Vision Factory
- Dec 1, 2021
- 4 min read

How To Create Effective Marketing Materials

Updated: Nov 18, 2023

Creating effective marketing materials can be hard, especially for small start-up businesses. It can be difficult to determine where to start and what aspects to take into account. Therefore, this article gives you 10 steps and tips for creating effective marketing materials.

1) Define the goal of your marketing materials

Firstly, it’s important to define what you’re marketing for and what you wish to achieve with the materials. The goal should always be the center point of communication. Even when generating leads, building brand awareness, or promoting a new product or service. After establishing the goal, the next steps can be followed.

2) Evaluate your previous materials and do research

A lot can be learned from your old marketing materials. So, try to invest time in gathering old materials and reviewing what went right and what went wrong. For instance, pay attention to color use, layout, and materials used. If your message didn’t come across, find the specific reasons why. Then, you can use these findings for your new materials. But, if the previous marketing materials were successful, you can take the aspects for your new promotional materials.

3) Consider yourself being the customer

When looking from the customers’ point of view, you gain a different perspective. So, what do you notice first? What draws your attention? What benefits do the materials bring to the customer? There are likely a lot of benefits. For example, busy parents hoping to save time with your product. Or, students wishing to save money. Therefore, identify what’s most important for your customers and include this in the headline of the marketing materials. Consequently, this will draw the customers’ attention.

4) Re-consider the words and pictures you use in your materials

Professional and qualitative marketing doesn’t require a lot of words or pictures. Instead, it only makes the marketing look messier and overwhelms the reader. Therefore, try to limit the amount of information, colors, words, and visualizations. Consider what is purely necessary to bring across and support your marketing message.

5) Make use of 360-degree marketing

Using 360-degree marketing in materials in your marketing reinforces your company’s identity. To do this, you can use familiar colors and take a single approach across for instance:

· Your logo

· Headline

· Layout

· Design style

360-degree marketing ensures consistency with your marketing message on every platform. Thus, your marketing materials have a noticeable and recognizable visualization.

6) Use testimonials

Testimonials can be a great addition to your marketing materials. In short, a testimonial is a customer statement about their positive experience with your product or company. It can be a short quote as well as a longer story. Usually, it’s a written text that can be included in your marketing materials. Then, it brings out the benefits of your product or service from a customer perspective. This can have a big impact on the buying decision.

7) Add urgencies and deadlines to your offers

If applicable, consider putting a deadline on your deals, services, or product offerings. This is a psychological trait. Consequently, people feel more pressured to take action. Therefore, customers will be convinced to take action faster and make a purchase or get in contact. For example, mention the latest deadline for signing up.

8) Include a clear Call To Action

The call to action, CTA, is an important call that convinces your customers to take the next step. Examples of calls to action are:

· Visit our website @ ….

· Find us on Instagram @....

· Come to our store @ ....

The calls to action are a crucial part of the interaction with customers. Mostly, the CTA is placed at the end of your promotional materials. Then, the customer is well enough informed to take action. Additionally, it’s important to include the company's contact information and communication channels at the end.

9) Take your time with creating your materials

Creating professional marketing materials requires effort, time, resources, and money. Thus, it’s recommended to make use of premium materials. For instance, thick, heavy-weight paper of quality for posters and cards. Professional marketing materials create positive associations with your company. Also, they are essential for generating customers and spreading your marketing message. Don’t underestimate the power of well-developed marketing materials for your company!

10) Use templates

Especially for small businesses, it may come in handy to try templates to create your marketing materials. Many proficient templates can be modified and customized to your wishes and for your own company. The advantage of using templates is that you won’t forget to include any important aspects. Additionally, their use saves a lot of time.