Here’s a portion of an email I received from a nonprofit last year. I’ve changed the name of the organization and its location.
What I want you to notice Is how many things are visually emphasized using bolding:
There’s an old adage that says, “when you emphasize everything, you’ve emphasized nothing.” I think that’s true here. So many things are important that I don’t know what’s important!
Here’s the thing: when you choose what to emphasize, choose carefully. Here are the rules I live by.
And remember that, when you choose what to highlight for readers, you are giving your beneficiaries a gift. By generously curating the two or three most important ideas for your readers, you make your fundraising more accessible and easy to understand quickly.
And by making your fundraising more accessible and easy to understand quickly, you increase how many people donate – which means you can do more of your mission work to help your beneficiaries.
Steven Screen is Co-Founder of The Better Fundraising Company and lead author of its blog. With over 30 years' fundraising experience, he gets energized by helping organizations understand how they can raise more money. He’s a second-generation fundraiser, a past winner of the Direct Mail Package of the Year, and data-driven.
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
One comment on “Overuse of Emphasis”