| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
Take the Test: Do Your Marketing Materials Really Grab Attention?
Today's constant bombardment of marketing messages means your materials must grab your prospects attention in the first few seconds, or your efforts are wasted. How do you know if your marketing materials will prompt prospects to keep reading? Take this simple test: hold each of your marketing pieces at arm's length and answer the following questions: 1. Got white space? If your materials look crowded, add white space by increasing the sides, top or bottom margins. Try adding extra blank spaces between each section so the information is more readable. You should also add headlines to break up the text. Consider editing your copy and eliminating wasteful graphics to gain even more space. Too much white space pushes prospects away just as much as when there is too little. To make sure prospects give your piece more than a glance, add meaningful content or graphics to keep prospects reading. 2. Do the graphics really pertain to what you're selling? Include graphics with meaning and get rid of the rest. Effective graphics should either further the prospect's understanding of your products and services or provide additional information necessary to the buying decision. They should not push the prospect away from the selling process by acting as fillers without meaning. Consider adding illustrations, diagrams, or happy customer photos to keep things meaningful. 3. Are the headlines readable? Reading sales literature is just like reading the newspaper - most readers scan the headlines to determine if they'll continue reading the rest of the article. If you cannot clearly see your piece's headlines at arm's length, you need to make the font bigger. Typically, marketing materials use at least a 14 point bold Arial or Helvetica font for headlines and an 11 or 12 point Times or Times New Roman font for the content that follows. 4. Where's your contact info? If you can't find your contact info within 1-2 seconds, prospects won't find it either. Whether you want prospects to call, email, or write you, provide your contact information on every single side of your marketing materials, and make sure it stands out from the rest of the content. Incorporate these ideas into your materials, add meaningful, benefit, sales-oriented copy, and prospects will use your materials for their true purpose - to express interest in what you're selling. Nancy J. Wagner of Cut to the Chase Marketing is a speaker, writer, and marketing strategist who helps small businesses increase their sales with effective marketing materials and websites. Download her free 9-step marketing plan at http://www.CutToTheChaseMarketing.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Top 10 Dos and Donts for an Effective Business Referral Network! Every business - particularly small, entrepreneurial or professional businesses - must have a powerful referral network. It is very unlikely (and terribly expensive) to "advertise your way to success". Top 5 Kick Butt Marketing Requirements Cinch your success with 8-second leaders! Step into the saddle and ride to the buzzer - but first, get outfitted for success. Some things are necessary to have on hand in order to be prepared for coming out of the chute. Who Is Your Market and Where Are They? An important part of planning your business is to know who will use your products/services.The vast majority of small businesses will rely on their communities for sales. T.E.A.M Profit As you network and meet other business owners,keep this philosophy in mind:"Together Everyone Achieves More Profit"Remember this when you meet someonewith a business that serves your target market.Think about how each of you can work together to achieve more and grow your businesses. Thinking About More Business What does an old Russian joke have to do with getting new business? Did you increase your business in the past 12 months? Don't discriminate between more new clients or old clients spending more money--count the increase either way. If you didn't, you really should be asking yourself why not. 10 Tips to Grow Your Business Plain & Simple "Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value." Albert EinsteinRecently I heard a statistic that the majority of businesses operate at 60% of their potential. Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content Offering free and exclusive content to ezine publishers and webmasters is one of the best ways you can increase exposure for your products and services. There are several effective methods you can use to employ this marketing tactic and subsequently boost your sales. Four Keys For Successful Foundation and Corporate Fundraising Earlier in my career, I worked for a training and technical assistance service provider with significant revenue from foundations and corporations. What was the key to success? It was targeted fundraising based on the needs of the donors. A Seven Letter Word That Helped a 3 Month Marketing Newbie to Online Success Who would have thought that a three month newbie and marketing dummy with no list, no product, no contacts, can actually make money online? Me neither.I had no idea what to do, how to do or why. Fertilizer For Your Grassroots Marketing Looking for a great way to drive traffic to your business? No million dollar ad budget last time you checked? The solution may be to harness the power of grassroots marketing.Grassroots marketing is simply taking the unconventional approach to getting people interested in what you offer. Boost Your Business With Testimonials When used correctly, testimonials can boost your response dramatically. They help build the prospect's perception of believability, stability, honesty, and value in your product or service. Off The Shelf Software for Making Business Lists Available to all small businesses are business lists, which come on CD ROMs. This off the shelf business list software can help you in your small business. Painless Marketing for People Who Hate to Market Face it?you know you've got to do something to keep a steady stream of clients coming to your professional service firm. But when it comes to the m-word (marketing), you'd rather not. Increase New Customer Traffic to Your Business One person tells another, who tells another, who tells another and so on. You get the idea. Customers: The Key To Successful Marketing How well do you know your customers?What is the primary reason your customers or clients come to you? Or purchase your product or service? What is the Number One problem you solve for them? Do you know? Are you certain? If you don't, your marketing could be missing the mark, and you could be missing out on sales.Uncovering Your "Key Selling Point"This is the Single Marketing Message that is the central message in all of your communications about your business, product or service. Marketers VS Consumers Predators VS Prey The distance between marketing consultants and the real world can truly be mind boggling. When a marketing consultant tells someone to send out 10,000 postcards in order to get a 3% response rate and that the actual sales will be something less than that . Network Marketing Is Definitely A Relationship Business Heavily branded websites like amazon.com are household names andcarry an implied trust with visitors. Customer Lifetime Value - The Key To Maximizing Your Profits! The greatest asset to your business is your Customer, specifically, your Customer Lifetime Value.In my many years in Sales and Marketing, I've met many CEOs and business owners who don't have much clue as to what Customer Lifetime Value is, much less its importance and the impact it has on their bottomline. How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 3 To read the beginning of this special report, you can read part two here: http://ezinearticles.com/?id=58712Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are involved in "popcorn marketing":2. The Death of Product Packaging as We Know It. It used to be you that if you had a great product you put it in a package and voila! . .
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
Comment by George C. Leef, Director of Research