Your company has a website, Twitter feed, email newsletter, and a killer YouTube channel. Life as a digital marketer is good. Yet, you don't stop there. You've got slick brochures and a PowerPoint for any situation too.

All the bases are covered. There's lots of marketing information floating around about your products and services to satisfy the needs of any human or search engine.

So, you're thinking that potential buyers have the information they need to make a decision in your favor. And your sales team should be happy since you're helping them be more effective.

Well, probably not.

Most marketing and sales tools fail to make a difference. They don't focus on the reader -- not giving potential customers the solutions they want. On top of that, companies tend to rely too much on marketing and sales materials. They try too hard to deliver their message instead of solutions prospects can use.

The result is that for many businesses, little of the marketing materials they create are worth using. Here are a few tips to make your marketing and sales materials work more effectively for you.

Your marketing materials are like supporting actors. Customers buy solutions and the peace of mind that they work as promised. Just like a supporting actor, sales materials play an important role without being in the spotlight. The only stars in this movie are your buyer, the solution, and it's benefits. Everything you write and everything you present supports that.

Less really is more. People are hungry for information that will satisfy their needs. Not long, unnecessary verbiage and nonsense about how great you are. Less words and more space will force you to get to the point and put your focus where it should be -- on your prospective customer. Get rid of elaborate jargon and stick with clear, concise language. And just like your brochures, please keep your PowerPoint presentation uncluttered and bullet points to a minimum! But that doesn't mean you have to write or present in a dry and boring way. Engage your audience with a story wrapped around the solution they are looking for.

Discuss, don't lecture. You'll know you're on the right track with your marketing when prospects become involved in a discussion. Yes, you and your company are the experts that prospects wants to hear from, but they'll be a lot more receptive to what you're offering when you engage them in a dialog. You can do this with written materials and social media just as easily as in a face-to-face presentation. Just ask questions. That's what your future customers want -- to be the center of attention and talk about their business and their needs. Put yourself in their position and ask, “Why should I care?” Spend time developing the questions your prospects want to be asked.

It's about the customer, not you, and certainly not your marketing and sales materials. Write and present from the perspective of your target audience.

Prospects don't want self-centered brochures and wordy websites. They only want solutions. If you haven't focused on your potential customer and giving them the solutions they want, then all the marketing materials in the world won't make it better.

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Ron Stein is President of FastPath Marketing (www.marketing-strategies-guide.com). He works with small business owners, helping them to energize their marketing and sell more of their products and services. Ron has developed his own highly successful 7-step approach to winning new customers as a result of his experience as a small business owner, corporate CEO, marketing and business development executive, salesman, and mentor at two nationally recognized business accelerators. Ron offers one-on-one and small group mentoring, conducts seminars, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or Ron@FastPathMarketing.com.