Show <em>and</em> tell.  Sure you can just show, or you can just tell, but believe me, doing both will be more effective. I promise.

What makes me even write about this? Well, it turns out I am in the market for some dining room furniture, and have been looking through Craigslist to see if I can find anything appropriate and within budget. In any case, I have come across a great many postings that say something like this:

Like new dining room set with 6 chairs, extension leaf. Contemporary style.

But there is no picture. No picture for me to see if I like the style or the color or anything. You have to have a picture if you want to sell a dining room set...or anything else that people buy based on looks!

<strong>Tell, and show.</strong>

Showing alone doesn't do the trick either. Some people (and many of these are marketers who paid lots and lots of money for a fine looking website/brochure/advertisement) think fancy graphics and beautiful design will compensate for a lack of content.

No. No. No.

A potential client was telling me she was looking for "sexy" copy to relaunch her website. I asked her if she could point to websites in her field that she deemed to be "sexy." She sent me to a much more attractive website than hers. But guess what, the content was just as deadly dull and meaningless as hers. It just looked better (ok, much better).

<strong>Show, and tell.</strong>

Pretty but empty does not sell your product or service. People need information--both visual and intellectual--to make a buying decision.