Marketing Materials That Work

Creating Marketing Materials That Work

Your Marketing materials are an extension of you and your company ... How are yours working?

You can have a lot of fun creating Marketing materials for your business. It is an opportunity to work on a project that is not a spreadsheet, or a graph, or an order form. You can really get creative!

Your materials get distributed in the world to send out a message (or messages) about your company and what you offer. They are ambassadors for your business because they speak to your potential customers when you are not there.

As you probably know, it is easy to get carried away with Marketing collateral. You are surrounded by flashy, clever advertising everywhere you look, and when the time comes to create your own, you cannot help but feel that you must keep up with the Joneses.

Most of the time this does not work. You spend more money and see less impressive results. When I am Business Coaching, I show tested and proven strategies for simplifying and strengthening Marketing materials and teach focusing on the materials you need, not the materials you think you should have.

With my clients, I cover:

The Marketing materials you need - and the ones you do not

The mistakes you might be making now

The elements each piece of Marketing collateral should have

What you need to know about the design of your materials

What you need to know about testing, measuring, and making mistakes

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It is easy to want to match your competition piece by piece - but when you are trying to stretch your Marketing budget, focus on the materials you need.

Just because your competition has an eight-page, glossy color brochure, does not mean you need one to run a successful business.

When one brochure can eat your entire budget for Marketing materials, you must prioritize what is essential and what is just a "wish" or want. You need to make sure you are spending on the items that are going to bring in the most return on investment.

Your Marketing materials need to communicate your message to your target and motivate them to act. Do you really need a glossy brochure when black and white flyers will be just as effective? Think about this when making decisions about your Marketing items.

Make choices based on how your target audience prefers to receive information. Do they prefer paper newsletters, or electronic ones? Are they environmentally conscious, or technology savvy? Do they appreciate personal contact, or just need to see information in a newspaper? Remember, how you communicate is often just as or more important than what you communicate.

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In the end, the strength of your Marketing piece is in what you say and how you say it. Too often, flashy design gets in the way of the message, and opportunities are missed to attract a customer. Simple, clear Marketing materials deliver an easy-to-understand message to your target audience, and result.