Here are this week’s tips for boosting the impact and results of your printed materials:

4) Keep it Clean

This means that you should not try to cram too much into the space allowed.  White space is good to have in advertisements and in brochures.  Keep the message clear and on point with the goals for the item.  Edit for extraneous, repetitive or superfluous text, graphics or photos.  Make it easy for the intended customer to see and understand the message. 

Make it easy for the prospective customer to “see” the message.  An example:  It is much easier for the reader to understand a list of bulleted benefits than to have to read paragraphs of text to find these important items.

5) Use Testimonials or Endorsements

A testimonial will tell the story and create credibility faster than anything that you can do.  People will always believe what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.  Testimonials will tell the reader how others just like them have benefited from your services.  The most effective testimonials have the person’s name and photograph.  Remember:  Make sure you have written permission to use the testimonial, name and photo in the promotion of your agency.

Endorsements lend credibility by having a respected person recommend your agency to others.  The better known and respected the person is, the more impact their endorsement will have.  Make sure that the person making the endorsement is famous for something that is consistent with the agency’s image and reputation. 

Be sure to check back next week for the final two tips in our series.

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Last week, we began our series of tips on how to improve the impact and results of your printed materials.  This week, we share with you two more helpful tips:

2) Use Photos and Graphics that Tell the Story

The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is very true in designing effective printed pieces.  The photo must be one that makes the customer experience the proper emotion to be most effective.  Captions under photos should be included to best explain what is going on in the photo that is important to the customer.  Don’t assume that the customer looks at the photo and understands the importance.  Make it easy for the consumer to get the intended message.

Use graphics that are additive to the message and that make it easier to understand the message.  For example:  A service area map is always more effective than a list of counties or cities served.

If you use graphics or photos designed to “grab” someone’s attention, make sure that they are consistent with the image and message you are building.

3) Use Effective Headlines

The headline must tell the reader exactly why they should consider your agency.  Crafting the right headline should be something that you get professional help with.  The right headline can make your brochure or advertisement ten times more effective.  This is especially true for print ads and Yellow Pages ads.  The headline is the single most important item in these ad designs.

Use sub-headings to explain each section or each paragraph.  This will make your copy more effective and easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.  You cannot expect the customer to read every word in a brochure—they will skim the headlines and read the information that answers their question.

Next week:  Two more tips in our series.  Be sure to check back then!

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Home care and hospice agencies spend a fortune each year on printed materials and advertisements.  Brochures are printed that may be nice looking but are not effective.  Agencies spend a lot on print advertisements, including Yellow Pages ads, but, how effective are they?  It is critical that agencies make the return on marketing investment as high as possible by creating the most effective collaterals and advertisements.  Start by defining your target audience and the goals for the campaign.

Then, over the next few weeks, we will share with you seven tips to improve the impact and results of your printed material.  Here’s the first one:

1) Sell Benefits not Features

This single piece of advice can make an investment in a marketing campaign, brochure, advertising campaign, etc. a success rather than a failure.  When developing the list of benefits you should always keep the customer in mind.  If you know what is important to the intended customer then you will be able to design your campaign for maximum effectiveness. 

Don’t make any assumptions about what will be important to the customer.  Ask your current customers the questions to know what they value about agency and its services. 

Define the target market and what they want from a home care or hospice agency.  Look at your message from this customer’s viewpoint.  Test, test and test your message some more.  Talk to your customers.  Conduct surveys with prospective customers and or new target markets to find out what they need and their attitudes toward home care and hospice.  Test new marketing messages to make sure that they are answering the needs of the intended customer with interviews, focus groups and surveys.  Your message must resonate with the intended market to be truly effective.

Customers want to know how your service will meet their needs, make them feel safer or otherwise provide them with something of perceived value.  List all of the benefits of working with your agency.  Then determine those that are most important to the intended audience.  Include them in the creation of your marketing piece or campaign.

Be sure to check back next week for more helpful tips in our series!

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If you give out the same things the competition does, how do you expect to differentiate yourself in the mind of the referral sources?  The reason for giveaways is to keep your name in front of the referral sources so that they will call when they have a need.  Longevity, utility and uniqueness are attributes to strive for in selecting items.

Here are some key pointers for maximizing the impact of your giveaway items:

1) Look at the budget and then find the BEST items (don’t order first and think later!)
2) ASK your customers what they would find useful.
3) Make your giveaways MEMORABLE—be creative.
4) Find something that is FUN (when I asked some physicians what they liked one said “Something that is fun and that I can take home to my kids to play with").
5) Tie the giveaway item into a campaign, theme or celebration
6) Don’t do what the competition is doing or what you have always done in the past.
7) Instruct the sales team on how to use the giveaway item(s) so that they are conveying the message and creating the desired result.

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