Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Remember that your cover is the first thing a prospect will see- therefore it should always contain a powerful headline and strong attention generating visual. The front page of your brochure is important. How important? Ask any magazine editor if the front page of their magazine is important. More time is spent on the look and feel of the front page of a magazine than on any of the articles inside. Getting the right picture on the front can also make a huge difference to the circulation in any given month. So if you are using a picture, spend time selecting an interesting picture.

Give your prospects enough compelling reasons why they should use your service so that using anybody else would appear foolish.

Give your customers a convincing reason for buying from you. In your brochure, ask yourself with every paragraph ‘is this giving my customer a real inducement to buy their services from me?’ Explain why your flour offers the baker excellent value for money and tell them why your reliable delivery service means that they won’t have angry suppliers wondering where their bread is.

A free report on their sector can also speed up response – especially if it contains advice that will specifically help your ideal prospect.

Goal setting is the fastest way to achive & create what you want in life.  There is no doubt about it.  However not many people really use goal setting to it’s full effect.  I am currently writting a web based seminar on goal setting and want to make sure that I answer the questions that metter. 

I would be very grateful if you could e-mail any goat setting questions to alastair@idealmarketingcompany.com or simply raise it as a comment at the end of this blog entry.  

 Thank you  Â

You can offer a password to a limited access website area. This makes them feel unique and trusted, and can lead to other special offers and limited availability items. Including a special bonus to claim if they act within 7 days is a popular offer in direct mail letters – but why not include it within your brochure or leaflet to make a response more urgent?

Thanks to everybody at the Heart of the Shires Shopping Village in Northamptonshire for coming along to the short marketing talk that I made at the Darlington’s Resteraunt there yesterday.  It was a lovely evening and it seemed a shame to be inside on such a warm night, however I think that the people who attended walked away withsome useful ideas. 

If you have never been, The Heart of the Shires is a great out of the way place to do your shopping and have somthing to eat or drink.  It’s near Weedon, just off the M1 and close to Northampton - a very civilised place to do your shopping! See www.heartoftheshires.co.uk for directions and more details.  Â

I’m pleased (and sorry) to say that my May 15th Marketing Seminar is full and that we are now unable to take any more reservations.  I have however added an extra date on Thursday June 26th.  Full details will appear shortly, but at the moment it is planned to be at Hothorpe Hall, Leicestershire from 6pm as the previous events have been.  There is no charge to attend, but we must limit the number of delegates to a maximum of 60 places.  Please e-mail me if you would like more details or call 01858 44 55 43 Â

Some prospects are apprehensive that if they call, you will try to sell them something. A less threatening alternative is to offer them a recorded message which explains what you offer. Some people will prefer to hear about what you do rather than read about it.

Here are some examples of offers and incentives that you can include within your brochure to increase and measure response -

Offer a free sample of your product which is included with the brochure.

A money-off coupon can be printed on the back to be claimed. This is a great way of determining if your brochure has been effective.

Include a limited offer with your brochure and manually time stamp in a specific date by which the offer must be claimed.

Give away a bundle of free extras if they order today. This could ideally include valuable information which is cheap for you to produce, but important to your customer.

Include free vouchers if they order before a certain date. These could be vouchers such as £5 off if you spend £50 in one transaction -–or a percentage discount off the total price.

Offer a free 2 hour consultation. This will appeal to any serious prospect because it puts the onus on you to prove to them that you can deliver what you promise.

A ‘2 for the price of 1’ offer can work well if you want to increase the likelihood of somebody trying out your product or service for the first time.