It’s a known fact that you have very limited time to grab the attention of prospective customers/clients that view your marketing – a few seconds in fact! So what can you do to ensure they take the action you require and you get results? Here are 6 ways to make your marketing stand out.

Here are 6 rules to follow with your marketing materials.

1  Have a purpose
Whether it’s a page on your website, a flyer, your business card or an e-newsletter, each item of your marketing material needs to have a purpose – a step in a marketing/sales strategy that you want prospects to take, that leads to the next step. For example, the purpose of one of the pages on your website could be to get site visitors to sign up to your mailing list. This would then lead to the next step which in this case could be to build trust with those that sign up, then the next step for this might be for them to purchase from you.

2  Target your marketing material
Think about your different target markets and ensure your marketing is aimed at each type of audience/prospect. For example, if you are an accountant and your target markets could be all types of businesses in different industries, a single flyer to cover all industries won’t work nearly as well as having several flyers – one for each industry. Read on to see what I mean!

3 Promote your RELEVANT USPs and services
Your USPs (unique selling points) are what makes you stand out from your competitors. You should know what these USPs are but you also need to think about which of them matter most to each of your target markets. Back to the accountancy firm’s example above, if you have a flyer with a list of your USPs that includes your vast experience in the construction industry and CIS, this means nothing to another industry you deal with.

4 Have an attention grabbing headline
Your marketing material all needs something to grab people’s attention so that they read on; to stop them simply tossing it to one side (or visiting a different website in search engine listings). Think of times when you are walking down a high street and someone hands you a flyer. If you accept it, you might have a brief look but then throw it away or put it in your bag/pocket. If the main headline grabbed you enough (something you relate to, solves a problem you have, ‘talks’ to you, makes you laugh etc.) you’d be much more likely to read the rest of it. Again, really think about who the marketing item is aimed at and what headline would grab their attention enough for them to read on.

5  State the benefits clearly and concisely
The text on your marketing material needs to list the main benefits of the reader taking the next step you want them to take. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes (a person in the specific market you are targeting) and read through the text on one of your webpages, a flyer brochure etc. For each USP, feature/service listed on the item, ask ‘So what? How does that benefit me?’ Saying ‘we are a member of X organisation’ doesn’t make a huge difference to the reader. It would be better for it to say ‘As we are a member of X organisation, we can get you the best and exclusive deals’.
Also make the item tell them what you need to say as concisely as possible so that you don’t lose their attention.

6  Have a clear call to action
Your marketing materials should clearly tell the reader what action to take next (see number 1 about the purpose). For example, you may have a webpage with the goal of getting enquiries. Ensure the next step you want the visitor to take is not lost within the main text body. It needs to visibly stand out and again, state the reasons why they should do it – how they will benefit from taking that action (calling you).