In a typical year, we review thousands of pages of sales and marketing
materials - also known as "collateral" - created by health and wellness
businesses. Collateral includes brochures, postcards, sales letters,
marketing emails, advertisements, and much more.
Here's a four-point checklist inspired by Bill Cates & Paul McCord that we use to make sure our clients' customers
will welcome their marketing:
1) If I were my customer, would I want to receive this collateral?
Effective marketing materials help your customers find solutions to the
problems they're worrying about. Or they help them capitalize on
opportunities.
Always ask yourself if your marketing materials have answered the question your
customer's always asking: "What's in it for me?"
2) Does this collateral reflect well on our business?
Graphic designers can help you create an attractive, well-designed piece even
when your marketing budget is small. A small investment in professional
copywriting helps clearly communicate your marketing messages and avoid
sloppy spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Your marketing collateral stands in for your business when you're not there.
Make sure it creates the right lasting impression.
3) Is this collateral designed to benefit our customer?
Does your collateral provide something of real importance to the customer? Or
are you really just singing your own praises, blowing your own horn, and
patting your business on the back?
Every piece of marketing collateral that you create must offer something that
your customer will view as useful - even if it's something intangible, like
the sense of hope that a member success story conveys.
4) If I were my customer, would I want to hear from me?
Consider your customers' recent experiences with your business before you
automatically send them your latest piece of collateral. For example, asking
for referrals probably doesn't make sense if you just annoyed numerous
customers by reducing your operating hours. Yet a promotion for a new weight
management program might defuse their frustration.
Related
articles
on
customer
relationships:
Keepin'
It
Fresh:
18
Customer
Communication
Strategies
For
Wellness
Businesses
Speaking
Is
Silver,
Listening
Is
Gold:
Five
Best
Practices
For
Truly
Hearing
Your
Customers
The
Best
Customer
Loyalty
Metric
For
Wellness
Businesses
