You need prospects to know about your products or services – and brochures are a brilliant tool to help you achieve this.
In this increasingly digital age, you’d be forgiven for assuming that traditional forms of marketing, such as brochures, are losing their viability.
But you’d be wrong!
Brochures are a brilliant way of grabbing the attention of potential clients.
They stay on your prospect’s desk for a while (unlike a website or email), as they tend to be valued and so retained for reference.
I’ve outlined some key features of a brilliant brochure below, and how it can be used to benefit your company.
What are the key benefits?
There are many benefits to having a company brochure.
Whilst digital marketing gives you visibility online, traditional marketing still has a huge impact on readers.
This is because it’s something they can hold in their hands and look at.
Some of the key benefits include:
- Prospects retain them, keeping you top-of-mind
- Brochures work well when handed out at a sales pitch
- High-quality brochures give ‘inferred’ prestige
- Brochures reinforce your sales message
Brochures give credibility to your business by showing that you feel so strongly about what you offer, that you’ve created a brochure to illustrate it.
Brochures are a great way of reinforcing your sales message
Are brochures cost effective?
The simple answer is: it depends what you’re selling.
The higher the cost of the product or service, the more considered a purchase it will be.
In that case, brochures are a great tool to increase your credibility.
If your services or products are top-end and high-margin, it only takes a few sales to be clinched using it, to make the investment of a brochure worthwhile.
This applies in many B2B industries, including:
- Manufacturers
- Top-end security
- Large-scale wiring
- Professional services
- Top-end construction
Or B2C industries such as fashion, jewellery or cars.
For some products and services, having a brochure is essential – you just don’t look like a serious player without one. This makes it a cost-effective, must-have item.
How can I get the cost down?
A well-designed corporate brochure can be printed digitally in certain circumstances, which reduces yours costs significantly.
To reduce expenses, you need to consider:
- Printing digitally – reduces print costs
- Shell folders – to update your brochure cheaply
- Bindings – can be produced more cheaply
Printing digitally allows you to print in smaller quantities – perhaps only 50 rather than 500. This helps you to easily and cheaply update your brochure as your products or services change.
If you are in a marketplace where products or prices change regularly, printing digitally is a must.
Printing digitally reduces costs and allows you to update your brochure as your services change
How do I design a successful brochure?
For your brochure to be successful, you need to remember one key thing – less is more!
It’s tempting to sell every product & service, for every situation in your brochure. But this makes it less effective by bombarding your readers with too much information.
Your successful brochure needs to:
- Draw reader in with benefit-lead headings
- Highlight your USPs
- Include friendly pictures – show a smiling face!
- Focus on your client
Your brochures need to have a big impact on prospects who don’t read the entire thing.
To do this, make sure the benefits of using you are clear in your subheadings.
That way, even if someone only scans your brochure, they still understand the clear advantages of your product or service.
Pictures are also a crucial component of your brochure. Showing smiling customers or staff using your product or service gives your prospect a clear idea of what you’re offering.