Compelling Marketing Materials Start With a
Clear Message and Professional Graphic Design
Why Do I Need to Market Myself And My Business?
You started your business because you are really good at what you do. You have a unique passion, gift, and talent that no one else has. And because no one else has your exact gifts and talents, they need you. They need you to help them by sharing your expertise, knowledge, and skill. Because what comes easy to you doesn’t come easy to them, they need your services and products.
But here’s the problem. No one can do business with you if they don’t know you exist! And, you can’t help them improve their life or their business with your products, programs and services if they can’t find you.
Marketing yourself and your business is just as much about helping other people as it is about marketing your products and services.
You owe it to your future prospects, customers, and partners to market your business. You owe it to them to spread the word about your expertise and skill. By investing in your business and marketing yourself, you are:
- Doing yourself a favor – you are creating an opportunity to educate your target market on how you, your products, and services can help them change their ways and achieve their goals.
- Doing your audience a favor – you are making it easier for them to find you, to find your valuable information, and to get help.
Why Do I Need Marketing Materials?
When you hand a client, prospect, or potential strategic partner your business card, brochure, rack card, or note card, you are putting your brand right in their hands. You have an opportunity to make an impression through touch that is not always possible when connecting online.
You only have one opportunity to make a first impression, and trust me, you don’t want to risk making a bad impression with an unprofessional marketing piece or confusing your audience with items look like they are from completely different companies.
Each and every piece of material, whether it is online or offline, should represent your brand, your promise, and your value authentically and consistently. A cohesive marketing strategy and strong visual brand will not only help you communicate feelings of stability, credibility, and dependability, which are key factors in building trust, but they will also help the recipient decide whether they are going to save your sales piece, or throw it away.
So do yourself a favor, hire Bourn Creative to create compelling, eye-catching marketing and sales materials that will blow your competition away and pull your ideal clients right to your doorstep! Or, if you’re still on the fence, check out my blog post on Why Do I Need to Hire a Professional Graphic Designer?
What Marketing Materials Does My Business Need?
You know you need some marketing materials so you can get out there and promote your business, your products, and your services. But what do you need exactly? A brochure, ezine, stationery, folder, flyer, website, blog? With all of the different options you have to choose from, how do you know what to do first and how do you know which is the best choice for your business? And more important, which pieces will get you the biggest return on your investment and bring you the most value?
These are questions I get asked all the time and my answer is always the same. There are three main marketing pieces that every solopreneur, entrepreneur and small business owners must have. They are:
Check out my blog post on this very topic: 3 Marketing Pieces Entrepreneurs Must Have and learn more about why these items are the top three I recommend and what they need to include.
What Makes Marketing Materials Compelling?
Face it. Your audience is already bombarded with and overloaded by marketing message after marketing message, day in and day out. There is such a huge amount of constant marketing noise, that many people are beginning to simply tune it out. Your audience is becoming more and more desensitized to marketing and advertising everyday.
Imagine a room full of people all trying to market their products and services and sell to the same person at the same time. The room is packed with people talking at the prospect. The prospect is looking out into the crowd and he is getting frustrated because everyone is talking at the same time and he really can’t hear anything.
As time goes by the prospect is getting frustrated. The people marketing and selling to the prospect are also getting frustrated and some begin to shout in an attempt to get their voice heard. Soon, the noise level in the room gets louder and louder and the prospect starts to think about putting in earplugs. Do you want to join that crowd of marketers and have your message blend in with all of the other messages? NO WAY! You want to be the person who finds a microphone and stands on a chair!
You goal is to rise above the traditional marketing hype.
Your marketing materials are tools meant to assist your customer in their buying decision. The old way of marketing, pushing your products on your audience and focusing on how much money you will make, is no longer working. The new way of marketing, pulling your prospects to you and focusing on making it as easy as possible to decide to purchase your products and services, is the secret to your marketing success.
To make your marketing compelling, you must include a crystal clear statement of benefits and advantage in a very prominent place, like the headline or first sentence. You must ensure them that by viewing, listening to, or reading your marketing material, they will learn something new or receive something of value. And, you must make it easy for them to make a decision and take action.
Compelling marketing materials are the perfect combination of a persuasive message, a crystal clear call to action, and simple, attention-getting, professional graphic design with the right marketing piece. They also communicate the right message, to the right person, at the right time. And, with well-designed, benefits driven, compelling, easy to understand marketing materials you will be able to successfully cut through all of the other marketing messages out there to reach your ideal client. Your marketing materials need to address your ideal client’s problems and position you as the obvious “duh” solution.
Remember, your ideal clients WANT to buy from you. But they don’t want to feel like they are being pushed, pulled, manipulated, or sold, and they don’t want you to waste their time with irrelevant information. They want you to guide them to the important information. They want accurate, honest information not big promises, omissions, and hype. They want genuine help, not manipulation posing as help.
How Can You Help Me With Graphic Design & Compelling Marketing Materials Creation for My Small Business?
My team and I can work with you to develop custom designed marketing materials that pull more of your ideal clients right to you by making a powerful, purposeful, passionate impression that compels them to take action. As a marketing expert and award-winning designer/art director, I not only ensure your materials are visually appealing and attention-getting, but that they are functional too. Face it. I don’t care how “pretty” or “cool” or “edgy” your piece may be. If it doesn’t convert and it doesn’t help you achieve your goals, it is not a good marketing piece. I understand that ultimately the design, while it must look good, it also must support your message, enhance your message, and deliver your call to action or irresistible offer clearly and effectively.
Not sure what to say or how to say it? No problem! My team and I can help you in a couple different ways. First, I have strong relationships with several amazing copywriters and I can either manage your copywriting for you with the copywriters acting as part of my team, or I can provide a direct recommendation for you. Second, if you can put together a draft or beefy outline of what you need to communicate (I’ve got a form for this), I can provide copyediting services to turn your draft into great marketing content.
Here are just some of the custom designed marketing materials I can help you add to your marketing mix:
- Brochures, rack cards, and booklets
- Flyers, handouts, and one sheets
- Speaker sheets
- Postcards and direct mail pieces
- Posters
- Event tickets, invites, and programs
- Workbooks and worksheets
- Newsletters
- Ebook and special report covers and layout
- Book covers and book layout
- 3-D product graphics
- Stationery and business cards
- Holiday cards, greeting cards, and thank you cards
- Stickers, buttons, and t-shirts
- Presentation folders and inserts
- Press kits
- CD/DVD inserts and booklets