Promotional Materials

1
Promotional Materials

• English 420Fall 2003

2
Defining Promotional Material

• The category of promotional literature, or
  promotional information, typically includes those
  documents that a company sends out to the public
  to advertise its services and products.

3
Common Types of Promotional Material

• Brochures and flyers
• Newsletters
• Press releases
• Web pages
• Business cards, letterhead, faxes
• Advertisements
• Commercials

4
Corporate Image and Promotional Material

• What image does each type of material promote?

• Web page?
• Commercial?
• Business card?
• Flyer?
• Newspaper ad?

5
Issues to Consider

• Identifying audience
• Distribution
• Audience perception
• Production
• Maintenance

6
Issues Audience

• Who is the target audience?
• Who primarily patronizes the business now?
• Who might patronize the business in the future if
  they knew about it?
• Who would never patronize the business?

7
Issues Distribution

• How will the promotional material get to
  potential customers?
• Some materials are more flexible than others.
  Brochures and flyers, for example, can be mailed
  to potential customers, displayed in the store,
  displayed in other stores around town, or even
  put under car windshield wipers.
• Web pages, on the other hand, require customers
  to search for the information themselves.

8
Issues Audience Perception

• How will potential customers feel about the type
  of material?
• Even people who might benefit from the service
  offered by the business might be turned off by
  finding a flyer under their windshield wiper.
• Conversely, since potential customers who visit a
  web page generally seek the page out, they might
  be better potential customers from the outset.

9
Issues Production

• What is involved in producing the material?
• Cost?
• Time?
• Who will put the material together?

10
Issues Maintenance

• What type of maintenance is required for the
  material to be effective?
• Business card?
• Web page?
• Commercial?
• Newspaper ad?

11
Your recommendation

• The decision that your group makes as to which
  type of promotional material to recommend should
  be based on
• What you learn about the clients needsin terms
  of desired cost and time output.
• What you learn about the clients target
  audiencehow can you most effectively reach
  them?especially given the cost and time budget
  with which you are working.