A closer look shows how color, type and utility can engage readers
I told you recently about the Vote4Energy ad campaign and asked if energy marketers are the masters of their domain. Despite our quibble over domain name registration, a closer look at its website reveals some great principles for other energy marketers to emulate.
In case you missed it, Vote4Energy.org aims to educate voters about the energy issues at stake this year. For more background information on the campaign sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, go here.
Four best practices that stood out to me.
- Design, type and color matter when sharing your online message. In this case, the soft blue-and-yellow color scheme along with the cursive font present a blue-collar, grassroots feel. There’s no mention of oil companies, using color, logos or imagery anywhere on the site. By design, there’s no hint of any oil companies
Yes, powerful images and words from a skilled marketing writer are important. But the right color scheme, contrast and fonts work together behind the scenes to make your message pop.
(Go here for more tips on website color.)
2. Don’t just talk to your audience – engage them. In addition to using traditional newspaper, radio and television media, the campaign recognizes the need to get the social conversation started. To do that, very prominent Facebook and Twitter buttons are visible at the top of the site.
One thing to remember. Social media conversation requires interaction from both sides. For at least 24 hours after the launch of Vote4Energy, its Facebook page remained empty. After four items were posted on Jan. 5, the page has remained inactive. Even the Twitter account has only posted 10 tweets since Jan. 3. Don’t expect anybody to stay in your social media community if you it’s a ghost town.
Go here for a great read on social media best practices.
3. The infographic: The Vote4Energy campaign appears to recognize the reading habits of the average Internet user and incorporates three cleanly designed infographics at the bottom of its site. Fonts are clean, readable and incorporate the same color scheme of the entire site. API recognized that a minimalist infographic would be much more effective than a long essay on energy issues.
This link provides a detailed review on infographic best practices.
4. Utility is everything. The clean site allows users to focus on information important to them down to a state level. It tells who their elected representatives are, what their energy track record is and how they can get involved.