September 2008 E-Newsletter


In this edition:

  • Spring clean your marketing communications
  • Have a fresh set of eyes take a look at your marketing communications
  • Promotion is essential, baby
  • En Pointe current special
  • Marketing on the cards

Time for a spring clean of your marketing materials?

With the amount of marketing messages people are bombarded with your marketing materials must grab attention quickly or your efforts and money will be wasted. So how can you maximise the potential of your marketing material, such as your website, business cards, brochures and email marketing?

  • Add a catchy headline, image and first paragraph. Reading marketing material is no different to reading the newspaper. Most people scan the images, headlines and first paragraphs and only read the sections that catch their attention.
  • Don’t be afraid to include white space. Crowded layout can be confusing and messy. However, don’t overdo it. Too much white space used inappropriately can be just as bad as not enough.
  • Make sure you include all the important information, particularly your contact details. If your ‘potential’ customer can’t find your contact information quickly they probably won’t become your customer.
  • Make sure your marketing material has a consistent look. This adds to the professionalism of your business and increases recognition amongst your target audience. Look no further than McDonalds as a great example.
  • Make sure your marketing material reflects you and your business. The use of mediums such as images, text, colours and fonts can say a lot about your business and should accurately reflect who you are and what you do.

Eye, eye

If you’d like a fresh set of eyes to look over your marketing material, give En Pointe a call.

We can audit all your marketing material and provide a written report detailing our findings and recommendations. The cost is only $200 – an investment that can save money in the long term.

The service includes a visit to your business (South East suburbs only).

Promotion is essential, baby

An excellent and cost-effective way of promoting your business is to develop a media release for local newspapers and other outlets (start with Business Victoria if you are interested in finding out more).

One of the biggest issues facing businesses looking for this type of promotion, however, is identifying story opportunities. Most of us are too close to our businesses to see the stories, so you need to sit back, take five minutes and think.

Maybe you’ve won an award or have a major equipment upgrade coming on-line. Also think out of the box. Perhaps one of your employees is about to reach 40 years of service or is going to compete in the Masters Games. It doesn’t have to be directly business related to be good promotion.

As an example, Paul Hurkmans wrote an article about himself and his mix of looking after his son as well as running En Pointe. One website, “Essential Baby”, has already indicated they will run the article and others are also considering it.

En Pointe Current Special

Like some help to develop a media release?

En Pointe’s Paul Hurkmans has over 20 years experience in writing articles and taking photos for the media. Best of all, if you contact Paul in September or October he’ll develop a media release for you for only $100 – that’s $50 off the regular price. For an extra $50 he’ll take photos as well. He’ll even help you identify story opportunities for free.

Contact Paul for a no obligation discussion today.

Marketing on the cards

According to Nancy Roberts Linker, a high-flying US business development and client relationship consultant, the simple act of sending a note or card is a great way to keep in touch with your clients.

Nancy believes notes and cards should always be signed by hand (no rubber stamps or electronic signatures) and include a short personal message. Any opportunity to personalise greetings goes a long way to keeping clients thinking of you, rather than your competitors.

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