Beware of these mistakes on your marketing materials

Your marketing materials may look perfectly fine to you because you see them every day. But a fresh set of eyes can spot problems you’ve overlooked.

Years ago, I attended a small local trade show and came home with several examples of marketing materials that could have been much more effective. The specific materials may have changed over the years, but the lessons still apply.

Here are a few mistakes to watch for.

#1: Making your materials difficult to read

Vendor A handed us her business card. The type was tiny, and the colors were light gray and light gold.

The card was nearly impossible to read.

The problem wasn’t the information. It was the design: poor color contrast, small type, and thin typefaces.

Your marketing materials should be easy to read at a glance. Don’t sacrifice readability just to squeeze more information onto a business card, flyer, brochure, or sell sheet.

Your goal is to have someone say, “I love your card!” not “I can't read this.”

Are your marketing materials readable?

#2: Forgetting the basics

Vendor B gave us a fifteen-page, stapled price list.

First problem: There was no logo.

Second: There was no contact information on any of the pages. No phone number, email address, or website.

Third: There were no page numbers.

And, as an optional fourth problem, there was no business card attached to the price list.

Think about what happens when someone picks up your information later. Will they know who it came from? Will they know how to contact you? Will they know if they have all the pages?

Every piece of marketing material should make it easy for someone to identify your business and take the next step.

Does your marketing material make it easy for a potential customer to contact you?

#3: Giving people information without giving them a reason to act

Vendor C had product sell sheets at his table.

A sell sheet typically highlights a product’s features and benefits and gives the potential customer a reason to learn more or buy.

This one had information about the product, but there was no offer or promotion. Nothing gave the customer an extra reason to try it.

An offer isn’t appropriate for every business or every situation, but a clear call to action is almost always helpful.

It could be a discount, a free consultation, a special offer, a sample, a demonstration, or simply an invitation to visit your website or contact you.

Does your marketing material tell people what to do next?

#4: Missing the opportunity to stay in touch

Vendors A, B, and C were happy to give us their elevator speeches, handouts, and even candy.

But did they ask for our names or email addresses?

No.

None of them had an obvious way to stay in touch with potential customers.

Today, that might mean inviting people to join your email list, scan a QR code to learn more, follow you on social media, or visit a landing page. The technology has changed, but the principle hasn’t:

Don’t let a potential customer walk away without giving them an easy way to stay connected.

Do you have a way to keep in touch with interested prospects?

#5: Forgetting to tell people how to reach you

Vendor D wasn’t even at the trade show, but we saw his ad in the event program.

The ad looked interesting. It had a good headline and a nice photo.

What was missing?

Contact information.

It seems obvious, but I’ve seen this mistake many times. Your audience shouldn’t have to search for your business online to figure out how to contact you.

Give them a website, email address, phone number, QR code, or another clear way to take the next step.

And if you use a QR code, test it before you print hundreds of copies.

Have you made it easy for people to get in touch?

#6: Don’t assume you caught everything

And finally, there was Vendor E: me.

While my own marketing materials avoided all of the mistakes above, believe me, I’ve made plenty of my own.

I once designed a logo and business card for a friend who was starting a consulting company. Her background was in communications, so she was certainly qualified to review the material.

She approved the design. We sent the business cards to the printer.

Then she called me.

“Peggy, guess what? We forgot my name!”

LOL.

Somehow, both of us had missed one of the most important pieces of information on the card.

I fixed it as quickly as possible, and we reprinted the cards.

The lesson? Even designers need a fresh set of eyes.

Before you print anything, ask someone else to review it. Ideally, have someone who wasn’t involved in creating the piece look at it. They may notice a missing word, incorrect phone number, awkward sentence, typo, or design problem that you've stopped seeing.

Take a fresh look at your marketing materials

Whether you’re creating a business card, brochure, sell sheet, flyer, ad, presentation, or website, don’t assume that “finished” means “ready.”

Before you put it in front of the public, ask:

• Is everything easy to read?

• Is the most important information easy to find?

• Is my contact information included?

• Is my business clearly identified?

• Is there a clear next step?

• Have I checked every phone number, email address, website, and QR code?

• Has someone with a fresh set of eyes reviewed it?

Your marketing materials represent your business. A small mistake can make a big impression, and unfortunately, it may not be the impression you intended.

Need another set of eyes? That’s part of what I do. If you’re not sure whether your marketing materials are presenting your business in the best possible way, contact me. I’ll give you an honest opinion and help you improve the image you’re presenting to the world.