Why Your Promotional Material Should Have A Clear Purpose

From business cards to Facebook posts, flyers and brochures, each piece of marketing material needs to have a direct purpose and an action to follow.

In a world where we are bombarded with advertisements, we need to ensure our promotional material has a purpose and is asking our market to take a clear action. 

Time and time again I watch businesses advertise their products and service, in most cases they advertise their entire business on a single flyer or Facebook ad.

Today we are fortunate enough to live in a world where we have access to multiple marketing methods so there is really no need to bombard our markets with overwhelming information.
When you know what your advert is looking to achieve you will discover it's so much easier to know where to place your promotion, who to target it to and more importantly measure its success.

So what are the different types of promotion and how do they differ in their function and purpose?

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness promotions are just that, they make people aware of your brand. This could be the advert you have running all year round, however change it up to keep it new and fresh. Even though it is brand aweness it still needs to remain relevent. This is where having a distinct style to a brand is a valuable asset to have. Having a distinct style enables you to change up your marketing material but still be recognizable at a glance. Isn't that what brand awesness is all about?

The Direct Sale

These come in the form of 'Buy Now' and are usually used strategically throughout brand awareness campaigns to capitalise on the promotion. Keep these very simple and ensure you have direct links to the item you have advertised. If you are promoting the direct sale ensure it is a very simple and hassle free process for them. Depending on your brand positioning, going for the direct sale may or may not be the best thing for you. Keep in mind that people often don't like being sold to so use this method sparingly. 

The Offer

This could be a seasonal offer (Christmas, end of financial year) or a coupon to get new customers in the door. The important thing to remember is to show the value. Like the direct sale, these can be used strategically throughout brand awareness campaigns but unlike the direct sale, an offer is a little less forward and may draw your market in more effectively. The key word here though is strategically, you definitely don't want to be discounting your product or service all the time or your market will see this and put less value on it. 

Information

Similar to brand awareness, information campaigns are all about informing your market. Where they differ is informative promotions should be used at specific times and only when informing your market of a new product, service, or an important development within the business that you think is relevant to the consumer. Keep these specific and always prompt them back to your website so they can find out more information. 

So before running your next promotional campaign, take a moment to think about its purpose. You will find them a lot easier to create and implement with a clear vision in mind.