Often a business brochure is thrown together. You grab a product photo or two, slap some verbiage together, and BAM you have a brochure. Unfortunately, you also probably have wasted your time and effort because your brochure will fail to communicate and invoke action.

Why? Because there are at least 11 points that most brochures for small businesses leave out that will affect the overall performance of the brochure itself.

By performance I mean results. The purpose of that beautiful full-color brochure is to move a customer to a decision to buy or at least closer to buying and to separate you from your competition.

How can you make your business brochures more effective?

The following are 11 powerful techniques that will improve the look and effectiveness of your business’s sales brochures.

Your businesses marketing brochures will create an impression of professionalism and competence or it will leave the impression of a small-time shady operation.

The bigger the ticket item the more important it is to have professionally designed and printed brochures and sales literature.

So, what can you do to make your business brochures stand out and, more importantly, be effective? By effective, we’re talking about the result of getting people to buy your products and services.

The following are 11 tips to help you create powerful sales brochures and literature:

1. Start your planning with the reader’s point-of-view in mind. Before you sit down and slap together a brochure, spend some time looking at the end-user.

• Who is your end-user?
• What questions do they usually have?
• What benefits of your product or service do they want?
• How does your product or service solve a problem for them?

2. What is the purpose of your brochure?

• Is it to help over-come buying objections for a specific product or service?
• Is it to educate the buyer about the benefits of a product or service?
• Is it an overall company introduction piece?

3. Promote only one product per brochure. Resist the urge to put every product or service you offer. The reason for this is your brochure will become too cluttered and will be hard to read and follow. The result is that no one will buy what you are trying to sell.

I understand you want to showcase and highlight everything your business offers, but you should do a separate brochure for each product you offer.

An example of this is your local bank; they have a separate brochure for checking accounts, credit cards, and mortgage loans. The reason is if you are interested in a checking account you want information about just checking accounts. Anything else in that brochure would distract you from what your main purpose is.

4. The headline. Your headline is your main attention-getter.

Your Headline has to convey the main benefit of the product or service expressed in easy to understand language.

The purpose of a headline is to get the attention of the end-user and create an interest in reading your brochure. (There are some tricks to creating good headlines that Wilson Print Marketing can help you with.)

5. Use of graphics. Choose graphic elements that help to communicate the message you want to convey. Graphic elements should support the message not distract from it.
6. Avoid using industry terminology. If you have to use industry terms always define them and do not assume your reader will know what they mean. This is also true about specific designations and titles. The quickest way to lose your reader is to use terminology they do not understand.

I have seen brochures that are so packed with big terms that it makes you wonder if they are trying to sell a product or impress you with how smart they are. What these brochures accomplish is in making the reader feel stupid.

Every industry has terminology that everyone in the industry knows. The error is in assuming your reader/end-user will know and understand your terminology.

When people come across terminology they don’t understand your intended communication is broken as a result. The reader’s eyes glass over and they throw the brochure away.

7. Avoid being boring. The quickest way to be boring is to use tired worn-out cliché’s in your brochure.

Avoid saying things like “conveniently located”, “in business for 50 years” and for god’s sake, do not put a photo of your building on the cover of the brochure, unless somehow your building is of some benefit to the reader.

8. White space is your friend. Avoid packing brochures with too much copy. We are in a sound bite, small clip era – keep it short and simple.

When your reader opens a brochure packed with information the instinct is to close it and put it down. This is called information overload.

Use white space to calm the piece down, highlight main points and help sell your message. When the reader opens the brochure you want them to instantly be interested. Your brochure must appear easy read.

9. Call-to-action is important. How do you want them to respond? Why should they respond now? Your call to action should be easy to see. Do not make the reader search around on how to respond.
10. The Buy Now Offer. What is your ultimate goal? You want to sell something, right? Give the reader a reason/benefit of calling you now as opposed to six months from now. The buy-now is a marketing basic yet I am surprised how often this point is neglected.

Without a buy-now offer, your piece is an image-branding piece. Branding and image are ok if you are a big company with a board of directors and investors you want to make feel good. Unfortunately, a small business needs and wants to sell something today and a sole branding piece does not sell.

FREE EBOOK

10 Common Mistakes and Pitfalls Made On Brochures!






11. Resist the DIY impulse. I know it seems easy but there is more to designing a brochure than arranging photos and copy. Mistakes commonly made by DIY graphic designers are:

• New Times Roman is not the best font to use.
• Using several different fonts that are not in the same font family.
• Boxy sterile-looking design.
• No eye trail. You want to guide the reader’s eye. There are several tricks a professional designer uses to do this.
• There is no color balance making your brochure look busy and difficult to read.
• Folds and margins are off and can make your brochure look unprofessional.
• NO, Vista Print template designers or any other online design templates are not good to use.

Online graphic design templates are there to help the printer sell printing not to help you sell your product.

You may feel like you are saving money on design but when your brochure does not work you end up wasting money on printing.

Hire a professional to help you design your brochure for your small business and other sales literature. Wilson Print Marketing has several designers on staff to help you create the perfect brochure for your small business.

Today more than ever, you need printed materials to market and sell your product or service. The problem with using only digital media and online literature is in 2 seconds your digital brochure is gone, a printed brochure is held, is real, and creates a lasting impression.

Your business website design can be one of the single most important things to have for your business today. Many business owners and managers do not understand how vital a functional website is to the success of their business.

Everything changed in the world of marketing back in 2007 when Apple released the first iPhone. Over the next few years Androids, iPads, and Notebooks flooded the market almost overnight. Now it is easier and more convenient than ever for people to access the Internet.

If you were not paying attention, you might have missed this important trend which makes it vital for you to have a good website and not just an electronic billboard.

Internet and Website Trends Today

72% of people who have smartphones use it to access the internet. 51% of all internet traffic as of the writing of this article, is via a smartphone.

What happens when someone sees an advertisement for your business today? 94% of people will go online and research your business. They will look at your website, services offered, and read your online reviews.

According to Google Analytics, 96% of people who go to your website will leave without taking any further action. These people will not sign up for your electronic newsletter; they will not download a free report; they just leave and go to one of your competitors who came up when they Googled your company name.

There is a term used in online marketing – conversions. This simply means the people from your website that converted to a lead by filling out a form or called you directly, or if you have a shopping cart they bought something.

How your website is designed either help your conversions or hurts them. This means your website design will either generate leads and new customers or it won’t.

As a business owner, website design may sound like a foreign world and very complicated. People who design websites tend to make it seem that way, often it just hides the fact that they don’t know what they are doing.

10 Things To Consider When Creating a Business Website Design

#1: It is very simple really. What do you want when you go to a website? You want answers to questions, product information, prices, and solutions to problems. You do not what to have to look around. The flow should be obvious. Elements should be clear.

What things do your customers want to find when they are looking for your product or service?

#2 What is your goal with your business website design? In other words, what is the purpose of your website?

If you have a clear purpose of what you want to accomplish with your website it will be easier for you to communicate what is wanted to your web designer.

#3 Pages with clear headlines that answer the question of “what is in it for me?”

#4 Don’t use industry nomenclature and terminology. You will just confuse and cause your visitors’ eyes to glaze over and hasten a click out of your website. Explain in common language and present your services as benefits to the reader.

#5 Basic elements are: what, why, and how will it help me and how much is it. These are the most common things people are looking for. The “how much?” should be limited because for most businesses when you put a price on the website it stops the reach to call you and you want them to contact you.

Make it easy to contact you. The phone number should be prominently displayed everywhere possible.

#6 Call to action buttons or “doorknobs” as they are called are obvious. A doorknob opens a door to another section on your website. Doorknobs should be related to the subject being addressed or direct the person to the next logical step on their quest for more information.

#7 Don’t be obnoxious with pop-ups. Pop-ups are necessary to get conversions/leads but if used too much will drive people off your website.

#8 If possible, make your website a resource. People are on the internet looking for help and solutions to a problem. Go out of your way to provide service and to provide useful information.

The trick is to only provide enough information to “wet their whistle”, not to quench their thirst. You want to increase the reach of the person for more information to the point that they call or email you.

#9 Note on domains: Everyone’s first instinct is to select a domain for their website that is their company name. Which in some circumstances is okay, but it is better to have a domain that has keywords that people would search for. For example, a financial advisor could have retirementplanning.com or taxplanning.com or retiremeright.com

#10 hire a professional web designer. Just because WordPress and other services make it easy to design a website it does not mean you should have your brother-in-law or friend design it. There is a technology to designing and programming a website that you need to have in order to have a successful website.

We have a business web design division with the best designers and programmers to help your business have the best possible website.

 Have a question? Fill out the form below and one of our Marketing Consultants will contact you shortly.

I am a simple man. I like things that are A to B, simple and straight forward. Technology is changing so fast nowadays it is difficult to keep up.

What is the best way to advertise your small business? Well, one thing is for sure, advertising a small business today “ain’t all sunshine and rainbows”.

Have you ever felt like you are throwing money down a flaming money pit when you try to advertise your business? Me too. Been there done that.

Have things really changed that much? On the surface, things seemed to have changed quite a bit. Your prospects are on the move and harder to reach than ever before. Even if you do manage to reach them, they are exposed to a lot of different advertising messages coming at them from a myriad of angles–not only traditional advertising mediums such as radio, TV, billboards, and magazines but with Google ads, Facebook ads, Twitter, Youtube and text messages.

The question is how can I get a response. There are two rules I apply to all advertising:

• Will my advertising message actually reach the prospect?
• How do I want them to respond? (How will they respond really?)

The answer to the first question is direct mail. It is the only medium today that actually reaches your prospect – directly – in their hands. Many people consider that direct mail is dead. Let me ask you this.

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO DOES NOT HAVE A MAILBOX?

The answer is obviously NO, pretty much everyone has their mail delivered to their mailbox at least six days a week.

Direct mail is the only advertising medium available to you that has 100% usage by every demographic profile. You can develop a mailing list that targets any demographic group you have or can think of. NO – OTHER ADVERTISING MEDIUM AVAILABLE TO YOU THAT CAN DO THIS. None.

Then why did you not get results?

FREE DIRECT MAIL FACT SHEET

The Effectiveness of Direct Mail vs Other Forms of Marketing!






Direct Mail Fails For One of the Following Reasons:

1) Your message sucked. Sorry, I’m not sugar-coating it. The message you sent out had one or more of the following problems:

• Too wordy. You tried to over-explain or describe your product/service. People read in short bites, looking for the main jest of the ad to see what’s in it for them.
• You tried to advertise too many products in one mailing.
• The product you advertised was not needed or wanted by the person receiving the mailer.
• There was not a loss leader pricing on the product or service you were advertising. If you could get a better price from somewhere else, would you respond to the postcard?
• There was no call to action on the mailer. Did you give them a reason to respond now?

Click Here For Design Tips On Your Next Direct Mailer!

2) The mailing list was not targeted correctly, was old or simply a bad mailing list. A mailing list is not something you should skimp on. Investing to get a good mailing list of fresh prospects is the basis of getting a good response.

• Did you identify who the best prospect is for the product or service you are promoting? The better you can define your best prospect, the more targeted the mailing list can be.

3) You tried to time the market. When you mail a postcard or any other mailer you have absolutely no idea how many people will be ready to buy today, right now. Most successful marketing campaigns mail a mailing list of prospects 4, 5, 6 or more times.

• The first time you mailed them they may not have considered that they needed or wanted what you were promoting.
• The second time they kind of noticed what you were promoting and may have had a thought that it might be useful.
• The third time you mailed them they went online to research your company.
• The fourth time they set your postcard aside to call, but life got in the way and they did not get to it.
• The fifth time they picked up the phone and called you or went to your store.

4) You did not take into consideration how people shop today. What do I mean by that? 90% of people do one thing before they contact you, do you know what it is?

90% of people who receive a postcard or other mailer from you and have an interest do one thing. They will go online to research your company, look at your reviews, look at the services you offer.

The problem with them going online to research you is that every competitor within a 3 to 5-mile radius of that prospect pops up when they Google your company.

96% OF PEOPLE WHO GO TO YOUR WEBSITE WILL LEAVE WITHOUT TAKING ANY FURTHER ACTION. They don’t fill out a form. They don’t download the cool eBook you have. They just leave and go on to the next competitor that popped up when they Googled your company.

What Can You Do About This?

We offer a program that uses Google & Facebook as follow-up tools. It makes direct mail more effective, less expensive and gives you a tool to track your actual response from your mailer. We can even tell you the names and addresses of people who go to your website.

Click Here For More Info On This Program!

There are four areas your marketing can fall on its face.

1. Failure to reach enough prospects consistently enough to get a return.
2. A poor website. If your website is not built to generate interest and capture identities you are losing business.
3. Not having a follow-up plan. Today the average sale occurs after the 5^th to 12^th contact with the prospect.
4. Having a voicemail system answer incoming calls. People hate voice attendants. Your prospect calling you will not punch one for sales, two for service. They will hang up and call your competitor.

If we can help you with a Direct Mail Marketing Campaign for your business, please fill out the contact form below and one of our Marketing Consultants will contact you shortly. We look forward to helping you.

Postcard marketing is easy and effective for most small businesses. How do you design an effective postcard? Should you use one of those postcard templates you found online?

FREE DIRECT MAIL FACT SHEET

The Effectiveness of Direct Mail vs Other Forms of Marketing!






You want to design an effective postcard that is aesthetic and looks good. The problem is that “aesthetic” and “looking good” may not create a response and drive the traffic you want from your postcard mailer.

You are not designing a home decorating project that Joanna Gaines would be proud of. YOU ARE TRYING TO GET THE ATTENTION OF AND DEVELOP INTEREST IN an offer you hope a prospect will respond to.

First Things First, Things To Consider Before You Get Started

Before you begin designing an effective postcard consider the end-user, AKA the recipient of the postcard. What is happening with your average prospect today?

• They are very busy.
• They are very rushed.
• They consume media and advertising very lazily with their attention being sporadic and bouncing from one thing to another.
• Consumers are bombarded with over 1800 advertising messages a day. Some ignore most of what they see and hear.

The Following Are 10 Design Tips That Get Your Postcard Design Noticed:

1. Clear and bold headline. The headline should contain the main benefit of the product or offer.
2. Relevant photos and graphics.
3. Use bright colors in the design. Remember the first step to any successful ad campaign is getting noticed. Pastel colors do not get noticed unless they are used to contrast brighter colors.
4. You must include a special offer on your postcard. Give the prospect a reason to respond. The offer has to be of real value to the prospect.
5. Reinforce the main headline on the front of the postcard with subheadline on the back that ties in and is relevant.
6. Always include benefits to every feature mentioned. People buy benefits.
7. Do not forget your company name, logo, website and most importantly your phone number. The phone number should be in at least two places on the postcard.
8. Design-wise, your call-to-action has to almost clash with the rest of the card. It needs to be loud, bright and very noticeable. Make sure your call-to-action contains a benefit for responding now. By definition, a call-to-action is an action phrase, for example, “Call now and receive (blank) for $$$!
9. Always have an expiration date on your offer. If it looks like they can buy your product or service anytime, why buy now?
10. If you have reviews and testimonials include them. Third-party validation goes a long way today.

Click Here To See More Postcard Samples

Your Website – Is It Ready To Handle Leads?

Today 90% of people who have an interest in your postcard offer will go online and check out your website and reviews. Make sure your website looks good and is designed to convert people from shoppers to buyers. I have seen many marketers lose 80% of their potential results with an outdated, poorly designed website.

Watched the Video? Interested? Click Here For More Info

Do not get cheap and hire your brother-in-law to design your website. Invest a little money and do it right. Your returns and leads from your website will pay off with a good design

Getting noticed is the first step in any ad campaign. Postcard marketing puts a message directly in your best prospects hands. Do not waste this opportunity to get noticed. If your design is poor with too much information on the card and does not grab attention your mailer goes in the trash without even so much as a yawn.

Need help designing an effective postcard mailer and campaign for your small business? Fill out the form below and one of our Marketing Consultants will contact you shortly.

Sales letters are, by definition, a means to market your business and drive sales in your door.

Writing effective sales letters means following a simple format and writing in a conversational style that engages the prospect.

1. Get attention. You have to get the attention of your prospects. The style and format of the sales letter and envelope is the first step to getting noticed.
2. What problem are you solving for the prospect? The first line of an effective sales letter should state the problem you are going to solve for the prospect.
3. Build the ruin. What happens if their problem is not handled or otherwise solved? It is the old pain versus pleasure story. People will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. What is the pain they could experience if they do not solve their problem?
4. Provide a solution. Demonstrate how you will solve the problem. How are you going to help them?
5. Credibility. Tell them why you are the best to help them with their problem. By presenting your credentials, experiences, and successes you are increasing your creditability to your prospect.
6. The benefits. Explain the benefits of what you are offering and what is in it for them to do business with you.
7. Provide proof of your claims. Anyone can make a claim, but few go the extra step of validating their claims. People see through BS. So do not BS and always back up your claims with proof.
8. Give them a reason to act now. Otherwise known as, make them an offer they can’t refuse.
9. Limited Time. Imply there is a scarcity or limited time to act.
10. Back it up. Always include a guarantee if they are not happy. It is in your best interest to do so. You do not want to muddy up your market with dissatisfied customers.
11. Call to action. Ask for the order.
12. Remind the prospect. Close your sales letter with a reminder that the offer is for a limited time and that they need to act now.

FREE EBOOK

10 Tips For Writing Sales Letters That SELL!






Click Here For More Information About Sales Letters

Understanding The Reader (Your Prospect) And Handling Objections

After writing your sales letter, step back and read it from the perspective of your reader. What objections, concerns or questions would you have about the communication?

First of all, please understand that you are never going to overcome or handle an objection, question or concern fully in a sales letter.

Your goal is to get attention, build interest, create desire and create questions that need to be answered by the prospect. You have to invoke the urge to CALL or GO SEE to get more information. As a business owner, you will want to have live communication with the prospect! This is the part of the sales equation where objections are handled and questions are answered.

Having said that, there are objections your readers will have. For example, when you read your sales letter back to yourself, from the perspective of your potential customer, ask yourself the following:

1. Does this company understand the problem I am facing?
2. How do I know you’re reputable or otherwise qualified to handle the problem?
3. I don’t believe you.
4. I really don’t need this right now.
5. How do I know it will work for me?
6. What happens if I don’t like it?
7. Sounds expensive, I can’t afford it.

FREE EBOOK

10 Tips For Writing Sales Letters That SELL!

Writing effective sales letters is not as difficult at you might think it is. Just keep within the above points.

If you have any questions, or would like a quote for printing and mailing a sales letter campaign for your business, fill out the form below and one of our marketing consultants will contact you: