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Crafting the perfect marketing message can be complicated. Far too often a business spends hours crafting marketing material, only to have the vast majority of their clients completely ignore the message. Unfortunately, there are no sure-fire ways to get your message across, but there are things you should avoid and steps you can take to increase the chances of your message being well-received. Whether you are attempting to reach your customers through text marketing, mailers, or email blasts, following the steps below will give you a higher response rate.

Know Your Target Audience

The first step to developing your marketing message is to know the target audience that you are trying to reach. The same message that is viewed positively by a single woman in her twenties who loves dogs and comedy might not be received in the same light by an older man who likes to talk about politics and the economy and vice-versa. Figure out exactly who you are trying to reach and craft your marketing around that group.

Take Advantage of FOMO

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, has a crippling effect on many people. No one wants to let a great opportunity pass them by, so take advantage of this fear in your marketing. Tell them that you have something they are missing in their life, but do it in the right terms. This article points out some successful subject lines for email marketing, and one that stands out takes advantage of the FOMO epidemic. The email was from JetBlue and the subject read: “You’re missing out on points”. The fear of missing out on something that others are taking advantage of could cause many customers to click on this email.

Talk With a Tone of Familiarity

Although we are talking about marketing messages here, it is often best to come across less like you are marketing something and more like you are trying to help out a friend. This is especially useful when using text messaging to reach your audience.  When you make your tone familiar and friendly, the recipient might almost forget that something is being sold to them.

Be Unique

Every day, your customer’s inbox, phone, and mailbox are flooded with marketing material. There are so many companies trying to get their message across that the majority of them get completely ignored. It’s time to make your message stand out. Planning on sending out a mailer? Make it a unique, eye-catching shape. Take a tip from these creative thinkers who knew that the job market was tough and they needed to make themselves stand out from the crowd.

There’s no denying it: consumers are hard to reach. The four simple steps outlined above will help increase the chances of your message being received by the right people and in the right light.