If your company’s business brochure is treated as a rarefied object locked in a cupboard and only bestowed upon those recipients considered worthy, you are most likely suffering from ‘precious brochure syndrome’. If this sounds like your firm, chances are your marketing collateral is gathering dust, not new business.
There’s a better way! Find out more about creating an unpretentious, inexpensive and essential tool that can be ‘actively’ used (by scribbling all over it with a big fat marker pen!) to make an impression and influence new business.
#1: Take a Less is More approach
By that we mean, less razzle dazzle and therefore less cost and a whole lot more relevance.
Traditionally business brochures include many pages, and are the result of a major production involving time, expense and a generous amount of personal frustration – not to mention the risk of being out of date as soon as it’s printed.
When you take a less is more approach you won’t be overwhelmed by the time or cost and will be more inclined to use them as they should be – as a tool which is actively used during meetings and given freely to those who may be interested in your services.
When your business brochure is logical, well designed and succinct, covering what you do, who you do it for, how you do it and why, it will make a whole lot more sense to your prospective clients, compelling them to at the very least to want to know more. Your production cost is also likely to be a whole lot less, and it will be quick and easy to circulate by email.
We recommend that your business brochure should be an A4 double sided leaflet which may be emailed as a PDF, can be printed internally and able to be cost-effectively professionally printed in small print runs.
#2 Make it memorable
Use a marker pen, yes a MARKER PEN to write directly on your precious brochure. Imagine the impact when you double underline important services and circle key outcomes. Be bold and draw on your brochure, whatever it takes to make it clear that you’re the best provider for the job.
While most of your distribution will be via email or downloading from your website, you should also print a short run. If you only need 50 or 100, that’s all you should get.
There’s no longer a need to print off hundreds if you don’t need them – it’s wasteful and expensive. When your business brochure is affordable you won’t need to treat it with kid gloves. But we do understand that all those black scribbles will look pretty untidy, and this could make you feel professionally uncomfortable. The solution is to hand over an additional, clean brochure at the end of your meeting.
You’ll feel confident that your brand and professional presentation remains intact, while your client can refer to your circles, underscores and asterisks when relaying your discussion to other decision makers.
The point is, all your marketing materials need to be put to work in the most meaningful way possible, and drawing all over them to highlight key points will imprint your message in your prospective client’s mind.
While there are hundreds of tools you can include in your marketing program, we believe your essential marketing kit should consist of just FIVE key marketing resources. Click on the link to find out more.
For more information about Bold! Marketing Communication and our Do-Able Marketing model which is underpinned by our 7-Step Do It For Me Marketing Framework please contact us.