This is simply a business card size “mini flyer”. So now, as the client takes her posters and puts them all around town to promote her haunted house, she also leaves a stack of these business cards that people can pick up and use to get a discount.  So not only are they being exposed to the poster itself, they also can pick a few of these flyers up, (maybe even give one to a friend).  This way all the information leaves with them – they now have incentive to keep the card, as it will save them money – and it will be a great reminder as they come across it again in their pocket or purse. Obviously, the more times someone is exposed to your information, the more likely they will convert to becoming a customer.  My client. being a very savvy marketer, loved the idea – a win win for everyone!

Simplicity involves the “KISS” rule.  Keep It Simple Stupid, (which my good friend digitalmarketingdiva covered in her recent blog in regard to digital marketing here.)

Think carefully about what you need to say and trim your copy down to the bare essentials – you are not trying to tell your whole story here, you are just giving enough of the facts to get them to contact you or attend your event.  PLEASE, I BEG YOU, resist the idea to put in more than one piece of clip art or use more than two different fonts.  This is a common mistake inexperienced designers make.  It seems more “designerish” to use lots of different elements – don’t do it.  One large piece of art is much preferred over several small. I would generally avoid borders also, they tend to close things in and make them look cramped.  (Think of how you feel when you walk in a house with vaulted ceilings, as opposed to low ceilings, see?)

People read from top to bottom and left to right.  Decide what is most important and put that at the top and make it bigger.  Decide what is next important and put that next.  Then put your artwork in.  Whatever is left to say, try to make smaller and put it at the bottom.  This composition is just a general rule of thumb, and you can play around with variations.

Small print is okay, if you can capture their initial interest it is more likely people will become intrigued and will look for more information.  Usually you will put this at the bottom.  Here (left) is a good example of a great simple poster.  It is eye catching and has some white space (breathing room).  On the right is a good example of a bad example.  Too busy, too many pictures, too many fonts, and poor composition.

Which one catches your eye?