The Unspoken Art of Getting Attention: A Better Way to Upgrade Your Marketing Materials

When you're running a business, there's no such thing as free time. The emails don't answer themselves. The invoices pile up. And somehow, in between juggling operations and a personal life you vaguely remember, you're expected to whip up a marketing strategy that doesn’t make people’s eyes glaze over. The truth is, most marketing materials are created in the margins—five minutes before a meeting, late at night with a half-drunk cup of coffee. But even with limited time, you can make your materials better. Not by working harder, but by thinking smarter. Here’s how.

Stop Talking Like a Company, Start Sounding Like a Person
You already know the jargon. But your customer doesn’t care about “synergies” or “leveraging holistic solutions.” They want to know what problem you solve and why they should care. If your brochure reads like it was written by someone trying to impress a boardroom, it’s time for a rewrite. Use language your audience actually uses—straightforward, unpretentious, and real. Imagine you’re writing to one person, not a crowd. It makes a difference. Think about how you explain your product at a dinner party, not a conference.

Your Fonts Are Telling a Story—Make Sure It's the Right One
Nothing dates your marketing faster than a dusty font from another era. A brochure using Comic Sans or a storefront sign still clinging to Papyrus can send the message that your business is stuck in the past—even if everything else is sharp. Fonts carry tone, personality, and emotion, so using one that clashes with your brand’s voice can quietly undercut everything you're trying to say. To help with your design projects, intuitive online font-matching tools can simplify the task of identifying and updating tired typography before it costs you attention.

Your Visuals Are Saying More Than You Realize
Design isn’t decoration—it’s communication. If your layout looks like a 1997 website or a PowerPoint from your intern’s freshman year, it’s not helping you. Good visuals don’t have to be fancy. They just have to be clean, clear, and aligned with your message. Use consistent fonts and colors, leave enough white space, and don’t overdo it with stock photos. When in doubt, ask a graphic designer for a template you can reuse. Your brand deserves more than a Word doc with a logo slapped on top.

The Call to Action Can’t Be an Afterthought
This is where most marketing efforts quietly fail. You’ve got a strong headline, the message is clear, the design is sharp—and then your call to action is “Contact us for more information.” That’s not a call. That’s a whisper. Tell people exactly what to do and why. “Book a free consultation,” “Download your guide,” “Try it risk-free.” Make it easy. Make it tempting. Make it now. A great CTA is like the last line of a great joke—it sticks, and it gets results.

Email Templates Are Gold—Mine Them
You don’t need to start from scratch every time. Create a few go-to templates for emails, presentations, and social posts that you can customize on the fly. Think of it like mise en place for your marketing—you’re prepping ingredients so you can move fast when it counts. Keep your best-performing subject lines and copy saved somewhere easy to find. It’s not laziness; it’s efficiency. Great marketing isn’t about constant reinvention—it’s about smart repetition.

Feedback Is a Shortcut, Not a Detour
One of the fastest ways to improve your materials is to get real feedback. Not from your spouse. Not from your assistant. From a customer, a peer, or even someone in your target market who doesn’t know you. Ask them where they got lost, what they liked, what they didn’t get. Don’t defend your choices—just listen. Sometimes, a tiny tweak can turn something forgettable into something effective. Your audience knows what works for them. Let them help you help them.

Cut the Fluff Before You Hit “Send”
Before anything leaves your desk, read it out loud. If it sounds stiff, rewrite it. If there’s a sentence that doesn’t earn its keep, cut it. Attention spans are short, and nobody’s rereading your flyer with a red pen. Say what needs to be said, no more. A good test? If you removed your company name, would the copy still sound like you—or could it belong to anyone? Aim for marketing that’s unmistakably yours, not just “professional.”

You don’t need a Madison Avenue budget or a marketing degree to create materials that connect. You just need to respect your audience’s time, speak clearly, and keep things simple. If you can trade polish for personality, and clutter for clarity, you’ll stand out more than you think. Because the best marketing isn’t the most expensive—it’s the most human. And that’s something you can deliver, even on your busiest day.