Chances are your company invests a lot of time and money in developing sound promotional and advertising programs. After carefully considering important elements such as positioning, graphic design, strategy, media placement and other aspects of effective marketing, the result should be ads and promos that generate leads and sales.

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans can be tripped up by relatively minor oversights.

Review these suggestions to help make your ads and promos more effective:

Are you trying to increase awareness, educate, persuade, or motivate your audience? What exactly do you want your audience to think or do after seeing your ad or promo? If you don’t know, your audience won’t either.

Avoid direct mail pieces that tear upon opening because of staples or adhesive; newsletters that roll up like window shades because they’ve been delivered in mailing tubes; shrink-wrapped materials that require determination and sharp-edged tools to open. Avoid clumsy packaging that can frustrate the receiver and hamper your objective - smooth and easy communication.

It’s okay to be on top of graphic design trends, but there is a point where you risk alienating steady customers if your sales material starts looking like it’s aimed at high school seniors.

Experienced designers understand the importance of using type faces that balance design considerations with readability. Unfortunately, too many desktop publishers are tempted to go berserk in specifying and manipulating type. The result is often type that’s loaded with attitude and visual impact - at the expense of readability.

In most cases, really effective ads and promotions connect to other sales materials issued by the company. Over time, this continuity helps prospects and customers become aware of the particular identity the advertiser seeks to establish. While one-shot ads and promotions are sometimes appropriate, the general rule is to have everything tie together to create synergy.