In an age where everything and its mother is digitized, there’s still something to be said for having collateral that people can hold in their hands. As such, brochures are some of the most effective means of marketing communication you can deploy.
With that being said, most brochures are – in a word – awful. Nothing is better than a good brochure to be sure – but a bad one can actually hurt your business more than help it. This week, well share out the three essential ingredients that your brochure needs to have in order to be successful.
Here they are:
While we’d love to heap praise on the modern consumer’s attention span, the fact is it just wouldn’t be keeping in touch with reality. Consumers have incredibly short attention spans these days – whether it’s on the web or out in the physical world. As such, your brochure’s cover needs to be attention grabbing, interesting and engaging. That means compelling design and graphics and headlines that reel them in. You’ll only have a few seconds, if that, to grab their attention. Make the best of it!
The primary purpose of a brochure is to keep moving people through the sales cycle. In a way- it’s almost like cattle ranching. Think about what you want your customers to do and then write your brochure to achieve that specific purpose. Is it to go to your website? Sell sponsorships? Order clothes? A good call to action will tell your readers exactly what you want them to do and should stand out from the rest of the copy so that your readers don’t miss it.
Long story, short: you care about your business more than your customers do. And you know what? That’s fine. But don’t expect your enthusiasm for your business to translate in to actionable solutions to your customers’ problems. Customers simply aren’t interested in you, your history and your accomplishments. Yes, those can help, but they shouldn’t be the primary focus of your content. The customer and their challenges should be the focus. Can your business lower their costs? Save time? Help them pass their competition? Determine what your product does for others and purpose the copy to achieve that task. Then use imagery that supports it.
