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.
Remember to always use your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), Credibility (how long you have been in business, a few testimonies from your clients, media), and your Guarantee!
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 “value driven offer” on their visit. Or offer a FREE product or accompanying service. 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.
Now most everybody knows that a salon or a spa offers these types of services. So all that is needed is to list the service and the cost, but projecting with your brochure the “feel” of you salon and spa with the colors, mission statement and a couple tastefully placed pictures to entice them into my doors is quite enticing.
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. “Find their pain and offer the solution.”
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…to a point.
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 and maybe the prices (although not always recommended), you must remember to use your brochure as a marketing tool. Your brochure does not necessary need to be fancy or expensive, but should the benefits of what you provide
When people see your business, do they see your logo? When they see your logo, are they seeing your business? Most spas and salons spend way to much money on brochures that are providing no results at all! Yes, logos are great and represent you, but unless you are going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for the branding recognition, it is more important for money to be spent on getting the right clients through your doors and keeping them coming back again and again.
By following these simple steps above, you can
turn your brochure into the ultimate sales weapon.
Over the years, many spa and salon owners have spent thousands of dollars on brochures trying to get them just right. Doing what it take to make your brochure all about what the products and services will do for your client (remember it is all about them!) and help them with the pain they need to solve; such as fine lines and wrinkles, feeling less bloated all of the time, hating to look in the mirror, dry frizzy hair, etc. will get you far more business, than a pretty shiny one that only states the obvious like any other salon or spa! Once you learn that, your brochures will be a valuable marketing tool instead of just a pretty piece of shiny expensive paper that will probably just get tossed into the trash!
You can do this too. Remember…
1. Think Benefits and Results for your Clients, not features! What will that particular service or product do for them? Paint a clear picture of what the results will be and now it will change them for the better.
2. I will say it again…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….and to keep them coming back again again, make sure you have systems in place!