Brochures

Does Your Brochure Stand Out From the Competition, Close the Deal or Bring You Repeat Business?

If you answered NO to any of the above questions, you are NOT using your brochure to its best business marketing advantage.  STOP…and really take a good look at your brochure.

Most brochures are nothing more than a collection of a few pictures and a few details about a business. However, brochures can and should be used as powerful tools that distinguish your company from your competition. Here are a few things to keep in mind that will turn your brochure into a powerful sales tool.

1. Focus On The Customer.

Most brochures are written with the focus on the company. When you do that, it tends to be to “braggy” and you must remember that customers care very little about your business, but are only interested in fulfilling their own wants and needs.

So talk about how your product or service meets those wants and needs. Focus on the customer and they will love your business and they will reward you by making a purchase. Make your brochure all about the benefits they seek.

2.  What Have You Got?

With your customer in mind, it is important to show how your business and what you have to offer them out performs your competition.  BE SPECIFIC!

1. Are you faster?

2. Tell the customer how what you provide will benefit them; such as saving time in their very busy day or make them        look and feel like a “Rock Star” or give them the relaxation time they are longing for.

3. Is your product better quality? Tell why it is better and the benefits from the better quality.

By doing this, not only will you be persuading prospects to do business with you for the first time, you will also be preventing them from doing business with a competitor in the future.

3.  Give.

To ensure that your brochure will be kept, be sure to put a special offer on it. For example, give them a discount on their visit or offer them a FREE sample product.  By doing this, your brochure becomes a valuable asset to your customer and to your business.

4.  Less is more…more or less?

There are a couple ways to look at this.  Depending on the type of business you have and what you are trying to accomplish, your brochure needs to reflect this.

Think about it:  do you need to describe everything to the tiniest detail or can you just give them a bit about each of the things you offer?

As much as we all like to give ALL of the information WE think the customer wants; it is far more important to give the customer what he or she needs.  If we give them too much information, we run the risk of not attracting them enough because there is nothing more they need to know.

If we give them too little, then we run the risk of not having them interested in what we have to offer.

Give them enough information to entice them.  Draw them in. Get them to call.

Being that I was in the beauty industry for over 10 years, my brochures (like every other salon/spa) reflected the services I offered:  haircuts, color, nails, massage, facials.

Now most everybody knows that a salon or a spa offers these types of services.  So all I needed to do was list the service and the cost, but I projected with my brochure the “feel” of my salons and spas with the colors, my mission statement and a couple tastefully placed pictures to entice them into my doors.

And most importantly…and this is IMPORTANT…express the BENEFITS of each service or at least a few of your services.  People buy to solve a problem they have, so by conveying the benefits of a product or service you have a greater chance of getting that client through your door.

If there is one service that you specialize in (or you can do this with all services) and want to give it special attention, then you may want to design a brochure with ONLY that particular service featured.

5.  Brand Your Business.

As important as it is for your brochure to project to your customers what type of business you have, what products or services your offer and what it is going to cost them, you must remember to use your brochure as a branding tool.  Your brochure needs to have the same “feel” of the rest of your business.

When people see your business, do they see your logo?  When they see your logo, are they seeing your business?  Most companies that use brochures are not getting the maximum possible result from them.

By following these simple steps above, you can turn your brochure into the ultimate sales weapon.

Over the years, I have spent thousands of dollars on brochures trying to get them right.  I am one that likes to talk and gives everyone all of the information that I THINK they need to have, only to find out that I could have condensed it to get my message across and not be so “busy” and cluttered.  Once I learned that, my brochures were graciously received and accepted as pieces of art with information that was valuable.

You can do this too.  Remember…

1.  Brand your business…USE YOUR LOGO!
2.  Think like your customer.  What do they want and need?    THINK BENEFITS!!!  Solve their problems.
3.  Use it as a sales tool.  GIVE them an incentive to use your business.