Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with idea they’ll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all same. One of main reasons for high failure rate is an over reliance on one marketing channel…the Internet.Marketing isn’t about using one medium. It’s about getting and keeping customers. Yes, Internet marketing can help you can do that but only if you use it in conjunction with other tactical tools. In addition there are thousands of potential customers that are extremely cautious about placing important business or buying an expensive item from an unknown online vendor. That’s one of reasons why, in order to succeed, EVERY online company must have brochures and other forms of printed sales literature to hand out to customers and prospects.
An online company needs printed sales literature for two reasons:
1. Credibility: People expect a “real” company to have printed sales literature. It's easy to afford spending $60 on business cards, letterhead etc. and call yourself a corporation. But if you want to look like you mean business, you need a brochure of some sort.
2. Time-saving. People want printed material to take home and read at their leisure. Yes, you can direct them to your Web site, but a brochure adds a personal touch, tells your prospect what product or service can do for them and why they should buy from you. Brochures also support other advertising, direct mail, online promotions, and can be used as a sales tool by distributors. In short, a good brochure sells.
Here are 12 tips on writing a brochure that will support your online marketing efforts, and increase your sales.
1. Know What Your Reader Wants
You must write your brochure or leaflet from reader's point of view. That means information must unfold in right order. Begin by analyzing what your reader wants to know. An easy way to do this is by assessing order in which your reader's questions will flow. For example, imagine you own a medical spa facility offering Botox and other anti-aging treatments. You are interested in encouraging your readers to make an appointment for a consultation and/or schedule a treatment. Now, given nature of your business, your reader will have a lot of questions they'll want answered before they'll consider making an appointment. Your brochure should answer their questions in a logical sequence following reader’s train of thought. A good way to organize your points is to write down questions you think a potential customer might have, and answers your brochure might supply.
2. Motivate your reader to look inside
The first page your reader will see is front cover. Get it wrong and you've as good as lost sale. Don’t make common mistake of couching your services in technical jargon. Think benefits or thought-provoking statements that motivate reader to pick up brochure and open it. Add a flash that tells reader there's something inside that will interest them – an exclusive invitation, a free report, special discount or advance notice of sales. Don't be tempted to put only your company logo or product name on front. It won't work.
3. Contents Page – What’s in it
In brochures of eight pages or more, a list of contents is useful. Make your list in bold and separate it from rest of your text. Use contents to sell brochure. Don't use mind-numbing words like "Introduction" or "Model No A848DHGT". Pick out your most important sales point and use that in your heading.
4. Describe Your Product
To help you describe your product draw up a list of product features (facts about your product) and add words "which means that..." after each point. For example, "The cake is made from an original recipe, which means that...it tastes better." Or, "The car has a 300 horse-power engine, which means that...it goes faster." Remember that purchaser of your product is not always user so there may be more than one benefit for each feature.