Promotional Literature - How do you ensure it pays for itself?

02 March 2010

There are a lot of people in the world that can write, but only a small percentage can do it effectively when it comes to business. If youre one of those people, then youve seriously lucked out and should thank your lucky stars.

However, if you have to hire out and get a freelancer to do it for you, then you better make sure the product youre receiving is of a high enough quality to pay for itself in the long run.

A basic business template - i.e. common sense - says to make sure the text is well-written, free of grammatical errors and to the point but theres a lot more to writing effective copy than keeping it short, simple and clean. Whether youll be trying to take on the writing duties or hiring out, youll need to know a few things about making promotional text pay for itself.

Tips for your Text

First and foremost, think about your target here. In business, you dont attempt to placate everyone. You just wont be able to please such a broad audience. This is what niche markets are all about. Make sure your text caters to your particular market: age, ethnicity, economic status, education, etc.

If you do happen to cater to various education or economic levels in a select demographic, you can certainly work out varying sets of promotional text. For example, if youre promoting for industry leaders, you may want your literature to be a bit more technical. If youre targeting customers, keep it simple.

You also have to remember that the literature is whats telling the tale literally - about your product or service. Of course, people dont want nor need to know every minute detail, yet the literature still has one main purpose: to inform. Many make the mistake in assuming their literature needs to grab people and lure them in through some magic trick that doesnt exist. What really sells is information. Explain what youre offering. Informative literature sells itself.

There are a few types of promotional literature, including case studies, brochures and circulars. Although they go about it in different ways, each piece of literature can be used to your advantage in order to sell a product.

A brochure will describe the products, so this is where the most reader-friendly information is needed. Circulars usually describe deals and offers. And case studies deliver hard data about a product, answering all questions and thoroughly explaining it. The point of describing the three: dont mix and match.

Each type of promotional piece needs to be a piece all its own. You dont want to start talking about offers and 2fer specials in a case study, nor do you want to overly explain a product and lay out hard data in a brochure. Theres a time and a place for everything.

Make sure you separate the literature. Write technically when needed but back off when not. Keep it clean, fun and fresh and relate this criteria to the person you hire if you go that route.