The most popular and useful method of printing used in the business world is brochure printing. This type of printing gives business the option of educating the reader as well as creating a wide customer base. Brochure printing, like post card printing needs to be of a high quality. People will look at the printing of the brochure and see it as a direct reflection on your business, so it needs to be of a high printing quality.
Brochures are a good way to let people know your business exists. They can be easily be handed out and passed around. The overall cost is nominal for any size business and brochures that briefly state the business services can help increase sales dramatically. For a more vibrant effect you really need to use full color brochure printing.
Many small businesses rely on brochures as their first form of sales communication but find them unsuccessful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish effective and attractive materials. The appearance and content of brochures and other sales material are so important because they represent your company to customers, suppliers, investors and employees. This is the first impression and, basically, your sales materials are your company in many people’s minds. For that reason, even small businesses benefit from hiring qualified professionals to create their communication or advertising materials.
1. Who is your audience?
You have already determined where your brochure fits into the buying process. Do not forget to target that particular audience. Decide what type of information this audience needs and write your brochure accordingly. Here are some questions to ask yourself.
Who is your audience? What is the best way to communicate with them? As an example, when you talk to engineers, do they want to see photos of your equipment or charts on your performance? Do you know whether customers want to see photos of your facility or your staff?
2. What is the purpose of your brochure?
Your product, the market, even your approach to how you want to make the sale are all major factors in how you write your brochure. Determine where your brochure functions in the buying process. Take a look at these examples.
* Leave-Behinds – Named for the type of brochure you leave behind after meeting a potential customer. * Point-of-sale – The type of brochure you may pick up while waiting in line at the bank. * Respond to Inquiries – Someone asks about a specific product and you drop a brochure in the mail to them to follow up. * Direct Mail – Your sales letter sells but you can also include your brochure into your direct mail package. * Sales Support Tool – Similar to leave-behinds but you use this type as a selling aid through a sales pitch.
Will you hand it out at a trade show with other materials or mail it to potential customers with a cover letter? Does it need to communicate only general information about your company or actively help you make a sale? The purpose determines its design and content. Define and communicate this clearly to the writer and designer of your brochure.
3. What are your selling points?
Think of your brochure as a book. It tells a story about your product/service. Your brochure should have a beginning, middle and an end. And just like a book, most people will look at the front cover, back cover, and maybe even flip through the pages to see if it is worth reading. How you determine the organization of your selling points depends knowing your audience. Once you have determined who is going to read your brochure, then you choose the approach that will best fit these readers.
Remember that you are in business because you solve a problem for your customers and thus, give them a benefit. For example, your potential customer really needs a contractor to build and design parts for his airplane. If you are a parts manufacturer and have aerospace engineers on staff to design these parts, which is a benefit to your customer be sure they know. How well you communicate your unique benefits to your customers will determine whether or not they will choose to do business with you.
4. Do you know your competitors brochure?
Pick up samples that you find attractive and informative to use as a basis for your own project. Look up catalogues in the Thomas Register and check out web pages on the Internet. Try to understand how these companies convey their message. Analyze the information, photos, writing and designs in the materials and use them as a reference when designing your own brochure. One word of caution and advice, don’t let those expensive, glossy materials from the large companies intimidate you; learn from them. Get ideas that work from the expensive materials and adapt them to fit your budget. Large companies put large budgets of research and design into their materials, by reviewing them, you, too, can understand what works and use it too.
5. Is your information complete, accurate and thorough?
Before you start creating the copy in your brochure, take the time to think about the information you want to include. If you open up most brochures and you will find quite a bit of content. That is because brochures need to contain as much information as possible to get your potential customer to the next step – the purchase. Someone who is interested in your product will read every word of your brochure. However, your prospect will feed their paper shredder if you are not providing them with useful information.
If you are willing to spend time and money on a brochure, make sure the project is completed on time; on budget and that the company actually uses it for the intended purpose. Place it on your list of projects to manage with very definite timelines. Do not assume that someone else will take care of the details, including proofreading. Remember, this represents your company to the world – give it the time it deserves.
Posted on November 4th, 2008 by tpc
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