publisher. If you can use a word processing program such as Microsoft Office Word, youre well on your way to success.
Many of the same commands and techniques are used in both programs.

Building Your Personal Equity

When you invest time and money mastering design and Microsoft Publisher, youre
adding value to your career, building equity that you not only can use now, but that you
also can take with you wherever you want to go in the future.

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The ability to effectively communicate in print is an asset that can take you in directions
you might not even imagine:
If youre an employee, your ability to help your employer communicate more

effectivelyand efficientlyin print will make you more valuable and, hence, can
result in higher pay and more job security. A mastery of the basics of design and
an ability to implement them using Microsoft Publisher gives you a significant
advantage over your coworkers.
If youre an entrepreneur, a mastery of design and Microsoft Publisher can help

you do a more effective job of promoting yourself, or you can become a valuable
resource for your clients whowithout youcannot communicate as effectively.
If youre looking for new challenges, you will find numerous opportunities at

firms and associations of all sizes that need assistance communicating their
message to their clients and supporters.

The Tools of Design

Design involves placing and formatting four key elements: color, layout, type, and
graphics. Everything you work on, from the simplest business card to complex catalogs
and newsletters, is formatted by manipulating the four building blocks of design.

Color
Color is the most immediately noticeable design element. Your initial impression of a
message, and the way you approach it, is based on the color of the paper it is printed on
and the colors used for text and graphics. Color communicates emotions like urgency,
attraction, or rejection. In general, the following associations are true:
Red

Instantly communicates danger.

Blue

Communicates tranquility.

Green
Gray
Yellow

Communicates optimism and the outdoors.

Communicates conservativeness.
Communicates cheapness.

There are exceptions, of course, and color associations are often culturally biased.
But it is vitally important that the dominant colors you choose for your messages are
appropriate for the image you want to project.
The colors you select for your designs not only influence the emotional state with
which your readers approach your message, colors can also communicate associations,
such as different historical eras or different seasons of the year.
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Layout
Layout, or the way text and graphics are placed on a page, is the second major way that
your formatting decisions influence the utility and significance of your message.
Controlling the amount and placement of white spacethe absence of text and
graphicsis one of the most important ways layout impacts the effectiveness of your
message. Publications with a lot of white space project a more attractive, easier-to-read
image.
Cramped pages
lacking white space
at the margins create a dense, hardto-read image.

A comparison of two publications, one with narrow margins and the other with
generous margins, illustrates the difference. One invites readership; the other looks
uncomfortably cluttered and cramped.

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In addition, the number and placement of text columns on the page influence line
length. Long lines of type are hard to read. Long lines of type also make it easy for
readers to get lost as they make the transition from the end of one line to the beginning
of the next line. Line length is reduced when two or more columns are placed on the
page, aiding readership.

Type
Chances are, a large percentage of your design time will involve typographychoosing
the right typefaces and formatting the type as appropriately as possible.

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White space aids

readability and
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Like color, type is immediately noticed and instantly communicates an image to readers
that determines how they will approach your message. Type, like design in general, is
never passiveit is always either with you or against you.
Your messages
credibility drops
when the formatting of your message is inconsistent
with its content.

At best, inappropriate typeface choices add an element of ambiguity that causes your
readers to approach your message with uncertainty. At worst, typeface choices immediately undermine your credibility and the impact of your words. Take a look at the
difference between these two ads.

Choosing an
appropriate typeface empowers
your message.

As you become more comfortable working with type, you will be able to create text
styles that can be shared between categories of publicationsads, brochures, newsletters, and so on. This saves you time and contributes to the creation of a unique visual
image that differentiates your messages from those of your competitors.

Inappropriate text
formatting makes
paragraphs difficult
to read.

Type formatting greatly influences the readability of your publications. Formatting

nsdecisions involving case, style, and line spacing, for example, can transform an
unreadable paragraph into one that can be quickly and easily understood, as the
following examples illustrate.

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Graphics
Graphics refers to everything on a page except type. Examples of graphics include:
Photographs
Illustrations
Cartoons
Business graphicsfor example, charts and graphs
Tableswith information displayed in cells that are arranged in rows and

columns
Borders
Backgrounds
Rulesa graphics term for horizontal or vertical lines

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Choosing a more
appropriate typeface, adjusting line
spacing and paragraph formatting,
turning on hyphenation, and adding
italics for emphasis
makes the same
words easier to
read and understand without
occupying more
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All of these elements must be placed and resized on the page in a way that
complements, rather than distracts from, the text of your message, which is usually
set in paragraphs.
The size and position of your graphics must reflect their importance. Important
photographs that communicate at a glancesetting a mood or reinforcing your words
should be larger and more noticeable than photographs that merely provide additional
atmosphere or support.
Text wraps interrupt message comprehension by
forcing readers to
accommodate
changing line
lengths.

One of the big challenges you will face will be adding graphics to a page in a way that
does not create text wraps. Text wraps occur when a graphic interrupts an adjacent text
column, reducing line length. Text wraps force readers to readjust the number and
speed of their left-to-right eye movements. This slows reading and prevents readers
from focusing their entire attention on understanding and remembering your message.
Figure 1-8 illustrates how a text wrap can interfere with the message in the adjacent
columns.

Summary
Today, its not enough to be simply a competent writer. If you want your words to be
easily read, remembered, and acted on, you have to be able to format them, creating
attractive, easy-to-read pages.
Your messages must stand out among the thousands of marketing messages your
readers encounter each day. Your words must attract your readers attention and be as
easy to read as possible. Otherwise, your words will probably go unreadas if you
didnt write them at all!
In the following chapters, youll look at the steps you can take to improve the
communicating power of everything you create with Microsoft Publisherand youll
probably discover many ideas that you can apply to Microsoft Word documents too!
In the next chapter, well look at how to plan your documents so that theyll be easier to
create and more effective. From there, we review a number of surprisingly simple design
concepts that youll never outgrow; in subsequent chapters, youll learn how to use
Microsoft Publisher to apply these design concepts.
Youre already well on your way to designing your future!

Test Yourself
Before beginning the next chapter, take a break and review the important ideas
communicated so far.
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Figure 1-8 A poorly conceived text wrap can interfere with the message in the
surrounding text.

Go to this chapters page on the books companion Web site (www.designtosellonline.com/01chap.html). Here you can:
Take a quiz

Download and print a sample newsletter and worksheet, and then

identify as many mistakes as you can. This example is also a great makeover
project that you can show prospective clients and potential employers.

Test your memory

Define the six important new words introduced in this

chapter.
Additional bonus materials and Web features will be frequently added to the Web site.

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Chapter Eleven

Using Newsletters and Tip

Sheets to Promote Your
Expertise
What youll find:
Define a platform.
Plan your newsletter.
Produce a one-page newsletter.
Create an effective newsletter template.
Produce each issue of your newsletter as quickly as possible.
Create tip sheets to promote your newsletter and build its mailing list.

The purpose of this chapter is to teach you how to use Microsoft Office Publisher
to create a platform based on newsletters and tip sheets. Newsletters are powerful
platform builders because they make it possible for you to educate your market without
buying expensive media advertising. Newsletters put you in control of your destiny,
instead of waiting for things to happen.
Tip sheets are even easier to produce. Tip sheets can be as simple as 8 or 10 numbered
recommendations that distill your knowledge and years of experience down to one side
of a single sheet of paper.
In this chapter, youll learn how to apply many of the Publisher-specific techniques
described in Part Two. While you read this chapter and create your platform, youll
probably want to refer back to the information in previous chapters.

What Is a Platform?
A platform is your version of a local newspaper or radio station. Just as the owner of a
small-town department store or grocery store gains a competitive advantage by owning
a local newspaper or radio station, helping the owner to keep in touch with customers,
your platform provides a similar way to inform your clients and prospects about the
value of buying from you.
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Types of Platforms
There are numerous types of platforms. The worlds of business and politics provide
many examples. For instance, the name recognition from a background in the entertainment industry can be enough to establish a career in politicsin Ronald Reagans
case, leading to the White House.
Television shows have not only propelled Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey to great
influence, but their popularity has also enhanced the careers of others, like Dr. Phil.
Television appearances, of course, are just one example of a platform. Other more
practical options include using articles and columns, blogs, e-books, audio interviews,
podcasts, and Web sites. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen used their Chicken Soup
book series to create an international platform
Creating newsletters and tip sheets with Publisher lets you too enjoy the benefits of a
platformbut with far less investment of time and money.

Benefits of Successful Platforms

Those who develop successful platforms enjoy numerous advantages, including:
Each of the platform types offers a way to promote your
expertise by educating your market and communicating your point of view.

A stage to present from

With the exception of trade books sold through local and online
bookstores, each of the platform types represents a process that is repeated over
and over, maintaining your constant visibility.

Repeatable

The best platforms are totally under your control, so you can choose the
topics you want to address and choose the content you want to include.

Control

In contrast to conventional advertising, platforms cost little to set up and

maintain. As platforms expand, they can even turn into profit centers. You might
ultimately turn your newsletter into a subscription version that people pay to
receive or into articles that you are paid to write.

Efficiency

The ideas and information promoted in your platform rarely go out of date.
This permits you to recycle content in different ways. Information that starts as a
newsletter or tip sheet, for example, can be recycled as an article, a presentation,
an e-bookor even a trade book.

Equity

The effort you put into creating each issue of your newsletter pays
off in enhanced confidence and skills. By constantly refining your ideas and
improving your ability to express them, you continually improve your message
and learn to communicate it more effectively.

Self-improvement

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Perhaps most important, each of the advantages offered by a platform expands your
network of those who know and respect you. This includes those who listen to you and
recommend you to others.

Prerequisites for Creating a Successful Platform

The three prerequisites for creating a successful platform are: a core message, a vehicle (or
way of packaging and delivering your message), and a promotional Web site that you can
easily update yourself.

Message
The starting point for developing a platform is to create a core message that states your
value proposition (that is, how your market benefits) and helps differentiate you from
your competition. Your core message should be constantly repeated through every one
of your marketing communications.
Your core message provides the starting point for choosing the topics and information
for each newsletter or tip sheet installment. Your core message should not only reflect
your key strengths, but also identify the market you serve and the unique benefits you
offer. In addition, your message should reflect your values, style, and enthusiasm. In
short, your message should reflect your firms missionor reason for being:
My message is that I help firms and individuals use design as a strategic tool.

Thus, each newsletter or tip sheet I produce focuses on profiting from a specific
aspect of design.
The platform of someone with a background in radio could be that she helps

individuals sound their best when being interviewed on radio or television.

Newsletters and tip sheets could describe ways to organize messages, avoid
nervousness, and speak with clarity and enthusiasm.

Vehicle
Platforms also require a way of making your knowledge tangiblea vehicle for
communicating your messageso that youre not just claiming, I know what Im
talking about, but youre proving it in a way that customers and prospects can
immediately appreciate.
For many businesses, newsletters represent an effective option. Newsletters offer an
easy way to package your information in a tangible way that can be quickly and easily
shared with others to prove your expertise.

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More important, once you create a newsletter, you have a reusable module of information that you can recycle into various forms to further promote your platform in:
Articles for syndication, interviews, books, and e-books.
Presentations, speeches, teleconferences, podcasts, and training seminars.
Web site incentives, such as special reports offering in-depth treatment of a timely

topic or compilations of previous issues, that you can use to encourage opt-in
registrations for your online newsletter. (Tip sheets, described later in this
chapter, are ideal for building newsletter circulation!)

Web Site
After you create your platform, you must be able to promote it by using a Web site that
you can easily and consistently update yourself.
Hostage Web sitesthat is, elaborately designed sites that cannot be quickly and
easily updated without the delays and costs involved in hiring othersare rarely efficient and responsive enough to effectively promote your platform. Each time a new
newsletter or tip sheet appears, you must be able to make it immediately available to clients and prospects.

Planning Your Newsletter

Individuals and firms have long embraced newsletter marketing because it makes
sense. Instead of dissipating your time and budget resources on advertisements that
inevitably contain a lot of waste circulationthat is, they reach many individuals who
might never need your product or servicenewsletters permit you to focus on just those
most likely to buy.
In contrast to advertising in newspapers or on broadcast media like radio or television,
newsletters also provide the space needed to explain the benefits of buyingand
rebuyingfrom you.

Why Conventional Newsletters Usually Fail

The problem is, conventional newsletter publishing rarely works. This is because
conventional newsletters typically contain 4, 8, or 16 pages and appear at quarterly or
bimonthly intervals.
Because conventional multipage newsletters are printed and mailed, costs and delays
are frequent. In addition, because each issue contains so much space, producing each
issue takes too much time because there are too many content decisions to be made,
and it always takes more time to write and lay out each issue than available.
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Because of the time it takes to prepare, print, address, and mail conventional multipage
newsletters, topics often go out of date before they appear, and too much time elapses
between issues.
Remember our oscilloscope example. Each spike of the trace is similar to the arrival of
a newsletter. Although the oscilloscope trace is visible at its peak, it soon disappears
into a trough, until the next beep. When too much time goes by between newsletters,
firms lose their visibility, and customers who are ready to buy go elsewhere. Little
wonder that most conventional, multipage newsletter marketing programs rarely last.

Rethinking Newsletter Goals

The perfect newsletter would have several characteristics:
The ideal newsletter would be easy to produce so that any business owner
or departmental manager could do it in less than two hours per month. It would
also be inexpensive enough to produce every monthoften enough to maintain a
firms constant visibility among prospects and clients.

Efficiency

The ideal newsletter would be welcomed and anticipated by its readers,

rather than glanced at and discarded. Readers would give it top ratings in the
Whats In It For Me? Sweepstakes. The newsletter would be written from the
customer or clients point of view, rather than the point of view of the individual
or firm producing it.

Relevance

In contrast to conventional advertisements emphasizing one

product or service, each issue wouldthrough its contentcreate a halo effect
that would promote every product and service the individual or firm offered.

Consistent image

The ideal newsletter would be created in a format that

could be printed, for distribution to key clients and at networking effects, as well
as distributed for free online, as a Web site download or an e-mail attachment.

Multiple points of contact

Your customers and prospects are as busy as you are. They too
dont have as much time as they used to. Customers appreciate concise, succinct,
useful information that doesnt take much time to read.

Quick and easy to read

The One-Page Newsletter Solution

Numerous firms and individuals around the world have discovered the advantages of a
monthly one-page newsletter. The defining characteristics of one-page newsletters are:
Short

Each issue consists of a single sheet of paper, printed on both the front
and the back.

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Each issue is carefully formatted to project a friendly and professional

image, even before it is read. The newsletters careful formatting also differentiates
the firm from its competition.

Formatted

Each issue is focused on a single topic, described in about six hundred words.
Illustrations can be included, if theyre useful.

Useful

Each issue can be distributed online, offline, and in

person. Because many copies are distributed electronically or printed as needed
on desktop printers, there are no expensive minimum quantities to print.

Multiple distribution channels

One-Page Newsletter Advantages

The one-page newsletter format offers these compelling advantages:
Because the single-page format focuses each issue on a single topic,
planning and writing are simple.

Easy to produce

Each issue projects a consistent look based on a template and grid

created using Microsoft Publishers master pages.

Consistent

Prospects and customers look forward to each issue because each issue
contains useful information that helps them make better buying decisions or
make the most of an earlier purchase.

Relevant

Because they focus on educational topics, issues rarely go out of date,

allowing you to archive them on your Web site, where they will attract search
engine traffic.

Long shelf life

Rather than printing hundreds or thousands of copies, most

copies can be distributed as Web site downloads or e-mail attachments. Copies
can be printed as needed for networking events or distribution to key clients.

Printed as needed

Producing a One-Page Newsletter

The five steps involved in setting up a marketing program based on a monthly one-page
newsletter are:
1. Familiarize yourself with the text and graphical elements used to create a onepage newsletter
2. Plan your newsletter program by selecting an appropriate title and creating an
editorial calendar of topic ideas for the first 12 issues.
3. Create a template that you can quickly complete each month.
4. Complete, proof, and distribute each issue.
5. Promote your newsletters online and offline.
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Elements of One-Page Newsletter Architecture

Lets start by examining the various building blocks found on the front and back of a
one-page newsletter.

Front Page
Figure 11-1 shows a typical one-page newsletter. The numbers in the figure correspond
to the list numbers below.

Figure 11-1 The front page of a typical one-page newsletter contains nine building blocks,
or distinct type elements.

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1. Nameplate The nameplate at the top of the front page contains the title of your
newsletter, set in a large and stylized typeface.

Tips for Using Color in

Nameplates
Avoid using too much color in your newsletter
nameplate.
A solid colored background might be very
attractive, but it will significantly increase the
cost of printing your newsletter.
Because you will be printing some copies yourself and you want to encourage your customers
and prospects to print each issue that arrives as
an electronic file, you should design for the most
efficient and economical color printing possible.
And remember, less color is usually more effective than more color!

The best titles are those that communicate a

benefit or identify the newsletters intended
market. Titles work best when they consist
of words of approximately equal length.
Sometimes titles contain active verbsfor
example, Healthy Living or Profitable
Investing.
The best nameplates often contain two contrasting typefacesin this case, a script (or
handwritten) typeface and a sans serif typeface set in all caps. Interest is added by
slightly overlapping the two words.
2. Tagline Place an explanatory tagline, or
motto, below or next to the title of your publication. The tagline should elaborate on the
promise offered in the title, helping prospects and clients better understand the benefits of reading the information that follows.

Notice that the tagline in our example is set in the same typeface as the first word in the
title, for consistency.
3. Folio Although the folio can indicate the date your newsletter appears, this has the
unfortunate effect of making previous issues look out of date, even if the information is
still valid.
A much better alternative is to number your issues. That way, when you send someone
a back issue of your newsletter or they download it from your Web site, it will still
appear timely and relevant.
4. Logo Place your firms logo in the lower left-hand corner of the front page. Avoid
the temptation to include contact information such as addresses and phone numbers
here, as these can clutter the front page. Theres room on the back page for full contact
information.
5. Headline Keep headlines as short as possiblepreferably a maximum of two lines.
Be as concise as possible, and use the shortest possible words. Rewrite your headlines
until they fit the available space, and do not inadvertently separate words that should

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be next to each other. Use line breaks (press SHIFT + ENTER) to break words where
desired. Never hyphenate headlines.
6. Elaboration Next provide a segue, or
transition, between the headline and the text
that follows. Elaborate on the headlines relevance on the three lines that follow it.
Describe the benefits that your customers
and prospects will enjoy when they read this
issue of your newsletter. Never leave anything to chance. Explain the specific benefits
they will gain.
Again, rewrite as necessary to fit on three
lines and to avoid hyphenation and awkward line breaks. When appropriate, the
elaboration can be set in one of the colors
used in the newsletters nameplate.
7. Body copy Body copy should be as easy
to read as possible. Notice the relatively large
line spacing and open space between paragraphs in our examplethis not only
projects an open, easy-to-read image, but
also actually contributes to easy reading. The
extra white space between lines helps
emphasize each words shape, making the
text easier to scan.

Espresso Dave Names a

Newsletter
Espresso Dave was one of my clients. Espresso
Daves business provides a portable cappuccino
and espresso service at events like conventions
and trade shows. When it came time to create his
one-page newsletter, the first idea was to
emphasize the coffee aspect of his business,
with a title such as Coffee Time or The Perfect
Cup.
On reflection, it became clear that large corporations hired him not because of the excellence of
his coffee but because his presence at their trade
show exhibit boosted foot traffic and encouraged visitors to spend more time at the booth.
Thus, Espresso Daves newsletter was named
Trade Show Marketing, because that was the
reason his clients hired him.
When naming your newsletter, go beyond the
obvious and choose a title that reflects the
benefits you offer your customers and prospects.

Notice too that baseline alignment is used,

so that the baselines of the text in each column align with each other, presenting a far
more professional image.
8. Subheads Notice that the subheads in our example newsletter are set in a typeface
and color that forms a strong contrast with the adjacent body copy. Notice too that the
subhead color is the same as one of the colors in the newsletter nameplate. (You can
view the newsletter in color at www.designtosellonline.com/11chap.html.)
For easiest reading, limit capital letters in subheads to the first letter of the first word
and any proper nouns. Limit subheads to one line. Most important, add extra white
space above the subheads, to emphasize the break with the preceding topic.
9. Testimonial Place testimonials in the white space to the left of the text. Align
the testimonials flush right. Notice that style contrast is employed to separate the
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testimonial from the name of the individual who submitted itin this case, the byline
is set in italics.
Notice the horizontal lines, or rules, that frame the nameplate and the two text
columns. These rules do not extend the full width of the page, further adding to the
white space created by the narrow left-hand column.

Back Page
The back page of the newsletter contains several additional elements, as shown in
Figure 11-2.

Figure 11-2 The back page of a one-page newsletter includes additional elements such as a
photograph, a pull-quote, and full contact information.
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1. Title The title of the newsletter appears at the top of the back page, set in the same
typeface used for subheads.
2. Folio The volume and number of the current issue is set in the same typeface
and type size as the newsletters title on the same line. Use a horizontal guideline to
accurately align the two text elements.
3. Pull-quote A pull-quote set in a larger type size is used to draw attention to the
key phrase found on the back page. Although its not necessary to use the exact same
wording, the wording you use should communicate the same idea.
The pull-quote is set flush-right, with extra line spacing, and can be set in an italicized
version of the typeface used for the subheads.
4. Photograph A large photograph is used on the back page to personalize the
newsletter. Notice that the bottom of the photograph aligns with the baseline of the
text, another detail that reinforces the newsletters professional image.
5. Contact information
photograph.

Copyright and contact information appear below the

6. Call to action The firms phone number and primary e-mail address are repeated
in the last paragraph of text, even though the same information appears in the contact
information to the left. This information is repeated to avoid the possibility that someone who wanted to respond might not immediately locate the information under the
photograph.
Designing to sell is all about your customers and prospects, not about youand not
about making readers search for contact information. When in doubt, choose the
option that eliminates any possibility of losing a sale.

Planning Your One-Page Newsletter Program

A successful one-page newsletter program is based on two key tasks that must be
completed before you begin working on the first issue: you have to create the right title,
and you have to develop an editorial calendar that identifies the topics for the first 12
issues of your newsletter.

Creating a Title for Your One-Page Newsletter

Creating the right title for your newsletter involves three steps:
1. Identify the benefits that your one-page newsletter offers.
2. Focus on a niche for your newsletter.
3. Fine-tune your title choice.
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Identifying newsletter benefits The starting point for creating a successful title is to
recognize that your firm or associations name usually does not constitute a strong title.
Your name does not offer a benefit. Your name coupled with the word newsletter simply
restates the obvious when it arrives in your customers mailbox (or inbox).
Consider two possible titles:
The Roger C. Parker Newsletter
Desktop Publishing and Design Tips

Which title does the best job of promising a benefit or describing the newsletters
contents? Theres obviously no benefit described by The Roger C. Parker Newsletter.
Its a brag and boast title that elicits a so what? reaction.
A glance at the second title, however, is enough to give you an idea of the information
to be found in the newsletter. The Desktop Publishing and Design part of the title emphasizes that the newsletter will cover both technology and design issues, while Tips
communicates that the contents will contain short, useful ideas.
Instead of including your name in the title, consider placing your name either before
your newsletters title or in a published by statement that follows the title.
You can use the Newsletter Title Planning Worksheet, shown in Figure 11-3, to
brainstorm ideas for your newsletter. In the first column, enter some of the topics
youre going to include in your newsletter. After youve entered your topics, in the
second column, describe how readers will benefit from your ideas. Last, in the third
column, jot down some possible words to describe these benefits.
Focusing on a niche for your newsletter Specialists are always more successful
than generalists. The same is true of newsletters. Strengthen the title of your one-page
newsletter by emphasizing your firms particular target market or the particular
approach youre going to develop in your newsletter.
Lets reconsider the title Desktop Publishing and Design Tips. Its strong in that it
identifies the contents of the newsletter, but its weak in terms of describing the particular benefits readers will enjoy. It fails to identify a target market or editorial approach.

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Newsletter Title Planning Worksheet

Topic ideas

Reader benefits

Possible words

Keyboard shortcuts

Save time and effort

More time to sell

Efficiency

Recent trends and

new developments

Keep informed
Save reading other publications

Update

Basic techniques

Review forgotten lessons

Maintain a fresh perspective

Skill builders
Design refresher

Billing suggestions

Dont forget its a business!

Successful
Practical

Marketing ideas

Maintain competitive stance

Growing

Software reviews

Avoid expensive mistakes

Keep up to date

Informed

Digital printing info

Keep informed

Trends

Figure 11-3 Brainstorm ideas for your newsletter using the Newsletter Title Planning
Worksheet, which can be downloaded from www.designtosellonline/11chap.html.

Accordingly, the next step is to experiment with titles that focus on specific markets or
approaches. Here are several options for the title that are more specific:
Appropriate if you want to focus on design techniques for
professional designers.

High-Impact Design

Appropriate if you want to target prospects located in corporate

environments or design firms serving corporate clients.

Corporate Design

Ideal for a newsletter targeting designers who serve the small

business market, or entrepreneurs turned designers.

Penny-Pinching Design

Good choice for a newsletter published by a consultant whose

clients are design firms interested in higher revenues.

Profitable Design

Carrying the idea of identifying a niche even further, here are some additional options:
Appropriate if your newsletter is going to focus on the technical
and design issues involved in four-color printing.

Four-Color Design

An ideal choice for a designer interested in using design as a tool

to visually differentiate firms from their competition.

Corporate Branding

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Each time you focus your newsletter, you become more valuable to a specific market
segment. In addition, the increased focus makes it increasingly easy to write and
produce each issue.
Fine-tuning your title Whenever possible, incorporate action words into your title.
Action words are verbs ending in ing. These action words give your title momentum.
They imply action and movement. Compare these two titles:
The Successful Consultants News
Successful Consulting

The first title does a good job of identifying its market, but it doesnt communicate
action. It projects a static image. It implies a third-person, after-the-fact analysis rather
than a first-person process. It lacks immediacy.
The second title is not only considerably shorter, but it implies an ongoing process.
It does a better job of communicating that readers will discover steps they can take to
become more successful consultants.
To make your title more memorable, try to incorporate repeated starting consonants in
your title. This literary technique is known as alliteration.
Consider the following two titles for a one-page newsletter for a presentation
consultant:
Presentation Tips
Persuasive Presentations

Which title is stronger? Which is more unique and memorable?

Chances are, you selected the second title. Presentation Tips does a good job of
identifying the contents of this newsletter, but the title just sits there on the page.
Theres nothing memorable about it.
Persuasive Presentations, however, is different. The repeated parallelism of the puh!
sound at the beginning of each word projects strength. The alliteration of the repeated
Ps makes it more likely that readers will remember the title.

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Newsletter titles succeed to the extent that they are short and to the point. There are
two reasons for this:
The shorter the title, the larger the type size you can use when
formatting the nameplate.

Short equals big.

The fewer words you use in your title, the easier it will be
for readers to glance at your title and understand it. Short titles are also easier to
say and easier to remember.

Short leads to memorable.

Plan to invest at least a few days in choosing the right title for your newsletter. The right
title will serve you well for years to come.

Developing an Editorial Calendar

The second planning step involves preparing a list of the topics of your first 12
newsletters. Choosing your monthly newsletter topics ahead of time makes them
easier to write. Knowing the topics youre going to cover, you can easily jot down ideas
for each issue well in advance of the time the issue is scheduled to appear. If you jot
down ideas as they occur to you, when its time to begin preparing each issue, youll
be pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of the work has already been done.
In addition, by frequently referring to your editorial calendar, your subconscious mind
will be thinking about upcoming topics while youre sleeping or doing other tasks.
Again, the benefit is that youll find it easier than you thought to prepare each issue.
Referring to your editorial calendar helps avoid deadline madness, when you dont
start work on your newsletter until the last minute. Identifying the topics of each issue
in advance helps you avoid being unpleasantly surprised.
You can use the Editorial Calendar Worksheet, shown in Figure 11-4, to create an
editorial calendar. The worksheet consists of a simple four-column table, with separate
columns for the month each issue will appear, the deadline for preparing it, the topic
or headline titleof the issue, and a growing list of content ideas that occur to you each
time you review the list.

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Editorial Calendar Worksheet

Issue

Due date Title

January

12/15

Networking for profits

Ideas
Advantages
Locating opportunities

Recommended books
February

1/15

Building a typeface library

Advantages
Resources
Core fonts
Luxury options

March

2/15

Preparing client proposals

S tandard terms
Services
Benefits

April

3/15

P ostcard marketing

Benefits
Resources

Reasons to send
May

4/15

Identifying problem clients

Importance

Warning signs
Extrication tips
June

5/15

Training opportunities

Online

Workshops
Trade-out for speaking
July

6/15

S oftware upgrades

Better sooner or later?

Printers suggestions
August

7/15

Buying a digital camera for the

business?

Buy or lease?

Rentals
Insurance
Accessories

Figure 11-4 Use the Editorial Calendar Worksheet, which you can download from
www.designtosellonline.com/11chap.html, to jot down ideas to be included in future issues.

Creating a One-Page Newsletter Template

Creating a one-page newsletter template saves you time and ensures that each issue will
project a consistent image. A successful template includes the following elements:
Creating and saving the nameplate as a
graphic, rather than simply setting the title as text in Publisher, protects the
nameplate from accidental changes and makes it easier to resize and place.
Creating your newsletter nameplate as a graphic also makes it easier to reuse
the graphic in other publications, such as business cards, postcards, and
advertisements.

Nameplate created and saved as a graphic.

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Reduces the
possibility that you might inadvertently drag or resize a text or graphical element
that should appear in the same ___location in each issue.

Front and back page repeating elements located on master pages.

Ensures fast, accurate, text formatting and

consistent appearance from issue to issue. In addition, using text styles makes
it easier for you to later delegate newsletter formatting to an assistant or to
someone else.

Text styles included in the template.

Creating a Nameplate Graphic

The graphic containing your newsletters nameplate can be created using the same
image editing software you use to resize and enhance photographs before importing
them into Publisher.
You can also experiment with setting the text and associated graphics, such as
horizontal rules above and below the title, in Publisher.
To create and save a graphic using Publisher:
1. Click File, New, and then click Blank Print Publication.
2. In your new, blank document click File, Page Setup. In the Page Setup dialog
box, select Custom in the Publication Type list, and then in the Width and
Height boxes, type the size of the graphic you want to create.
3. Create your nameplate graphic as desired.
4. When youve finished creating your graphic, click File, Save As. In the Save As
dialog box, type a descriptive file name, and then specify an appropriate File
Typefor example, EPS, TIF, or JPG.
5. Select the folder in which you want to save the graphic.
6. Before saving, click the Change button, change the resolution to Commercial
Printing (300 dpi), or dots per inch for printing, and then click OK.
Depending on how much space surrounds the graphic, you might want to crop the
graphic after you place it on the master page of the first page of your newsletter.

Creating Template Master Pages

The next step in creating a one-page newsletter template is to place text and
graphical elements that will appear in each issue on front and back master pages,
as shown in Figure 11-5.

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Figure 11-5 Front page text and graphical elements that remain unchanged from issue to
issue are placed on a master page, protecting them from unintentional movement or deletion.

Success comes from eliminating problems before they occur. By placing your nameplate graphic, tagline, logo, and graphical accents such as borders on master pages, you
can ensure that theyre less likely to be inadvertently moved or deleted.
Master pages should be formatted with baseline guides equal to the line spacing of the
body copy, to maintain text alignment across the page.

Entering Text Styles

The final step in creating a one-page newsletter template is to create the text styles youll
use. The Styles And Formatting task pane in Figure 11-6 shows text styles used for the
Active Health newsletter. You might be surprised to learn how many text styles are
included in a simple one-page newsletter.

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Figure 11-6
text styles.

A template for a typical one-page newsletter will contain about a dozen

This careful formatting makes the newsletters information hierarchy immediately obvious to clients and prospects glancing at the newsletter. The size and weight of each text
element should reflect the relative importance of the message it delivers. The headline,
for example, should be larger than the elaboration, which should be larger than the
body copy, which in turn should be larger than photo captions or client testimonials.
The paragraph formatting of each text style should indicate whether the baseline of text
should or should not align with the baseline guides.

Producing Each Issue

Two additional techniques you can use to simplify creating each issue are list-based
writing and writing to fit.

List-Based Writing
The starting point to completing each of your previously identified topics is to build on
the ideas you entered on your Editorial Calendar Worksheet.
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Youll want to create an expanded plan for each issue. This can be based on the
One-Page Newsletter Issue Planner, shown in Figure 11-7.

One-Page Newsletter Issue Planning Worksheet

Text element

Purpose

Content ideas

Length

Headline

Quickly communicate
topic benefit

Proposals that get

results

2 lines

Elaboration

E ngage readers
interest with more
information

Four steps to more

sales in less time

3 lines

Emphasize relevance

Most proposals dont

succeed

1 to 3
paragraphs

Introduction

Describe symptoms
Outline solution

Proposal writing takes a

lot of time
3-step structure gets
better results

Point 1

F irst supporting idea

Review clients major

concerns

2 to 3
paragraphs

Review the costs of not

taking action
Point 2

S econd supporting
idea

Review the benefits

youll help client obtain

2 to 3
paragraphs

Point 3

Third supporting
idea

Describe the steps

youll take and the costs

2 to 3
paragraphs

Tips, or Point 4

More information

Present a timeline based

on immediate
acceptance

Bullet list

Summary

Review topic
relevance

Review client conc erns

and benefits of
addressing them

1 to 2
paragraphs

Offer free consultation

Mention proposal
writing seminar

1 paragraph

Emphasize benefits
Call to action

How to learn more

Incentive for action

Figure 11-7 The One-Page Newsletter Content Planner, which can be downloaded from
www.designtosellonline.com/11chap.html, makes it easy to identify the points to cover in
each issue.

Using this worksheet, you can quickly and easily identify the necessary text elements of
your newsletter:
The headline should quickly communicate the topic of each issue and its
relevance to your customers and prospects.

Headline

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The elaboration should contain more information, further engaging the

readers interest.

Elaboration

The first paragraph of each newsletter should form a bridge between

your readers special interests and the information you are providing in each
issue. If your clients and prospects cant immediately understand the relevance of
the topic, they will not read any further. The introduction should also describe
the symptoms, or the costs, of the problem and outline a suggested solution.

Introduction

This supporting point can describe the first step toward a solution or describe
one aspect of the problem in greater detail.

Point 1

This supporting point introduces another main idea and its principal
characteristics.

Point 2

This supporting point introduces a third main idea, and describe its relevance
to the topic.

Point 3

Either describe a fourth idea in two short paragraphs or create a

bulleted list of ideas that point the way for further reading or action.

Tips, or Point 4

Conclude by reviewing the importance of this issues topic and its

relevance to your readers.

Summary

Describe the next step your customers and prospects should take to
learn more, apply the information you have presented to their business, or
request your assistance in taking further action. Be as specific as possible and,
when appropriate, include an incentive for immediate action, such as registering
for an upcoming seminar or teleseminar, downloading a report from your Web
site, or ordering a book.

Call to action

Procrastination is your enemy. Your goal is to encourage clients and prospects to take
immediate action.

Writing Each Issue to Fit

Completing each issue of your newsletter involves a simple three-step process:
1. Click File, New, select Templates in the New From a Design list, and then
double-click the file name of your one-page newsletter template.
2. Click File, Save As, and then save the file using a name that describes your
newsletters issue number, title, and the topic of the current issue.
3. Copy the headline, elaboration, and main ideas you entered in your One-Page
Newsletter Issue Planner into your one-page newsletter template, as shown in
Figure 11-8. Each of your main ideas becomes a subhead.

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Figure 11-8 Start each issue of your platform-building newsletter by transferring

information from your planning sheets to your newsletter template. Enter and format
each idea as a subhead.

After you have entered the headline, elaboration, and main ideas as subheads in your
newsletter, all that remains is to fill in the blanks with the words needed to introduce
the topic and describe each point in a paragraph or two, as shown in Figure 11-9.

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Figure 11-9 After entering your ideas as subheads, write a short introduction that
describes the relevance of the topic to your readers.

Its not necessary to complete each subhead in order. If you prefer, select the easiest
subhead to complete, then move on to the next easiest subhead, and so on. As you
complete the paragraphs needed to support each subhead, youll find that writing
becomes easier and easier. Soon, youve finished!
Conclude by summarizing the relevance and major points of the issue, and add a call
to action that describes what readers should do next.

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As you write, pay attention to the bottom of the second column on the back page. When
the Text In Overflow symbol appears, you know that you have written too much. You
will have to review your text, looking out for:
Unnecessary words.
Long words that can be replaced by short words.
Too many supporting points.
Sentences containing unnecessary detail.
Paragraphs that can be summarized in bulleted lists.

Finish by updating each issues volume and issue number on the front and back pages,
adding a pull-quote on the back that summarizes the most important idea on the
page, and entering client testimonials.

Editing and Distributing

Edit from the perspective that the purpose of your one-page newsletter is to build your
platform by positioning you (your firm or your client) as an authority, not to communicate every bit of information you know. Your goal is to promote your expertise, and
tease customers and prospects into contacting you to learn more.

Proofing
Edit from the perspective that the
purpose of your
one-page newsletter is to build your
platform by positioning you as an
expert in your field.

After checking the spelling and grammar in each issue, use Publishers Design Checker
to check for formatting and layout errors. Then print your document and read it out
loud.
Youll be surprised how many errors and rough spots youll notice in your printed
newsletter. Many find it easier to locate errors on a printed page than on screen. Its
even easier to locate awkward phrasing when you read your newsletter aloud. Word
combinations that look good to you might be difficult for your customers and prospects
to read.

Deciding How Many Copies to Print

Ideally, the majority of your one-page newsletters will be distributed electronically,
through your Web site or as e-mail attachments. Nevertheless, there are still many
circumstances in which you will want to be able to distribute printed copies of your
newsletter:
Always carry copies with you to distribute at networking meetings
such as Chamber of Commerce events or weekly meetings of your local business
networking groups.

Networking

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Include copies of previous issues with your proposals to subtly reinforce

your credibility.

Proposals

Get in the habit of mailing copies of your latest

newsletters to your A-list customers and prospects. Attach a personal note asking
them what they think of the issue.

Key customers and prospects

Distribute copies of previous issues at conventions, trade shows, and

special promotions.

Special events

Have copies of previous issues available in your office or

store. You can find numerous wall and countertop display options at local office
supply stories or stationery sources on the Web. One good source is PaperDirect
(www.paperdirect.com).

Point of sale distribution

Press

Maintain your visibility with business editors and writers in your local media as
well as with trade media serving your market. It takes just one favorable mention
to greatly enhance your visibility.
Keep your credibility and visibility high among bank loan
officers and key vendors by sending them copies, often with a personal note.

Lenders and vendors

Locate noncompeting firms that serve the same markets as you,

and explore ways you can work together to promote each other by distributing
newsletters and other marketing messages.

Affiliated marketers

As you review this list, estimate the numbers of copies youll need for each category.
The total will help you decide between printing copies as needed on your desktop
printer or using a commercial printer.

Online Distribution
Once created, you can save copies of your one-page newsletter in a variety of file formats
for electronic distribution, including:
Adobe PDF for Web site downloads and e-mail attachments.
Macromedia FlashPaper for immediate Web site display and printing (no need to

download).
Microsoft XPS, the file format for sharing formatted documents online in the

upcoming version of Microsoft Office, code-named Office 12.

For more information about creating PDF, FlashPaper, and XPS files, see the Adobe,
Macromedia, and Microsoft Web sites, respectively. Be guided by your markets
preferences as you choose your online distribution options.

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Many find that one of the major indications that their one-page newsletter is a success
is the improved Web site traffic they enjoy each month, when customers and prospects
visit their site to download each new issue.
In addition, their Web sites benefit from search engine traffic and from attracting repeat
visits by making copies of previous issues available online.

Recycling Each Issue

By focusing your one-page newsletters on educational topics, not only will each issue
enjoy a long shelf life, but the contents of each issue can also serve as the starting point
for additional marketing materials and fee-based products and services.
Marketing opportunities based on newsletter issues include:
Teleseminars and Web presentations that explore each topic in greater depth.
Speeches and presentations at networking events.
Special reports exploring topics in greater detail.
Articles and columns based on newsletters placed in local, regional, or trade

publications.
Articles syndicated to other publications, and through Web site portals that make

your work available to others, as long as you receive proper credit.

Interviews and referrals based on others seeing copies of your newsletters and

wanting to learn more.

Compilations of previous newsletters used as Web site registration incentives.

Additional Profit Opportunities

Many have found that their one-page newsletters form the basis for future sources of
income, including:
Fee-based seminars, speeches, workshops, or teleseminars.
Trade books and e-books, created by expanding each newsletter into its

own chapter.

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Using Tip Sheets to Further Promote

Your Expertise
Once you have created a one-page newsletter, you can carry the idea of promoting your
competence one step further by using tip sheets.

How Tip Sheets Differ from Newsletters

Tip sheets differ from newsletters in that they are shorter and more focused. Typically,
they are simple lists of ideas and techniques that help prospects and customers
perform a specific task or achieve a desired goal.
Tip sheets are great partners for one-page newsletters because they do not compete
with each other:
Newsletters are best at introducing new ideas to your market, exploring the

what and the why.

Tip sheets are more action-oriented, and focus on the how-to of doing

something.

Using Tip Sheets to Build Your Newsletters Circulation

You can use tip sheets as Web site registration incentives to build your one-page
newsletters circulation. There is a near-universal appeal to offers like:
Learn How to Buy
10 Questions to Ask When Buying
8 Things to Look for When Buying
12 Ways to Save on Your Next
8 Ways to Cut
6 Ways to Save Time When

Simple messages like these, describing how to obtain tip sheets, can be placed on the
back of your business card or on the home page of your Web site. You can also use
offers of tip sheets as the basis of pay-per-click search engine advertising campaigns that
can attract qualified prospects to your Web site, where they can subscribe to your
monthly one-page newsletter.

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Creating Tip Sheets

Once you have created the template for your one-page newsletter, youll find it easy to
create a template for a one-sided tip sheet. You can use the same basic format, based on
your original one-page newsletter template, as shown in Figure 11-10.

Figure 11-10 After completing your one-page newsletter, youll find it easy to create
your own tip sheet template, which you can use to create your first tip sheet.

In most cases, you wont have to make significant changes to the layout or text styles
originally created for your newsletter template. Some of the changes you might want to
make include:
Replacing the nameplate with a prominent headline and subhead.

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Chapter Eleven: Using Newsletters and Tip Sheets to Promote Your Expertise

Adding a byline to personalize the tip sheet.

Creating a title graphic for your tip sheet that visually relates it to your newsletter.
Numbering the subheads so that each introduces a tip.

Each tip sheet can include the same contact information, or you can customize the call
to action to fit each tip sheets topic. Figure 11-11 shows a finished tip sheet.

Figure 11-11 The finished tip sheet has its own identity but shares a strongand
desirablefamily resemblance with the newsletter.

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Publisher at
Work

Part Three:

Publisher at
Work

Design to Sell

Saving Money by Preprinting Colored Areas

If your logo or tip sheet graphic contains color, consider printing several months worth
of blank tip sheets, containing just the colored areas of the borders, tip sheet title
graphic, and your logo. To do this, create a file containing just the text and graphical
elements that remain the same on each tip sheet, such as your tip sheets logo, contact
information, and border elements. Then have your commercial printer print enough
sheets to supply you for the next several months.
You can then use the paper printed with colored logos and graphical accents in your
desktop printer. You simply print your black-and-white text in whatever quantities you
need!
This will cut costs and give you maximum flexibility to duplicate only those tip sheets
you need each month at minimum cost.

Summary
In this chapter, you learned how to efficiently create newsletters and tip sheets. These
make it possible for you to promote your expertise and distribute proof of it at minimum cost. The ideas presented in this chapter have helped firms and individuals
around the world promote their expertise and propel their firms, and their careers, to
new heights.
In the next chapter, youll learn how to create small ads that get results when placed in
directories, magazines, and newspapers. Youll also learn how to create ads to promote
your newsletters and tip sheets.

Test Yourself
Before proceeding further, visit www.designtosellonline.com/11chap.html, and review
the additional resources available there. Youll find:
A self-scoring assessment to test your understanding of new terms introduced in

this chapter.
Downloadable copies of ready-to-use planning worksheets that you can fill out by

hand or download as Word documents.

Additional examples of nameplates and sample newsletters.
Recommended online resources.

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