What to do First
How to Develop Effective Marketing Materials
What I am about to tell you in the next paragraph is advice that can save you thousands of dollars and result in smoother and more effective marketing results. When I tell you what it is, you may think it simpleminded or obvious. But I promise you that is a valuable exercise, well worth doing.
Write a description of your company in which you describe the business you are in and your customers. Tell why customers should do business with you and describe your edge over your competition. Keep re-writing until your description is as short and as clear as you can make it.
This document then becomes the “official description” of your company. It is the touchstone that you will use to create your marketing materials. Committing your company description to writing and conforming all future writing is an efficient way to assure uniformity of message across all your sales and marketing literature.
Here is a list of some materials you can develop to distribute your marketing messages:
- Advertisements (Print / Internet / TV / Radio)
- Brochures (sales and capability)
- Case Studies
- Sales Support
- Training Manuals
- Corporate or product video
- Direct Mail or Email
- Presentations
- Sell Sheet
- Fact Sheet
- Flyer
- Catalog
- Statement (or Invoice) Stuffer
- Annual Reports
- Booklets (pamphlets)
- Web Site
- Public Relations (Press releases, articles for publication)
What marketing literature do you need?
The answer to this question varies widely depending upon the nature of your business. If you are a computer consultant, you probably will have a website, a brochure and possibly an informational booklet. If you sell computer systems, you will need a brochure but you will probably also find it valuable to have case studies of installations showing how your system helped the customer be more productive. If you sell hot sauce over the internet, you will need some kind of a catalog. If you operate a restaurant, you may find it worthwhile to run local ads. If you are in charge of fund raising for a museum or cultural institution you will likely be using direct mail. It all depends. The first step is to plan your marketing campaign and to determine the marketing materials you need.
More to come: This website is a work in progress. If you have questions about how to position yourself for more business, email me details so I can make suggestions, which can then be shared with all our visitors. Using “live projects” for models should make the discussions more compelling and helpful.