In a world where the internet and social media are holding sway, where many people spend a large percentage of their time online, one would expect brands to channel their marketing and sales efforts online where their customers/clients and the potential ones spend their time. However, as more and more brands keep on adopting digital marketing in its various forms; as they actually engage in intense competition, the smart ones keep leveraging the power of print advertising.
You should never leave brochures and print advertising untapped even while running online campaigns.
Here are the reasons brochures are still important and beneficial for selling goods and services.
Brochures Are Easy to Read
This is one particular area where brochures perform far better than online-based marketing and promotion strategies. A lot of things go into making your website content readable. First, the web design has to be responsive so that it opens well in both mobile devices and computers, respectively.
Second, you have to ensure that the font style, color, and the website theme are such that your target audience will feel comfortable reading and that the web pages bearing your content are easy to navigate. All of these are difficult to achieve because not what appeals to one set of audience appeals to the other. This is why a lot of promotional web content are merely scanned, skimmed or not read at all.
A company brochure, on the other hand, is easier to read. A typical brochure content layout is presented in such a way that the audience finds it easy to locate the information they may want to know about the company or its products. Besides, such things as responsive design and SEO hardly come to play in brochures.
Brochures Minimize Distractions
No doubt, one thing that characterizes the internet is distraction. Let’s say your prospects have succeeded in seeing your display ad, have opened the email you sent them, or have searched for a certain keyword on a search engine and luckily your website appears on top of the search engine result page (SERP) either organically or as an ad. Good, you deserve some credit for your marketing effort.
Remember, however, that the same devices they have opened your ad with are likely to house their Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter App, and other social Apps, and that a notification can pop up anytime from any of those applications. Once such notification pops up, the attention of the prospects has been automatically diverted from your ad or content and the likelihood that they will return to it is low. This is one of the reasons many ads and web content may be opened but never actually read.
This is not the case with brochures. If the brochure is in hardcopy, distractions are almost nonexistent. Even if it is in an electronic format, the possibility of prospects being distracted is also reduced because they can download the piece, and once it is in their device, they can always revisit it. What is more, in the case of hardcopy brochures, the time of sharing with your prospects offers you an ample opportunity to meet face-to-face with them, add the physical appeal/touch, and perhaps respond to their questions in real-time.
In addition, a good brochure content outline is usually aesthetically presented such that it appeals to the audience and invites them to read – thereby minimizing the chances of getting distracted.
They Are Cost Effective
Most digital and even traditional marketing, like radio, newspaper, and TV ads, options are costly. That is why start-ups and small businesses who usually work on small budgets are unable to cope with them. Brochures, unlike those other marketing options, are economical yet very effective. When you choose to go with a brochure, a graphic designer will present you with brochure writing samples or free company profile templates.
You can choose any of those samples or templates and ask him to make it suit your company’s uniqueness. Alternatively, you can ask the designer to come up with an entirely new and bespoke brochure design that suits your company or product best. After writing and designing the brochure you can opt to print it in mass copies – which reduces the cost – or leave it in soft copy. Either way, no extra distribution cost is likely to be incurred. If printed, the brochure is freely distributed to prospects by hand; otherwise, it is sent emailed to prospects.
They Are Easy to Distribute
As seen above, brochures can be distributed by hand during trade shows, fairs, and exhibitions or sent through emails. Therefore, they are quite easy to distribute, but that’s not all. Brochures can also be distributed through promotional giveaways such as branded bags or T-shirts, by placing them inside packaged orders, by placing them on bulletin boards or at kiosks, by displaying them on reception areas or keeping them on presentation folders.
The beauty of it all is that most of the distribution channels largely ensure that your brochures get to the right audience – those who have shown some level of interest on the company or its product either by buying, visiting the business premises, or by attending business fairs or shows organized or participated by the company.
Therefore, the possibility that those who receive brochures will read them is high. This is unlike most traditional and digital making options where campaigns are sent hoping that they get to the right audience. And for online ads, whether they will be seen at all or not depends on whether or not people go online. For brochures, on the other hand, people don’t have to go online to see them.
Brochures are Versatile
Most social media, search, radio, televisions, and newspaper are usually limited to a product or service from a company and hardly everything about the company. Of course, a brochure can be made on a brand’s particular product or service highlighting everything about it including values, uniqueness, and terms & conditions.
However, most brochures are broad in outlook containing the company profile, its range of services, unique selling points, and a lot more. Therefore, a single brochure is versatile and serves multiple purposes. A typical business brochure is a way to kill many birds with one stone, so to say.
They Give the Right Amount of Details to Elicit A Desired Action
This is another major point of difference between brochures and ads, digital marketing as well as traditional marketing channel ads. While brochures are descriptive, ads are created under the condition of restricted space for texts and, therefore, are hardly descriptive. Sometimes, prospective customers or clients want more than to be merely told that a product or service exists; they want to know more about the product or service there and then. A brochure can do both the former and the latter but an ad can only do the former.
Whether the brochure is just about the company history and culture or about its products/services, it gives the right amount of details that go a long way to persuading and convincing the audience. For instance, what to put in a brochure for a school might include the school’s foundation story, its unique learning culture, courses or subjects offered, its graduates’ success story, its tuition and other costs, and more. These are things that naturally require some level of detail; hence, a brochure is ideal for communicating them. In a nutshell, therefore, how to write a brochure for business is to include the relevant details.
Lastly, because a brochure is detailed-oriented, it offers a business a chance to show off its achievements and periods of experience to corroborate whatever claims it is making.
Brochures Enable Business and Communication Personalization
A lot of difference is recorded if a business succeeds in customizing its communication and its overall branding to be strictly unique. A business that has distinguished itself from every other business out there can then communicate on a personal level to its audience. A brochure is a perfect tool to do that. The company logo on the folds and the overall peculiarity of the design assure the audience that this is a different brand.
Therefore, when they finally begin to read the content on the brochure, they have the feeling that it is the brand itself that is speaking to them. Your job is to make sure that the brochure content is personalized such that it tells each prospect why he or she needs the product or service you offer and why the product or service is the best that he or she can ever have. This message, at its best, is accentuated by the physical touch and feel of the brochure in the prospect’s hand.
You Establish Your Business Authority and Built Trust with Brochures
As you probably already know, a lot of psychology goes into how people buy. For instance, people like buying products or services from brands they perceive as authorities in their areas, credible, and trustworthy. One way to establish your business as an authority, credible and trustworthy is to go the extra mile and present something serious and palpable to your audience. A brochure can be that “something” palpable and serious.
A good brochure is captivating and professional. It is, therefore, a way to show off the authority, dignity, and professionalism of your brand. Its professional look tells your audience that you must have committed some time and effort into making it. A quality brochure, therefore, assures your audience that whatever you are projecting through it must be worth it. It also registers the message that you are willing to invest in your clients.
Brochures Are Ideal for Limited-Offer Promotions
Ideally, brochures have the capacity to hold tear-off coupons or offers. Hence, they are great tools for promotions especially when the offer lasts only for a limited period of time. The simple reason why brochures work wonderfully well in this regard is that your prospects not only see but feel the reality of the promotions when they are offered through brochures.
Brochures are Durable and Tangible
Digital marketing ads and campaigns are generally intangible, temporary and fleeting. Because of this, audience exposure and interactions with them are limited. Brochures on the other hand, whether in hard or soft copy, are long-lasting and tangible. Being tangible and durable comes with a whole lot of advantages. For one thing, it ensures a longer period of exposure to your brand and its image, which surely increases the chances of your prospects having a second thought about your product or service. This possibility is generally low with digital sales and marketing campaigns.
Secondly, brochures are veritable reference materials for future use. Your customers are likely to take your brochures home or leave it in their device if it appeals to them. As such, there is the likelihood that they will consult it in the future when they are in need of something you offer. If not deliberately, they might also stumble on it unintentionally and remember you. That is not likely to be the case in other forms of marketing campaigns.
Brochures hold a lot of benefits to your business. These top ten benefits are what you are missing if you’re not already using brochures to promote or market your products and services. However, the effectiveness of brochures is dependent on their quality in terms of the design, layout, and content. For brochures that will deliver the above benefits and more to your business, you sure need the services of a professional.