Tips for creating professional stylish promotional material

First impressions are everything. As a small business owner you know the importance of marketing your service or product in order to see your revenue grow.

Promotional flyers and brochures are a great way to get the attention of your target audience, and with the right tools you can create them yourself.

Follow these tips to make the most out of your efforts:

Starting Out

Before you switch on your computer to start ‘creating’ your marketing items, there are a few essential things to think about:

Who are you talking to?

If you don’t know exactly who you are targeting then you could be wasting a lot of time and money. Look at your database of customers or potential customers and decide who this particular piece of marketing will work for, then create it with them in mind.

For example if you’re targeting mature women you should use soft, classic colours. If you’re targeting families you should use bright, playful colours. By appealing to them aesthetically, you are more likely to persuade them with your message.

What message do you want to get across?

Before you start you must have a clear picture in your head of your message. Know what you want your customers to do and ensure your marketing material matches it without any grey areas. If you’re unsure of what the take-out is, then how will your customers know what you want them to do?

Why should they do what you say?

This final point is to ensure you include something compelling and influential to spur them into action. Why should they trust you? Why choose you above a competitor?

If you’re an established business you could use testimonials to influence. If you’re just starting out, then incentivise in other ways – a special offer, money-back guarantee etc.

Then once you’ve got each of those points clear in your mind, you’re ready to move on to the creation stage.

Creating your promotional item

It’s important that your promotional material doesn’t look cheesy. You want to portray a professional image that represents your business well. The items need to be clean with clear branding. Including a logo, colours, the right tagline and fonts that represent your company well.

Layout and images

The layout should be easy to read ensuring the key points stand out. Let’s face it, how many times have you thrown leaflets away without reading them because the message hasn’t jumped out at you immediately? Even if you are offering the most amazing deal, if your message isn’t jumping out then that flyer is likely to end up in the bin.

Next we’re on to the images. Don’t forget, a picture speaks a thousand words, so make sure you use a strong image that supports your message. It’s recommended to use one large image than lots of smaller ones. But if it’s important to use smaller images, then group them together so they feel like one entity.

And finally – the font. Don’t use lots of different fonts, it’ll just make the text harder to read. If you want key words to jump out, highlight them using bold or italics. But remember, not every word is key, so highlight only when absolutely necessary.

Write persuasively

Starting with the headline. This is the first impression you will make, so you need to be able to capture your readers attention otherwise they may not continue reading.

8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

So the better your headline, the more chance you have of ensuring your customers read on.

As Copyblogger CEO Brian Clark brilliantly puts it: “Remember, every element of compelling copy has just one purpose — to get the next sentence read. And then the sentence after that, and so on, all the way down to your call to action. So it’s fairly obvious that if people stop at the headline, you’re already dead in the water.”

Therefore do just that. Write one sentence at a time making each one count.

You’ve already pinpointed who you’re targeting, so make sure you write with them forefront of mind. Who are they? How much time do they have? What would make them act? And always write to them, not in the 3rd party.

Incentivise

So your promotional item is looking great now. Your text is informative and persuasive. The imagery reflects your key message, and your branding is apparent. The last thing to consider is an incentive.

Nowadays social media has made it much easier for customers to be in the driving seat and get the most bang for their buck. By offering a time-limited incentive to them personally, you are more likely to drive a sale.

Tell them what to do, when to do it and by complying they’ll receive this amazing offer. You may not get each one converting into a sale, but you will increase your chances.

Finalising and printing

After all the hard work and effort you’ve put in to the look, feel and content, don’t throw it all away by printing on cheap stock.

Use a glossy high-end stock for customers, or if it’s businesses you’re targeting then a good, heavy stock will work well.

And that’s it!

But of course I know that small business owners like you have a million and one things to do.

So if you don’t have the time, or you don’t have an eye for design, or quite simply you don’t have the inclination to create your promotional items, get in touch with a Virtual Assistant who will be able to do it for you.