Your marketing materials are an opportunity to build consistency in your brand and communicate your message. Everything from a course workbook to a welcome packet should be clear and on brand to keep your business looking polished and professional. Before jumping into design, there’s a few simple questions you can answer to get clear on the purpose of what you’re creating.

The last thing you want to do is create random marketing pieces that don’t serve a purpose or move your business forward. Below I’m sharing the exact questions I ask my clients during the planning stage, before working on any design.

You can use these questions as you’re planning any new marketing piece for your business:

1. Who is this for?

Who is the audience? Will this be going to your current audience or maybe new followers who don’t know you yet. What are they like? What motivated them to subscribe/sign up to receive this item?

2. What does this piece need to communicate?

Is this giving potential clients information they need to have before hiring you? Or is it a workbook giving your students extra info as they work through your course? Knowing exactly what your piece needs to communicate is helpful not only with the design layout, but also with writing the copy.

3. What feeling should this evoke?

How do you want someone to feel when they receive or experience this? Should they feel excited and eager? Or maybe calm and relieved, like they’ve received the answers or guidance they’ve been looking for. The answer to this question will help guide the colors, fonts, and imagery that you are using.

4. What is the call to action?

What do you want someone to do after they’ve consumed this? Should they book a call? Subscribe to your list? Watch a video? Every single piece of marketing material should include some kind of CTA. Getting clear on what the next step is will help you create a piece built around that.

5. Where does this piece fit into the big picture?

Similar to the call to action, where does this piece fit into the bigger picture of your brand? Is it one piece on your content marketing strategy? How does it elevate your brand? Is it actually necessary to create this item in this format? This question is helpful because it makes sure you’re not just creating something because you read somewhere that you should. For example, do you really need a welcome packet PDF, or would it be more effective to share that information through email?

I hope this list of questions is helpful to you as you’re creating new marketing materials for your business. I created a free printable worksheet to use for planning your marketing materials, so be sure to grab it below!