Cutting through the clutter and actually getting your prospects to sit up and pay attention is no easy feat given the amount of information that's thrown at us every day. When you swamp your prospects with unnecessary information it works against you: it clouds their minds and confuses them and confused people don't buy.

So, how do you decide what to include and what to leave out? Here are two important guidelines to get you started.

First: Your target market

All your materials need to be geared to your target market.

What are their pains and problems, hopes and dreams? That's what you need to talk about. They have to be convinced that you understand what makes them tick (and what they need to tick even better!), and that you have a solution to their problems. For your purposes, that's all they want to know. Before I ever put a word on paper I spend a lot of time researching my client's target market and figuring out how to hit their hot buttons.

Second: What do they need to know in order to be convinced to hire you?

People don't need to know everything you do. For example, you may know me as a copywriter and marketing consultant. But did you know that I'm also a business coach? OK, so some of you did! But for those who didn't, I usually don't tell you that when I'm talking to you about my writing services. It's just not relevant to you when you're worried about the quality of your brochure, wondering how on earth to put an informational booklet together or sweating over the right wording for a sales letter.

Resist the temptation to include details about every aspect of your business. Keep your material focused only on what's relevant to the problems of your target market and the solutions you can offer.

This information will be specific to YOUR service and YOUR target market.

Obviously all the above applies to marketing pieces whose purpose is to generate leads. It's a whole different matter if your purpose is to dispense information or to educate.

Maggie Dennison is a Marketing Consultant and Writer. She is the author of "11 Steps To Marketing Materials That Get You Clients NOW!" Maggie holds a Master's Degree in Applied Psychology, and is fascinated with what triggers people to do the things they do. And that's exactly what marketing materials are all about. Pick up a free report "11 Keys to Website Content That Works" at her website http://MyMarketingMessage.com/