Promotional materials are written by many companies to promote current or new business opportunities. Learning to write promotional items is a great asset to many companies. In this article, we will explore writing solid promotional materials.
Types of Promotional Materials
Promotional materials come in a variety of communications. They can include flyers, letters, articles, newsletters, press releases, as well as a variety of other means. The focus of promotional materials is to get the reader’s attention and influence his behavior. Promotional materials must be written with this focus in mind. The reader will make a decision within three to five seconds of whether to “continue” reviewing the promo material. This is an important concept to remember.
Designing Promotional Materials
Within the world of business, promo materials are designed under two assumptions. These are fear and pleasure. If the customer feels like the product is scarce, they will be more likely to buy. This is seen regularly within television commercials in a subtle way. “Buy now,” “Call in the next 15 minutes,” and so forth.
Pleasure is another method used within business to produce effective promotional materials. Pleasure includes the feeling that the product or service will FULFILL their needs in a tangible way.
Adding graphics will also catch the reader’s eye during viewing of the product or service. Graphics placed within the promotional materials increase responsiveness in many cases.
Creating strongly appealing promotions is another asset to providing great writing material. If the writing is strong and solid, this is much better than weak and vague to the reader.
Urgency is needed within the promo writings. This will draw the reader into the urgency needed to take advantage of the service, or buy the product. Urgency is needed without overkill. We do not want to drive the customer away, so balance is essential.
Skills Involving Promotion
A variety of personal skills are needed when writing promo materials. Excellent writing skills are the first thing needed. The ability to write solidly and proofread writings will bring more success.
Persuasion skills are also needed to influence the reader. Use headlines to your advantage as well as headings within the writings, if possible. Using catchy headlines will gain the reader’s attention. Using headings will allow the reader to follow the reading more easily and not get lost within the promotion.
Another skill needed within this area is market knowledge. Good writing skills paired with near expert knowledge of the target market will increase your chances of presenting solid, highly influenced material to the public.
Additional Promotion
Although writing promotional materials is an essential skill needed for business success, remember that each person you come into contact with is seeing, or hearing, your “personal promotion” of the company itself.
Oftentimes, businesses may be on limited budgets when designing and creating promo materials. Researching and designing simple promo materials can be effective as well.
Using Microsoft Word templates can give a jump start in creating new promo writings at a low cost. Templates are also available in Microsoft Publisher which creates great layouts for the budget conscious. Professional images are also available online to assist in providing quality eye catching photos for writings.
Word of mouth can also be a great way to supplement written materials. Letting customers who call into the business know of new products or services will increase customer knowledge.
