Back to work…time to refresh your marketing toolkit?

Having a strong marketing toolkit in place is a crucial asset for a sales team. It is vitally important if you want to set your business apart from your competitors and keep at the forefront of your market – particularly in the current economic climate.

Through a variety of media, and if done right, a marketing toolkit can quickly communicate the key benefits of your business, product or service to a prospective customer. It can also help to build your credibility and expertise in a visually compelling way.

But how ready are you to go back out there and start selling your business? Do you have the right marketing tools in place to help you open the right doors, make the right impression, and ultimately drive more sales?

First things first, what media should you include in your toolkit?

Every business is different. It depends on your market, product or service, sales tactics and strategic marketing approach. As a starting point, here are some ideas:

• Corporate brochures
• Product catalogues
• Sales presentations
• Case studies
• White papers
• Technical product specifications
• Product and service collateral
• Newsletters
• Proposals
• Infographics
• Blog posts
• E-books
• Landing pages
• Branded content
• Animations and videos

With all of these, it is important to consider how you will reach out to your audience and engage with them in the most effective way. With the restrictions many businesses have been under over the past 6 months due to the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of emphasis has been placed on digital media and communications, so you need to consider this when scoping out what to include in your marketing toolkit.

Top tips to consider when putting your marketing toolkit together:

• Tell your business story in compelling way. Keep it concise, to the point and coherent across all your media.
• Articulate your USP in a straightforward way. Make it obvious what makes your business, product or service stand out – and what you are selling.
• Use consistent messaging and avoid industry jargon and complicated language. The exception to this would be a white paper or technical product information.
• Make sure your brand and visual style are used correctly and consistently across all your marketing channels. Use the right images, fonts, colours, styles and language.
• Less is more and don’t be afraid to use visuals, infographics and images to do the talking. They create more impact and are visually engaging, particularly across digital media.
• It’s important to consider all types of media, online and offline, when putting together what items you need to include in your marketing toolkit.
• Think about your audience and keep them at the forefront when developing each element of your toolkit. How will they receive or see the information? What’s important to them? How can they respond?
• And, last but not least, include a variety of ways your customers can contact you and make sure you have clear call to actions.

If you need help in putting your marketing toolkit together, get in touch with Samantha Vassallo. More information on our website www.horizonworks.co.uk

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