Note: This, too, is a nostalgic walk. This “post” is THE first “article” for my first website. That site was www.PennGroup.com. Economic factors lead me to drop the domain name around 1997. Now an insurance company owns it and I regret it about three times a year. For now, here’s the post exactly as I first published in in 1994.
Your competitors are fighting hard to get your customer’s attention and money! Rising printing and mailing costs are making it tougher for you to reach your customer. You have to do something creative to capture your customer or prospect’s attention. You must develop promotion pieces designed to persuade—to convince your audience to buy your products. These 12 steps will get you headed in the right direction toward writing more effective and profitable brochures.
STEP ONE: Clearly identify your audience.
What is the intended reader’s age, educational background, social status, and possible interests? Are you writing to satisfied customers, or unknown prospects? What are the informational needs of your audience?
STEP TWO: Determine the desired end result or purpose for the brochure.
This may seem obvious, but many folks either try to include in the brochure everything about the company since it began, or they just start writing with no clear goal in mind. Before you begin writing the brochure, write a concise purpose for creating the brochure. Is your goal to sell a specific product? To provide information only? To prepare the way for a follow-up phone call by a salesperson? To ask for an appointment to demonstrate the product? Is it a “leave behind” to be used after meeting with a prospect? Will it be used to respond to customer or prospect inquiries? Knowing why you are writing will help you define how to say it.
STEP THREE: Put a strong selling message on the cover.
Many times the outside of your brochure is the only thing your audience will see. Communicate enough to let the reader know what you’re about, but be sure to lure him inside the brochure as well. Don’t try to be clever or try your hand at comedy here. Build anticipation of some “reward” to be gained through reading the rest of the brochure. In addition to a strong headline that clearly identifies the product, picture the product in use or picture the end results of using the product on the front cover. A strong headline is one that clearly states a benefit the reader will find intriguing. The dictionary defines benefit as anything that is advantageous or for the good of a person. Your headline should tell your audience what advantage they would achieve with your product or service. Remember the universal question each potential reader asks, “What’s in it for me,” and answer it on the cover. Just in case you’re wondering, it’s okay to start your body text on the cover. The reader’s eye will naturally travel to the lead paragraph. If the message is right, the reader’s hooked. Just because tradition says to put only a headline and graphic on the cover doesn’t mean you can’t start your body text there.
STEP FOUR: Use photographs, graphs, charts, Illustrations, and diagrams to show the reader what you mean.
While illustrations can help show a product, photographs are more effective. Photos are more believable and communicate that the product actually exists. The best photos are those that show people successfully using your product.
One caveat, though—don’t put too many photos on a page. One large photo is better than several small photos.
STEP FIVE: Use captions under photographs, graphs, charts, illustrations, and diagrams.
Those people who do look further than your brochure cover may not read every word on the inside, so include captions. Captions, because they are short, aren’t intimidating to the harried reader. They get noticed. Use captions to tell the whole story. Include key benefits. They’re more likely to be read.
STEP SIX: Give complete information.
Stop to think about why your reader will read your brochure. Most likely he recognizes he has a need or desire and believes you may have what he needs/wants. Before he can make that determination, though, he needs more information. Give him all the information he needs to intelligently take the next step in the buying process. Photos and graphs are great, but be sure you give the reader what he really wants—information that will help him solve his problem.
STEP SEVEN: Make the brochure easy to read by dividing the copy into short non-threatening sections.
Short sections give the reader visual “breathing room.” Use subheadings to break the text into “bite-size” pieces.
STEP EIGHT: Make your headlines & subheadings work double-duty for you.
Some readers will only skim quickly through your brochure reading only the headlines. Think of your own reading habits. When you read the Sunday paper, do you read every word, or do you scan the headlines? Use headlines to get attention and to communicate buyer benefits. Make them a powerful story-telling device. For instance, instead of “Fast Delivery Systems,” write “Impress Your Customers With A Two-Day Delivery System That Gets Your Package There On Time, Every Time.”
I’ve heard some copywriters say the ideal headline should be no more than seven words. Forget them. Make your headlines as long as they need to be. Don’t worry about the number of words. It’s better to have a long headline that makes a point than a short headline that says nothing.
STEP NINE: Make it exciting.
Think of your brochure as a story—a story that convinces your prospect that you can solve his problem. Don’t just state a bland, uninteresting series of facts. Write about what is important to your reader—more money, more leads, more appointments, quicker turnaround, more sales. Find the element of excitement in your product, and let your reader know about it.
STEP TEN: Don’t date your brochure.
Think about the expected life of the brochure. Will you reprint it every season, or once every three years? Don’t include any information that would make your brochure inaccurate or useless in the near future. If prices are to be changed soon, you’d be better off putting them on a separate sheet.
STEP ELEVEN: Tell your reader what to do next. Tell him how to take the next step.
Determine what the next step is, and clearly tell the reader how to take it. Is the next step a demonstration? Tell your reader to call to arrange an appointment. Make sure your phone number is in an obvious place. Is the next step an estimate? Tell the reader what information is needed for you to calculate an estimate, give your phone/fax number, and tell him to call today.
STEP TWELVE: Include all the details.
In your pursuit of creativity, don’t leave out important information like your company name, address, phone numbers, email address, logo, store directions, list of distributors, credit cards accepted, guarantees and warranty information, shipping, trademarks, disclaimers, form numbers, key codes, and copyright lines.
