Usage of MS Publisher for marketing and advertising

Overview

If you got here, that probably means that you already know what MS Publisher solution is, its pros and cons, etc. The article here is going to provide practical advice and tips that will help you create better, effective promotional materials using this program. Some of the advice will look obvious and will be good for any publishing software, and some - will be more specific

Understand your target audience

MS Publisher is mostly used by small businesses, organizations, and individuals who want to create marketing materials or other publications without the need for advanced design skills to reduce marketing costs. But to start creating them, you first need to know the audience and the market you are working for.

Understanding your target audience is about identifying and analyzing the characteristics, preferences, needs, and behaviors of the people or cohorts of people who are most likely to use/already use your product. It is a crucial step when starting a business because there is no point in creating goods that do not cover someone’s needs. The stronger the need, the more you understand those who are in this need the more chances for success you have.

Understanding your audience is really important when creating publishing materials because it helps you create relevant and valuable to them content. There are some examples to explain to you how:

• Text size. - You will need to use bigger letters in your marketing production if your audience consists mostly of older people who probably have worse eyesight. You will also use bigger texts when your target group is small children.
• Text design. - Fancy, bright-colored letters will attract children when business people will be pleased with calm, classic color schemes and fonts.
• Graphic content. - You study your audience to understand if you can put images and which ones, graphics, diagrams, and schemes you need to know. For example, if you know that your target group is students, you may add the markup of the ruler to your carton ads, so they will keep them for a longer time and more students will have a chance to see it.
• Additional content. - You may add other content, not linked to your business on the back of your materials, so people would gladly take, keep and spread it. For example, if your business is placed in a mountain resort, then you may add the scheme of ski tracks or a map of the attractions.

This is just a part of the reasons to learn about your customers and how they can affect the way your brochures, business cards, or other publications. But the most important is that it helps you create marketing messages, products, and services that resonate with your audience, and so it leads to increased engagement and sales.

How to design effective layouts

Here are some tips for designing effective layouts with MS Publisher but they can be applied to any publishing software as well:

• Plan your layout. - Before starting to work on the design, take some time to plan your layout. Take into account the purpose of your document and the message you want to convey. Think about the hierarchy of your content and how you want to organize it.
• Use templates. - Publisher includes a bunch of different templates to help you get started quickly. They are pre-designed layouts that can be customized to fit your needs.
• Use the proper font formatting. - If in simple words, choose fonts that are easy to read and match the tone of your content. Use just a few different fonts in your layout. Follow the font formatting standards to have the best result.
• Appropriate color schemes. - It is important to use colors that complement your content and create sufficient contrast. Stick to a maximum of three or four colors to keep your layout cohesive. Use the contrast color checkers to see if your color combination makes the contrast comfortable to read.
• Set the alignment. - Align your text and graphics in a way that gives you a clean and organized layout. MS Publisher has the snap-to-grid feature created to help you align your elements.
• Keep it simple. - Cluttered layout with too much text, images, or graphics is not really appealing. Keep it simple and easy to read. Use enough white space to make your content stand out.
• Test your layout. - It is always a good idea to try printing your document before finalizing. You can also share it with colleagues to collect some feedback about any typos, formatting issues, or layout problems.

These simple tips will help you create effective layouts with MS Publisher for professional, well-organized, and visually appealing marketing materials.

How to create eye-catching graphics?

Why add graphic content to the marketing materials?

This can serve different purposes, depending on the context in which it is used. You can use it to shock or provoke a strong emotional response from the reader to stimulate them to use your product to purchase goods. It may also be used to provide a visualization of a particular subject matter, such as for medical or economical surveys.

Graphic content can also be a good help to educate and inform customers about the consequences of certain actions or behaviors. The first example to come to mind is pictures of black, ruined lungs placed on the packs of cigarettes.

But it is important to be careful with the content you use, not to traumatize the customers too much, or not to draw attention from the message you convey with the text. The graphics content should also correspond with the text of the publication.

Tips to create eye-catching graphics

Some of the advice you get here is repeated from the previous chapter as they are universal.

• Use a bold and consistent color scheme.
• Simplify your design.
• Use high-quality images. - Use high-resolution images that are clear and crisp. It is always a good idea to test them on different screens or print them out to see any drawbacks.
• Choose appropriate fonts that are easy to read and fit the tone of your design.
• Use contrast to make important elements stand out. Find a perfect combination of text and background colors.
• Have a visual hierarchy using size, color, and placement to guide the viewer’s eye through the design.
• Follow basic design principles such as balance, alignment, and repetition.
• Be creative and think outside the box. Use unique and unexpected elements to make your design stand out.
• Do not avoid using AI software to create unique content. The programs like Midjorney, DALL-E, 1. Jasper.ai, Designs.ai, Khroma, and much more help you design images, photos, and other graphic content. It may take some time to learn how to deal with them to get the proper output, but as a result, you will be able to create various content for low-cost or even free in a simple and fast way.

And have in mind that the best practice for creating eye-catching graphics is to keep them simple, consistent, and visually appealing.

Writing compelling marketing texts

One of the key parts of any publication is text. To be effective in grabbing the attention of potential customers and driving sales they have to be written according to the so-called rules:

• Learn your audience. - It’s important to have a portrait of your customers and their motivation. Consider their demographics, interests, and needs to adjust your marketing message.
• Use persuasive language. - Add special phrases to highlight the importance of the immediate purchase and motivate action, such as “only 2 items left in stock”, “act now,” and “exclusive deal.” But do not overdo this, as users may note if you always have “only 2 items left in stock” and either think nobody is actually interested in your items or that you are lying to them.
• Highlight benefits. - Yes you may focus on the features your product has, but it is considered to be more effective to “boast” about benefits your goods have in comparison to the competitors or to the previous version. Do not forget to explain how it will improve the customer’s life or solve their problems.
• Use clear and concise language. Avoid complicated lexicons or industry jargon to make your message easy to understand. Yes, you can use some inside jokes or a game of words, but be careful with it and sure that you pinpointed your target audience correctly.
• Use storytelling. - Use personal stories or experiences to show how your product or service has helped others. You may also tell how customer feedback helped you to fix or spot drawbacks of your goods. This will make you look more reliable and trustworthy and make your message more memorable.
• Use visuals. - Images, plots, tables, anything to make your materials more appealing. Just keep in mind that some people just are not good at remembering text information, so there always has to be something else in addition.
• Provide your audience with social proof. - Add real customer reviews, feedback, or statistics to demonstrate the effectiveness of your product or service.
• Call to action. - Clearly state what you want customers to do. You can ask them to make a purchase, subscribe, or lead more customers to get a better discount.
• Test and optimize. - Experiment with different marketing texts. Provide AB, and AAB testing, polls, and surveys to analyze their effectiveness to make better-optimized messages.
• Add ways to provide feedback and communicate. - write how to find you in social media, mail, and phone number, so the customer can communicate and clarify the information in a way that is comfortable to them. Apart from texts, you may also add a barcode that leads directly to a landing page or a listing.
• Avoid hate speeches, offensive language, and discrimination. - The simple discriminative phrase may ruin your reputation in just a moment. Keep updated about the vocabulary that can be used, and take some time to research the topics you write the texts for controversial “dangerous” topics, like religion, or politics.

These are just common tips that help you create compelling marketing texts that engage your target audience and improve sales.

Tools and features offered by MS Publisher useful for for marketing and advertising

Here we see the use of MS Publisher. The software can offer you a set of tools useful in creating marketing materials. Here are examples of such tools and features:

Issue	Description(Usage)
Templates	MS Publisher includes a range of templates that can be used for marketing materials like brochures, flyers, and newsletters. They can be easily customized by adding your own text, images, and other content.
Text Tools	It is represented with a range of fonts, sizes, and colors, and effects like shadows and reflections which you can add to your text.
Image Tools	They will let you adjust the brightness and contrast, crop and resize images, add borders and effects, and more.
Shapes and Lines	MS Publisher offers a wide range of shapes and lines. You can use them to create diagrams and charts or to add decorative elements to your publishing materials.
Color Schemes	There are a bunch of pre-designed color schemes included or you can create your own custom scheme to get a consistent look for your marketing materials.
Page Layout Tools	With this program, you can control the layout of your marketing materials, you can adjust the placement of text and images, margins, and spacing. There are also standard alignment tools like guides and rulers.

Overall, Microsoft Publisher is a really good tool for creating marketing and advertising materials. It has everything you need to get a professional-looking result.

How to promote marketing materials?

Let’s take a look at the most known channels you can use to distribute your marketing materials:

• Social media. - Social Media Marketing is now the trend. Most producers now have SMM specialists and account managers, to promote products and services on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Create informative and engaging content such as blog posts, videos, and infographics to promote your brand and products. With MS Publisher you can create flyers, posters, and other marketing materials fitting to most social media except the media for video content like Tik-Tok or Youtube.
• Email marketing lets you send newsletters, promotional emails, and updates to your email subscribers.
• Search engine advertising. - Advertising tools such as Google Ads and Bing Ads are created to promote your marketing materials. Create targeted campaigns according to the semantics relevant to your business. The tools let you track your performance to optimize your ads.
• Direct mail. - Send physical personalized marketing materials such as postcards, brochures, and catalogs to your potential customers and subscribers. This is still an effective channel if your materials are well-tailored to your target audience.
• Collaboration with influencers. Partner with ones from your industry to promote your marketing materials to their subscribers. The partner should have similar brand values as you have, have a strong social media presence and level of expertise, and have a good reputation.
• Attending events. - It is good to take part in or visit trade shows, conferences, meet-ups, exhibitions, and other events to give out your marketing materials and find potential customers.

All of the channels mentioned have their benefits and drawbacks, but all promotional campaigns should be taken seriously not to lose reputation and customers. And in any case, MS Publisher would be a good help for creating most of the advertising and marketing production.

Conclusion

The main purpose of this article was to help you decide if MS Publisher the right tool for you to cover marketing jobs. There were additionally answered common questions in this area and provided practical advice and tips that help businesses and organizations create effective promotional materials.