September 2023


You’ve finished the proposal, and you think it looks great. Maybe you toiled to get it finished, or maybe you just slapped it together quickly. You submit the proposal, then… tumbleweeds!

Regardless of the path you took to document completion, the quality of the final output is what really matters in the eyes of the prospective client.

Poor design will repel. Good design will attract.

First things first

The way a document presents itself is arguably more important than the content. We say this because the visual aesthetic will be the first thing that gets noticed before any text is read.

Whether a reader is aware of it or not, the quality of a document’s visual aesthetic has a direct neurological impact on the brain. Neuroscientists have uncovered that upon viewing beautiful visual art, activity in the brain increases and can be felt in the form of reward and pleasure.

Taking this reaction into account, the presumption must then be made that the quality of a document’s visual aesthetic will likely have a direct impact on how engaged a reader will be with your document (because we want more of what feels good to us).

You risk disengaging the reader from the get-go if your visual aesthetic falls short.

Like all good second-place getters (Jessica Mauboy, Anthony Callea), the content is obviously the real star of the show. Good content is not just written well; it’s designed in such a way that the reader doesn’t struggle to consume the information.

Remember, people buy with their emotions, even in B2B scenarios. If your content and visuals are emotionally resonating with the audience, you are putting yourself in a position to increase the strength of your brand and the conversion of prospects into clients.

Getting cut-through

We are at a point in time where we’ve never been so impatient or time-poor when it comes to digesting visual and written content. We need to digest factual and useful information quickly and effortlessly.
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Businesses need their documents to draw in the audience upon first viewing. It is important for small to medium-sized businesses to engage and showcase a professional visual aesthetic through their outputs.

But before we get to outputs, we need to take a step back and look at what builds good brands.

Good brands are built on trust. Trust is built over a long period of time through consistent and recognisable interactions and touchpoints. Documents form part of these touchpoints and not only need to be visually engaging but also consistent.

Whether it’s tone of voice, grammar, diagrammatical cohesion, or overall visual aesthetic, in B2B communications you need to have clean, clear, and consistent communication for your audience to engage with. The alternative is chaos, which will disengage the reader and damage brand trust.

To achieve cut-through, you must engage the reader and deliver consistent brand experiences. First draw them in with the visual aesthetic, then hit them (politely and gently) with great content. Maintain a consistent brand experience for your audience, regardless of the channel of communication or delivery method.

Repel or attract – what are your documents saying?

Some things that will repel a reader in B2B communications are nonfactual, unstructured, disorganised, or cluttered documents.

Ask yourself: How might a client trust you to bring the right capabilities to the engagement if your documents scream ‘unprofessional’?

All is not lost.

There are steps that businesses can take to ensure their documents look professional and achieve cut-through. Below are the top four components that go into creating engaging and professional documentation:
1. Good visual brand aesthetic
2. Good content and content design
3. Good templates
4. Good execution

Good visual brand aesthetic

‍Before we get into the visual brand, it’s worth noting that a strong brand will have a brand strategy. Brand strategy acts as the guidepost and playing field for the execution of all brand touchpoints.

A good visual brand will be aligned with that strategy and will communicate the tone of voice using visual means. A good brand ecosystem will have a logo, colour palette, typography, motion (video and animation), and graphic elements that form the visual language.

The goal of your visual branding is to create an emotional connection between the client and the brand. Consistent and sustained exposure to good branding will develop brand trust and recall in the mind of the consumer. With enough brand trust and recall, your brand develops a social value known as ‘brand equity’.

Good content

As previously touched on, the content is the real star of the show.

Good content is not just written well; it also needs to be ‘content designed’, so that the information is communicated in the best way possible. Content design takes a customer-centric approach to the conveying and uptake of messaging. If done effectively, it will influence the reader.

In addition, consistency with tone of voice and grammar is something that is vital in building engagement and trust with potential clients, especially in professional services. An inconsistent writing style will repel a reader.

Good templates

Well-designed templates and branded assets are the cornerstone of operational efficiency and visual brand delivery. Templates can be set up for your brand to provide efficient outputs and powerful outcomes based on your specific needs as a business.

In addition, a robust template ecosystem will facilitate pre-existing content, graphics, and any other reusable content to be easily retrieved and used in documents. This will make compiling documents much quicker and easier, and it will also keep your brand tight.

Good execution

Cleanliness and consistency will go a long way towards the good execution of B2B documentation.

The reader doesn’t need to be entertained by over-the-top whizz-bang graphics, nor do they want to work hard to absorb their content by sifting through cluttered pages devoid of white space or hierarchy.

The reader wants to feel confident in the capabilities of the organisation and the individuals they will be working with. They want to feel assured and respected through any exposure to branded communication or interaction.

This can all be achieved through a great visual aesthetic, content design, templates, and execution.

Conclusion

As a good rule of thumb, if your document says ‘unprofessional’, ask yourself what this says about your chances of success.

We all want to have documentation that engages the reader and increases our persuasion conversion rates. And we want to be proud of the work we do.

Exploring, diagnosing, and closing any gaps in your firm’s documentation ecosystem will go a long way towards attracting the right clients and prospering into the future.

You don't have to be a good designer to produce good design outputs. You just need to be set up for success.