All Marketing Ideas

1.       Keep it interesting.  Obviously, your readers are not going to like your newsletters much if you throw in a bunch of junk material.  Make sure you use fresh and interesting content in each and every newsletter printing campaign that you send out. 

2.       Write short articles.  While all of your newsletter content must be interesting, it also should be short.  The simple fact is that most people have very short attention spans, especially when it comes to advertising literature.  Write short, interesting articles that your readers can digest quickly.

3.       Use some interesting visuals.  As important as the words are within your newsletters, the visuals are just as important.  Add some visually stimulating images that will attract the readers.  Be careful not to overdo it, though.  Too many images will simply overwhelm your readers.

4.       Organize your newsletters.  Make sure you design your newsletters in an organized format.  Use headings and subheadings, lines and bulleted lists.  Keep everything structured.  If you allow your content to look disorganized, it will confuse your readers and make you look unprofessional.

5.       Utilize lists.  Bulleted lists are easy for the reader to see and read.  If you can put some of your content into list form, it will really stand out to your readers.

6.       Offer free advice.  If you can add in some advice for your customers, and make it relate to your company in some way, your newsletters will be more effective.  People like to read things that help them improve some area of their lives.  This is especially true if you can offer money making advice.  That is always in demand.

7.       Make white space your friend.  A lot of businesses try to fill up every millimeter of available space when they design their newsletters.  Do not make this mistake.  White space is what makes the pages readable, so do not be afraid to leave plenty of white space in there.  Leave some room between all of the portions of your newsletters, and it will be much easier to read.

8.       Calendars are nice.  If you can add some type of calendar to your newsletter, it will make it more useful for your readers.  If you write a monthly newsletter, simply throw in a month-long calendar and list business related events on it.  Many of your readers will use the calendar for their own purposes, meaning your newsletter will be looked at quite often.

9.       Don’t forget the offers.  Every one of your newsletter issues should include some kind of benefit for your readers.  Include a special offer or a coupon or something that will make reading the newsletter worth their while.

It’s easy to get carried away when it comes to advertising.  As business owners, we want to put as much information as we possibly can into every piece of marketing material that we produce.  But that can be dangerous and, even worse, counterproductive.

I am going to run through some of the most common forms of advertising literature, and explain why simplicity is so important for each one of them.

Brochure Printing

Yes, brochures are expected to be packed full of information.  But it is very easy to overdo it.  Try to focus on just one or, at most, two aspects of your business that you are trying to convey to your target customers.  If you are trying to get the word out that your prices are better than those of your competitors, keep the emphasis of your brochures on that topic.  Do not stray into a lot of other areas, and keep the design of the brochure relatively uncomplicated, too.

Postcard Printing

Postcards are nifty little tools because they are ready to mail and you can really do a good job of reaching target customers with them.  However, because there is not a whole lot of room on a postcard, it is especially important to keep things simple.  Do not try to add too much information to your postcards.  Be straight and to the point.  Customers can be quickly overwhelmed by too much advertising info, so be careful not to do that to them.

Business Card Printing

Now, it is a good idea to make business cards that stand out from the crowd and look unique.  But, at the same time, avoid giving the customer information overload at all costs.  It is fine to have a somewhat outrageous business card design, but keep the content on them to a minimum.  At most, they should display your business name, personal name, and a few forms of contact information.

Media Ads

For this, I am talking about radio and television ads.  If you can afford to run an ad like this, you certainly do not want to waste that money by overloading your listeners or watchers with too much information.  Again, pick one of two aspects that you are trying to emphasize with your advertisement, and stick with them.  Television watchers will quickly ignore a commercial that tries to do too much.

No one buys anything from a person or business he doesn’t trust. You wouldn’t buy a car from a dealer you thought was ripping you off, or from a salesperson who you thought wasn’t being honest with you, right?

Most people have always gone into a skeptical mindset when they make big-ticket items, like televisions and cars, but that skepticism is leaking into smaller purchases too. With all of the hyped-up advertising, with promises that can’t be delivered, you can’t really blame consumers for being cautious.

It’s precisely this reason that you need to use marketing techniques that put customers’ minds at ease. Here are a few ways to get trust from your customers, which is a first step to making any sale:

Testimonials
People believe what other customers have to say about you and your product more than they’ll believe what you have to say.

Using testimonials in your catalogs, brochures and other marketing materials is what will convince people that your product is the best, that it works and that it won’t break.

Get testimonials by asking customers what they liked about your product or service and how it helped them. Ask if you helped them solve a problem – these kinds of benefit testimonials work especially well. Write down their comments, and get their written permission to use them. It helps if you offer a discount or something valuable in exchange for their time. But, be sure you get the testimonial before you offer the discount or you might be called out for bribing your customers!

Write articles to establish yourself as an expert
Writing free articles for your local newspaper or magazine can be a great source of getting trust from the community. Write about what you know – your industry or your type of product – but don’t only talk about you and your product. In fact, it’s best if you don’t mention your affiliation at all in the article. Your name, occupation and/or business name will most likely be in the credit line. You might also get a headshot to accompany the article. People want to buy from those they think are knowledgeable – knowledge equals trust.

Ask for referrals
Give out your business cards to your customers and ask if they know anyone who might need your service. You can also ask your friends and family to ask their friends and family for referrals. Also, try some networking events like social industry dinners – they can be great places to strike up a conversation and find someone that might need your product, or knows someone that might need your product.

Personalize your direct mail
Use people’s names on letters and postcards – people will be more apt to read something that is addressed to them by name rather than to “Dear customer.” You trust someone that you know personally, and using names are an easy way to evoke trust. Also, try to get to know your target market – whether they have kids, pets, etc. and use that info in your direct mail pieces. “Now that your kids are about to go back to school …”. Make people think your direct mail is talking directly to them.

Lastly, once you establish a contact, keep following up periodically. Once a month or once every other month is good – enough for them to remember you, but not enough to annoy them. Once you earn consumers’ trust, the rest of the sales process is much easier!

If your sales presentations aren’t getting you a lot of return phone calls, you should read the following tips for ensuring your sales presentation is the best it can be.

1. Time it. Your audience has a limited attention span, no matter what their age! CEOs get bored just as quickly as teenagers. If you drone on for too long, you’ll lose any interest gained in the first part of the presentation. Keep it short and to the point.

Follow the 60% rule: however much time is set aside for your meeting or presentation, use 60% of that total time. If you have a half-hour scheduled, use about 18 minutes for your presentation. If you have an hour scheduled, your presentation should last about 40 minutes. This allows your prospect to think it over and ask questions without being rushed.

2. Match your prospects’ tone while speaking. If your prospects (or main prospect, the highest-ranking person in the meeting) talk fast, you should talk fast. If your prospects talk slow, and take time to pause before the next phrase, you should try to do the same. The way they speak is the way they best understand speech back to them.

3. Watch your body language. The way you hold yourself can contradict the words coming out of your mouth. If you’re slouched over and have your arms crossed, it’s going to be hard for the prospects to get excited about anything you have to say. Stand up straight, use eye contact with everyone in the room (not all at once – although that would be an interesting trick!) and be careful of how much you use your hands. Use your hands to point to posters or other visuals to emphasize a point, but try not to let your hands get distracting by flailing about.

4. Use visual aids. Visuals aids should be just that – things that help you make your points – they shouldn’t be your point. Don’t rely on your visual aids to tell the whole story for you. Visual aids can reinforce your message and they increase retention, so definitely use them, just don’t abuse them! And definitely don’t read straight from them like a boring college professor – paraphrase the words on the visual or add information to them with your speech.

5. Keep your prospects involved. Do this by asking questions or use your presentation as a stage for a demonstration. Let the prospects use your product as they or their customers would in a real situation. Use their reactions and questions to gauge their interest.

6. Avoid clichés and overused phrases. People will start to ignore you when you say “We’re the best, forget the rest” or “I’ll be honest with you.” If you use phrases that are old-hat, you’ll lose attention and interest. Take time to rehearse your presentation and if you find you’re using clichés when you don’t mean to, write down some alternative wordings and practice with those.

7. Practice, practice, practice. You can also find phrases or parts of your presentation that don’t work and you’ll have time to fix them before the real deal. This is the best piece of advice because the more you practice, the better you’ll become and the more comfortable you’ll become with your presentation.

As your organization grows, your marketing needs will change. As you add materials to your marketing arsenal or add products to your product line, you need to change your brand to reflect your current business image.

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them” that identifies the products and services of one business and differentiates it from other businesses.

Branding often appeals to the emotions – you want people to feel a certain way when they see your packaging, your Web site, your brochures and other marketing materials. If these items are inconsistent people will get confused. If you want your branding to make people feel like they can trust you, using copy emphasizing trust in your flyers and using copy emphasizing consistency on your Web site, your potential customers may get confused.

Here are some pointers on how to evaluate your brand and decide whether to rebrand:

Has your brand promise changed?

Your brand is your promise to the customer. It should convey to them what they should anticipate from your products. It should tell them how you are different from your competition. Your brand should be based on who your company is, what you want your company to be and what people perceive you to be. You need to review your promise first, because that promise is at the core of all your brand messaging. If your promise has changed, you need to rebrand.

Evaluate your branding look

If you created your brand look – the color palette, fonts, photos, etc. – years ago, you may need to rebrand. There’s no definite number of years that a brand can last, but if your look just isn’t capturing the feeling you want customers to feel, it’s time to update the brand. If your business has grown and now uses the latest technology, your brand should show that. Homemade-looking materials that worked years ago just won’t work now. You need to keep up with the changin’ times.

If your logo or another key element of your branding design is out of date, you can just update that one item – there’s no need to update every element of your brand if only one piece isn’t working.

Another tip is to not change your brand design just because you are tired of it. Many people haven’t even seen your brand yet, so if it’s been working and it still gives the feeling you want people to receive, don’t change it. If you’re a cliché person: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Update for consistency

If you add product brochures for each new product you make, you need to make sure it looks consistent with all of your other product brochures and other marketing materials. All of your materials should look like they belong to a family when viewed together. A family has certain characteristics that look similar, but that doesn’t mean they look identical. The elements that should stay the same are: color palette, graphics, fonts, and logo usage. Lay out all your marketing materials and see if you can tell they all represent the same company. If not, it’s time to rebrand for consistency.

Rebranding is not something to take lightly – make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons and that the rebrand will enhance your customers’ understanding of your business and will give them the feeling you want. Rebranding willy-nilly whenever you feel like it without doing some evaluation will just end up confusing people in the future.