You don’t want to design a business brochure for the fun of it. It has an important job to do, as you cajole, coax and motivate people to take action and move through the sales process.
In short, you want a money-making tool… a useful lead generation and sales piece that helps you to grow your business.
Getting your brochure into your prospect
To achieve this, you need to make sure every aspect of your brochure (from the front cover through to the call to action and overall brochure design) is carefully thought-through so that it is ALL interesting, compelling and persuasive.
The front cover MUST be right!
In this article I’m going to give you some of the “tricks of the trade” the graphic designers and copywriters here in our Brisbane studio use to make the front cover of a brochure more effective — and increase the likelihood that people will want to:
- Pick it up,
- Open it and
- Read it.
1. Remember: your business brochure has to compete for attention.
When you design and write your brochure, it is all too easy to be caught up in the moment and assume that the rest of the world is as interested in your product or service as you are.
But that isn’t how it is.
In reality, your prospective customers have many other brochures, advertisements and promotional activities competing for a few moments of their precious time. And even when you get their attention, they are easily distracted with kids, work and all of life’s busyness and challenges.
As if that weren’t enough, your competitors are in the mix as well — each putting their best foot forward to present a more appealing case than yours.
As our business brochure designers will tell you, you must never lose sight of this.
Always, always, ALWAYS remember that in the grand scheme of things, your business brochure is not that important to the person you are marketing to.
It is important to you. But not to them.
So just getting your brochure into your prospect’s hands is not enough. You have to make them want to OPEN it.
2. Think of the cover of your brochure as an advertisement.
When designing any marketing collateral, you need clear objectives so you stay focussed. The front cover of your brochure is no different.
A good way to think about the cover of your brochure is as if it were an advert.
Unlike an advertisement in… say… a magazine where your objective is to get people to call you or come to your business, the objective of the front cover of your brochure is to get people to open it up and read the contents.
When you look at it this way, it alters your thinking and puts you in a much better space.
Instead of writing a front cover about how clever you are, how big your company is or how you killed the Dead Sea barehanded, it forces you to think about your prospect and ask the question: what do they need to read or see that will motivate them to want to open this up and learn more?
And that, let me tell you, is a VERY powerful way to approach the task at hand!
3. Offer a SPECIFIC benefit or solution.
The marketing world is full of vague promises and generalities. They have little credibility, and don’t cut through. To get the attention of your prospects, the cover of your business brochure must be different from this.
To stand out against all the competing noise, it must stake a strong claim — with a credible promise based around either a:
- Specific problem that you can solve for your prospect or
- Specific desire or objective you can help them to achieve.
Notice that I said ‘specific’.
That is one of the keys to success. It immediately shows, right there on the front cover, that your business has something to offer that is in their best interest. And the way to find out more is to open your brochure and see what’s inside.
So how do you do this?
As our brochure copywriter will tell you, the first thing to do is to look at life through the eyes of your customer.
Walk in their shoes. Ask yourself…
- What do they want?
- What are they missing out on?
- What is their biggest pain?
- How do they feel?
- What are they worried about?
- How would they like their life to be?
Once you have clarified these, you will have the basis for your front cover — indeed for the entire brochure!
4. Talk to ONE person.
Although your brochure will be viewed by hundreds or even thousands of people, that is of no interest to the INDIVIDUAL who is reading it.
In their world, there is only one person: me.
So, use direct, empathetic copy that speaks to the reader in a personal, one-on-one style.
Example one…
If you are marketing a legal practice specialising in… say… franchise law, you might want to target people who are considering buying a franchise. Walking in their shoes, issues of uncertainty, not feeling confident and wanting to be legally protected come to mind.
From this, your brochure’s front cover might say:
“Considering a franchise? Let our experts make sure your legal rights are protected — so you can start your business with confidence.”
Example two…
If you sold guitars, your market is both the parent and the child who wants to learn. Walking in their shoes, issues such as picking the right instrument or making good progress come to mind.
From this, your brochure’s front cover might say:
“Discover why learning the guitar is easy and more fun when you have the RIGHT instrument — set up and tuned especially for a beginner”
In both of these examples, the message is specific, and focusses on a problem or a desire that is likely to be important to the target market. It is also personal, talking just to the person reading the brochure.
With this approach to brochure copywriting, supported by a design that leads the eye forward towards opening the page, you have the makings of a front cover that will pull its weight — and help make your business brochure a profitable lead generation and sales tool.
Let our brochure designers give you an advantage.
Good brochure design is VERY important, whether it is for direct mail or to be handed to people personally.
You want to be sure that you are putting your best foot forward, and that both the copywriting and artwork are appealing, easy to read and present the best possible case to your prospective customers.
To make sure your brochure is strong and persuasive, give us a call on (07) 3891 3800. We’ll make sure you are presenting the correct image — catering to your target market and helping you to out-market your competitors.
