Here’s a checklist based on our reviews of thousands of pages of fitness and wellness sales collateral and marketing materials — websites, brochures, postcards, sales letters, emails, etc.
Here’s a four-point checklist, in part 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.
