The other day I visited a nursery school for a meeting.
I was in the staff room meeting with the principal and the teacher in charge of their website when one of the children came to the principal carrying a broken item, saying, "It broke."
(I'll just say "item" to avoid identifying anyone.)

When the child held out the item and said, "It broke," the principal replied, "And so what do you want to do about it?"
The child then asked, "Please fix it," and the principal said, "All right," and took it.

Afterward another child came in the same way, and the principal responded exactly the same, and that child also said, "Please fix it," before leaving the staff room.

Watching this, I was impressed.
The school is presumably teaching the children to clearly express what they want done—and that matters, because there are so many people, not just children but adults too, who can't clearly state what they want (in fact, the children could answer when the principal asked "And so what do you want to do about it?", so they were properly conveying what they wanted).

Websites, mobile sites, flyers and brochures also need to state clearly what you want the reader to do. It's an utterly obvious point, yet a great many promotional materials fail to do it.

What does "stating clearly what you want them to do" actually mean? It means that when a prospect looks at your website, mobile site, flyer or brochure and becomes interested in your product or service, you need to clearly tell that prospect what to do next.

For example, say you work for a homebuilder and want to sell new homes. A prospect searches online, arrives at your company's website or mobile site, sees your past projects and thinks, "This house is lovely. I'd like to know more." But even though they're interested, if they can't figure out where or how to get in touch and end up leaving... what a waste, right?

If you want interested prospects to first request materials so they can learn more, write something like: "Start by requesting our brochure. Contact us via this request form and your materials will be shipped within 2–3 days." Or if you want them to call, write: "Please feel free to call us. Toll-free: 0120-000-000. Hours: weekdays 9:00–18:00."
These may look like phrases you see all the time, but surprisingly often they're unclear—or a phone number is simply listed on its own with nothing telling the reader to "please call."

I don't have the exact figures at hand, so I'll post them if I come across the source again, but apparently websites and mobile sites that place wording encouraging a call around the phone number (such as "Please feel free to call us.") get a higher response rate than those that simply list the number.

Some people are reluctant to state these things clearly, saying, "I don't want to come across as pushy." Unless there's a special reason not to, I strongly recommend including them. You're the only one who thinks it's pushy; prospects looking at your website, mobile site, flyer or brochure want information, and they want you to clearly show them the next step (without it, they can't act).

Do keep this in mind when you're writing copy for your promotional materials.