Episode 4 of “The Apprentice (Season 5)” revealed one lesson that is applicable to my past projects.  A lesson that most marketers lose sight of at some stage.

Lesson: Keep It Simple Silly! (KISS!)

How many times have you wanted to keep adding details-after-details onto your eCover only to find that your design is too cluttered.  Or times when your email campaign get low click-through-rate?

Well, if you have experienced this … then relook at your promotion materials.  Most probably you have made it overly complicated.  Your message had been lost in the process.

As the old wise saying goes … ”less is more”!  Keep it simple.

Anyway back to this show.

In this episode, each team had to design a billboard for the new Post Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch. The Post executives would judge the winner by the appeal and delivery of the message on those billboard.  You can see the final billboard design at the end of this post (and ask yourself which one sells .., and you’ll know why this lesson is important).

Below is what I found to be relevant lesson to our online business.  Avoid the mistakes and model after the effective methods.

1. “Gold Rush” did the following right this round:

They analyzed the market and came up with 1 simple message - ”Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch” is so good that you can eat it on its own.  Hence, their design only focus on 1 message which works for them.

Lessons here is - Whether you are writing your sales copy or your email campaign, always aim to have only 1 goal.  Either get your visitors to buy or to click-through.   Nothing else matters.

1. “Synergy” did the following wrong this round:

Their tagline was too long and the overall design looks cluttered.  There were too many words, fonts and colours.

Lessons to take away from this, remember always that “less is more”!

In the end, “Gold Rush” team won this round.  The execs felt that Synergy’s banner was too complex for a billboard, but they thought that Gold Rush’s was “brilliant.”

The results after this episode was “Gold Rush” - 2 and “Synergy” - 2

Above are the main lesson that I noted in this episode that is relevant to Marketers and Infopreneurs. Tuned in next week for my review of the next episode.

Picture from this official site.

Related postings:

• My Compilation “The Apprentice” Lessons
• Lesson 1 - Creating Successful Buzz
• Lesson 2 - Location, Location, Location
• Lesson 3 - Have A Theme And A Plan B

To Your Success,
Keith Choy

Tag: the apprentice, integration marketing, internet marketing