24. Education Can Be Creative: Formatting the Standard “10 Tips” Article to Convey Professionalism and Authority

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TheHangline.com strives to educate people on effective billboard advertising. The new blog provided a great resource on the subject, but editors Todd Turner and Chad Hutchison wanted to go beyond the usual billboard advice (“use bright colors”). They then came up with a blog post called “The 10 Commandments of Outdoor Advertising.” “Our article is written candidly and boldly,” says art director Turner. “We call them commandments because people should not waiver from them. If you do, you fail.”

Why It Works

First, the tips are smart, and they include examples that broke the commandments, which are good for a laugh. “Thou Shalt Not Use Irrelevant Images” states: “Your dog doesn't belong on a billboard just because you think he's cute.” Then it shows a billboard with not only a dog, but also two real estate agents. By using negative examples, the post gets its point across.

The post uses attractive decorative fonts and divider lines to make each tip easy to read. The post was so successful that TheHangline.com designed a poster of the commandments, available for sale on its site, as well as a free downloadable PDF.

The content was valuable enough to drive traffic and encourage people to share the post. The tie-in to the poster sale was effective in that it wasn't overbearing. ...

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