If you want your marketing to work, you need to embrace this fact and adapt. Here’s how you can dramatically boost the effectiveness of your marketing, without changing a single word—just by changing how it looks.

People Are Skimmers—So Write for Skimmers

Think about your own habits online. Do you read every word, or do you scan for the bits that stand out? Your customers do the same. They read what’s big and bold. They skip dense paragraphs and small text.

If you want your key messages to land, you need to make them impossible to miss.

Formatting: Your Secret Weapon

The size, boldness, and style of your text can make or break your marketing. Here’s what works:

- Bold key messages and benefits
- Italics for emphasis
- CAPITALISATION for important points
- Underlining to draw the eye
- Use bullet points and numbered lists for clarity
- Highlight or shade backgrounds for standout sections
- Increase font size for headlines and main offers
- Use boxes or circles to call out guarantees or bonuses

Your goal: Make your main points jump off the page, so even the fastest skimmer gets the message.

Example: Which Paragraph Works Harder?

Compare these two ways of presenting the same offer:

Paragraph 1 (Plain):  
The Profit Accelerator is the ONLY programme of its kind that comes with a fully-fledged DOUBLE your money back guarantee! Come on board, work with your Personal Trainer, implement your Plan, and we guarantee that you will, as a minimum, get back at least double your investment in additional gross profits within the first 12 months – and if you haven’t then we’ll make up the difference and double it for you! That’s how confident we are. We’re literally putting our money where our mouth is!

Paragraph 2 (Formatted):  
The Profit Accelerator is the ONLY programme of its kind that comes with a fully-fledged DOUBLE your money back guarantee! 
Come on board, work with your Personal Trainer, implement your Plan, and we guarantee that you will, as a minimum, get back at least double your investment in additional gross profits within the first 12 months – and if you haven’t, we’ll make up the difference and double it for you!  
That’s how confident we are. We’re literally putting our money where our mouth is!

Even when skim reading, the second version makes the offer crystal clear.

A Simple 3-Step Formatting Process

Want to make your marketing more effective right away? Here’s a practical process you can use for any email, sales letter, or landing page:

Step 1:  
Copy and paste your message into a Word document. Make all the text the same font, size, and style—plain and neutral.

Step 2:  
Highlight, bold, underline, or capitalise ONLY the words and phrases that convey your main point, benefits, and offer.

Step 3:  
Delete the rest of the text.  
If what’s left still gets your message across, you’re on the right track. If not, go back and refine until your key points stand alone.

Tip: Don’t overdo it. Too many bold or highlighted words create “visual noise” and make your message harder to read.

Embrace the Skim-Read

Your prospects will skim. Prepare for it. Embrace it. Use formatting to guide their eyes to what matters most.

Next time you write anything to your prospects, make sure your key points are bold, capitalised, italicised, underlined—whatever it takes to make them stand out.

Formatting isn’t just about making things look pretty. It’s about making your marketing work harder for you, so more people actually see—and act on—your offer.

Ready to put this into action? Try it on your next email or web page and see the difference. If you’d like more practical marketing tips tailored for trade businesses, get in touch—I’m here to help you grow.