There’s no perfect formula for developing successful marketing materials, but six key elements definitely must be included to ensure your business puts the right foot forward.
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen designing print marketing materials for business success, there are a number of elements that should be included to maximize your potential for building new client relationships and creating brand awareness. While all of these are specifically focused on printed marketing collateral, the same strategy should be applied across all content forms employed in your marketing matrix in order to see results. Incorporate these tactics into your marketing materials now, and expect to see a marked difference in the impact these six elements have in your business success.
#1 Complete Contact Information
Expecting potential customers to e-mail or call if they have interest in your business will result in disappointment if they can’t find your contact information easily. Making each channel of possible contact, whether by phone, fax, or e-mail, accessible in your marketing collateral is important for establishing convenient customer communication.
To optimize your opportunities to create leads, invest in a toll-free number for customers to use as well as a local business number to anchor your company to each community where you do business. Don’t forget to include e-mail addresses, web addresses, and business listings that are pertinent to your market.
#2 A Captivating Logo
A great logo will be memorable, distinctive, and thought-provoking, while printing beautifully in large or small formats across your marketing collateral. The best logo designs quickly communicate important company values and simply express the purpose, name, and style of the brand they represent. Many business owners initially try to pack too much information, color, or design elements into one logo in an effort to be overly communicative or expressive. It’s important to remember that your key marketing messages can be conveyed in other areas of your print marketing materials for business success.
Consider, for example, the difference between a state seal and a great company logo. The first packs symbols and historical significance into a smaller design – which is appropriate for official government purposes. On the other hand, very well-known and recognized companies like McDonalds and Starbucks, whose logos have become synonymous with their brands, use a simplified image (logo) or brand name (logotype) to captivate their customers.
#3 A Balance of Used and Unused Space
Every side and surface of your marketing materials should be comprised of a delicate balance of white space and design elements. This means you shouldn’t overload your brochure, business card, or flyer with information and graphics, but rather utilize every part of it more effectively. White space should be included to encourage a reader’s eyes to move throughout the piece, while the back side of your marketing collateral should not be forgotten as an impressionable piece of real estate.
#4 Social Media Logos
Your audience will expect to be able to find you on social media, and take that as a sign of how attune you are to modern online business practices. It is extremely important that you are able to stay up-to-date with the social media platforms your business should be utilizing, and showcase the logos of those platforms in your print marketing materials to connect with your customers across your brand’s public presence. Remember to keep these platforms updated because there is nothing worse than having a dead page that doesn’t even answer customer concerns in a timely manner.
#5 A Call-To-Action
Don’t forget that your marketing collateral should communicate important information, then tell your customers what you want from them next. Part of being able to measure the success of your marketing efforts is including a clear call-to-action that provokes results from your audience. This goes for printed marketing materials just as much as it does for online blog posts, white papers, and website pages – so do some research on what your ideal customers want and need, and show them how they can come to you to get it.
#6 Testimonials
Keep the cycle of customer service going once you receive positive customer feedback earned by your business by displaying customer testimonials on your marketing collateral. This will help a reader know what to expect from your company and immediately build a sense of trust in your services.
Designing Print Marketing Materials for Business Success
Arkansas Graphics offers high-quality commercial printing services for many business across the region, as well as marketing design advisement and pre-press management. To design and produce key print marketing materials for business success, with all these important elements, contact Arkansas Graphics to get your project started today.
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