5 Essential Tips for Creating an Effective Brochure

You have made the decision that it’s time to create a new company brochure that shows the products/services you offer.  The goal is to rebrand your company and come out with a new logo, tagline, and positioning statement.  What is your first step?  Can you go out and hire a graphic designer to create this new brochure that is in your head?  The answer is “No”..not without preparing for it first.  The first step is preparation. What items do you need to confirm in advance prior to hiring someone to design it?

Tip #1 – Have your new logo ready and finalized.  If you want to rebrand the company, it’s important to ensure that you have a high res version of your logo ready for the designer. Also, confirm your tagline and make sure you use it on the cover of the brochure by the logo.  You want to brand the company and keep consistency in all your marketing material.

Tip#2 – Organize your selling points – You should be telling a story with your brochure.  Make sure your story has a beginning, middle and end.  Also, it’s important to know your audience and tailor your messaging to your audience.  You want to make the brochure worth reading.  You should have your content finalized prior to hiring a designer.  Use plenty of headlines and subheads and write in simple language. You want your audience to understand it and enjoy reading it.

Tip#3 – Have good photographs – You are telling a story and need to have the appropriate photos of your products or services for your new brochure. Hire a professional photographer to take the right shots and ensure that they are all high res photos.  Remember…photoshop is a great tool to help improve the quality of your photos. Another option is stock photography.  If you choose this route, make sure you select your photos from the various stock photography sites like istock or shutterstock. Your designer can’t read your mind and needs to know up front what photos you would like to include.

Tip#4 – Be specific with your designer – It’s important to communicate up front how you want the brochure to look.  Send him/her all the materials up front which can include, the high res logo, main tagline, high res photos, and most important of all…CONTENT.  You can send a word file with all the brochure text and make notes where you want the photos to go.  Your designer is not a mind reader and will appreciate your guidance.

Tip#5 – Review the brochure format with a printer – Before you even move to the design stage…make sure you know the format of your brochure. Will it be a 16 page brochure, a tri-fold brochure, a 6 page brochure?  This is crucial and will help you determine how many photos you need and the word count for the content.  Also…get pricing to print these different styles.  If you are aware of all costs upfront, then you will not be shocked at the end of the project.

Being prepared is the key to success.  Just make sure you communicate the goal of the brochure with your designer and send all items up front.  Also, you will save money in design costs by reducing the amount of edits required.  By being specific, you will eliminate many rounds of edits that can cost you money!  Once the brochure is completed and ready to go to print….make sure you have multiple people proofread it for errors.  Also, insist upon a matchprint from the printer to check on any color issues or mistakes.  Once you sign off on the matchprint and follow the steps above, you can relax knowing you have created a true masterpiece!

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

• Five Essentials for Planning An Effective Brochure
• 7 Effective Tips for Brochure Design
• 5 Easy But Powerful Tips for Creating Brochures

Image: www.boxshot3d.com

Jon Ferarra, CEO and Founder of Nimble.com on Marketing Made Simple TV

Jon Ferarra, CEO and Founder of the social CRM firm Nimble.com sits down with Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers on Marketing Made Simple TV. Here you will learn:

• Why the world really does need a new CRM offering.
• The problem with CRM
• How social media changed the world of selling and how sales and CRM need to adapt.

Marketing Made Simple TV publishes each week on Thursday at noon ET at a wide variety of sites.  We invite you to subscribe to the show to catch future episodes too.

It’s Time To Upgrade Your Marketing – How to Keep Your Brand Fresh

Why do some companies seem to be stuck in the 70’s and can’t seem to move forward with a new look and feel? I can’t tell you how many clients come to me who have not updated their marketing collateral in 10 years.  Some CEO’s are stuck in the old way of doing things and seem to not want to change. The word “change” scares many business owners and keeps them from updating the company’s brand. Is your company’s logo and marketing materials out of date and tired looking?

Even If It’s Not Broken, You May Still Want to Fix It

The old saying if it’s not broken don’t fix it holds true to many CEO’s who have been running businesses for 30-40 years. These types of business owners do not want to utilize social media and online marketing.  They want to stick with traditional advertising and telemarketing initiatives to drive new business.  However, they are missing out on new ways to promote their business and receive additional leads.  It can be frustrating for employees that are up-to-date on the current marketing trends to convince the CEO to change their ways. The key is to show the CEO valid reasons to change their ways.

Here are some tips to help convince “old school” CEO”s to upgrade their marketing:

English: Creating lifelong customer value (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Old Collateral – A great way to convince a CEO to change their collateral is to show them a brochure of a competitor.  The new brochures have more white space and are concise.  Developing a new brochure is a great way to rebrand your business and upgrade your marketing.  Costs range depending on the type of brochure you would like to produce.  A simple tri-fold brochure can cost under $1000 to design and printing costs are low.  The style today is more photos and less text..keeping it light and airy.

New Website – A website is the face of your business and should be consistent with your marketing material.  Many companies have not upgraded their website and are using an outdated website.  New websites can be upgraded with flash and new photos that make it look up-to-date.  The cost to redesign a website can be kept low if you provide the photos and content to a website developer.

Trade Show Booth – An old booth design can destroy your brand at a trade show.  It’s important to keep up with your competitors and design a new booth.  Show the CEO’s a competitors booth and explain that it’s important to keep your marketing materials consistent.  The cost can be high for this depending on printing costs…but you will use the new trade show booth at all shows.  It won’t go to waste and is a very important investment.

Social Media Marketing – Show the CEO your competitors page on Facebook and Linked-In and explain that it’s good to have a page as well.  There is no cost to develop a FaceBook page for your business…so there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Why not?

The most important item to a CEO is the ROI and if you can show this over time..then you hit a home run.  Set goals up front for the CEO and show him results and you will be a “star”.   Dealing with “Old School” CEO’s can be extremely frustrating..but learning how to work around them and show the benefits of upgrading can be rewarding.  Take it one step at at time and don’t hit them with too much change at once.  The turtle always wins the race!

Author: 

Monique Merhige is the President of Infusion Direct Marketing & Advertising, Inc.  She has over 15 years of marketing communications experience with technology companies ranging from small service firms and equipment manufacturers to a 1.5 Billion dollar division of Motorola.  Infusion is a marketing consulting firm that specializes in the security industry and delivers marketing solutions that include Public Relations, Direct Marketing, Branding, Collateral Development, and Social Media Marketing.  Visit:  www.infusiondirect.com or call 631-846-1558

Sources:

• Upgrading Your Marketing To Gain New Business
• The Secret to Keeping Your Brand Fresh
• 5 Website Tips To Keep Your Brand Image Fresh

Consistency Is Key In Your Integrated Marketing Strategy

Consistency is an important concept in marketing that many companies fail to deliver. It’s the key to success…so why is it overlooked by so many marketing executives?  The answer is that most marketing is fragmented and coming at people from too many different directions. Between TV, radio, print, outdoor billboards, email, direct mail all competing for your attention – consumers don’t know where to look next.   It’s important for companies to integrate their campaigns and not rush launching too many campaigns at one time.

Here are some guidelines to help deliver a consistent identity with a cohesive integration plan:

Select Your Logo, Tagline, & Colors – Keep your colors and logo consistent in all marketing messages. This includes print advertisements, TV Commercials, direct mail, etc.  Your tagline needs to be present on every single marketing piece to drive home what you do!  Be clear in telling people what you can offer them.  However, this is still not full integration.  Integration requires the entire company being able to state what you do in the same manner.  You need to integrate your message throughout your entire organization.

Message Longevity – Marketers tend to be in a rush to meet the next deadline or get the next campaign out the door.  It’s important to realize that integrating your brand takes time. Don’t continue changing the direction of your campaigns. Keep it consistent for years if you need to…….there is no time limit to branding your company.  Don’t lose patience and stop the momentum of keeping the same messaging out there.  The worst thing you can do is confuse people with mixed messages.

Verbiage – Create messages that can be easily understood by your target audience. Don’t speak in terms that people don’t understand. A perfect example would be a company that has technical terms in a print advertisement that would be better suited for engineers.  It’s important to make sure that your audience clearly understands what you sell and how the product will benefit them.  Focus on the solutions you offer to take their problem away.  This should be in every single piece of marketing communication that is sent out by your company.

A perfect time to use integrated marketing communications is during an acquisition. When a large organization acquires another company…..it’s important to have an integrated marketing plan in place. The time right after the acquisition is crucial to branding the new company and making sure people understand how the brand integrates into your own.  An example would be a security integrator who installs security products and just purchased a security software company.  Your marketing message would need to show how this new software company integrates into your existing company.  The security integrator should show how they are working hand and hand to produce the ultimate security solution for the end user.  In my experience, the company that is acquired usually changes their brand image to reflect the parent company. There have been some cases that the brand image was changed over time.  As long as you have an integrated marketing strategy in place that delivers consistency….you will be ahead of the game.

Author: 

Monique Merhige is the President of Infusion Direct Marketing & Advertising, Inc.  She has over 15 years of marketing communications experience with technology companies ranging from small service firms and equipment manufacturers to a 1.5 Billion dollar division of Motorola.  Infusion is a marketing consulting firm that specializes in the security industry and delivers marketing solutions that include Public Relations, Direct Marketing, Branding, Collateral Development, and Social Media Marketing.  Visit:  www.infusiondirect.com or call 631-846-1558

Sources:

• Keeping Your Marketing Consistent
• Integrated Marketing – If You Knew It, You’d Do It
• What The Heck Is Integrated Marketing Anyway?
• Image: www.andrew-schultz.com

Marketing Techniques for Small Businesses That Work

Many people have the dream of leaving their corporate position behind and starting their own business.  However, many never reach their goal of business ownership due to the lack of a real plan.  Owning a small business has many challenges…but if business owners focus on the customer and develop a cohesive marketing plan that reaches their target audience effectively, then they have nothing to worry about.  How do you market a new business?  It all starts with building your business by securing a customer base through the following marketing activities:

Referral Networks – Most people do not see the value of networking.  It’s huge!!  By getting out and mingling with companies in your area…you are building valuable relationships that will set the stage for your business.  By attending local networking events, it helps build your name and relationships without spending a fortune. It’s a no brainer….networking works and should be done regularly.    One relationship can bring in many new customers and referrals.  Think about each person and how many people they are connected to…it’s endless.   Face to face meetings are as important as social networking and needs to be part of your marketing plan for small businesses.

Cold Calling– Who wants to sit on the phone and make phone calls…not me!  But guess what…it works!  By being proactive and reaching out to a targeted list of companies, you are adding to your network.  All it takes is one lead to turn into a customer.   Prior to starting a call campaign, a script should be produced and used for all calls.  You want to call with a purpose and offer something attractive to potential customers.  It also helps you be creative and adapt to various questions you get from your prospects. You will be surprised with the results and how many people you end up building a relationship with.  The best time to call is in the morning before people start their day.  You should dedicate 1-2 hours per day on making calls and prospecting.  There are also classes that offer training on how to make calls and succeed.

Inexpensive Marketing Materials  – A quick flyer that explains what services/products you offer is a great way to spread the message about your small business.  You can print out on your office computer and develop a nice template in Word.  Again….you don’t have to spend a fortune on hiring a designing and going to a fancy printer.  As long as you create a flyer that has the correct messaging for your target audience and great images…you are good.  Also…a unique business card will grab attention. Use a different color or shape.

Free Press– Write a press release on your small business and send it out everywhere!  Guess what…it is free!  You can send to your local press list and even splurge on an online pr site.  It can cost anywhere from $50 – $200 per release…but it’s worth it.   It’s a great way to announce your company to the world.

Co-Marketing – Work with other small businesses to share marketing costs.  You can create a direct mail campaign or print ad together.  Perhaps….your services complement each other.  Be creative and come up with some new offers that are out of the box.  You can offer discounts and bundle your services together.  Also, you can share a booth at a trade show to cut costs.

Seminars:  Create a seminar series on various topics that build your credibility in the industry.  You can host an event at your office or select a venue that wants to bring people into their restaurant.  Schedule events after work and include your target customers.  Seminars are a great way to build your network and business.  It also creates a buzz about your business.

Building a business is a process that takes time and can’t be rushed.  As long as you have an effective marketing plan in place, you will succeed.    The time you put in today will be rewarded tomorrow.  Don’t give up!

Author: 

Monique Merhige is the President of Infusion Direct Marketing & Advertising, Inc.  She has over 15 years of marketing communications experience with technology companies ranging from small service firms and equipment manufacturers to a 1.5 Billion dollar division of Motorola.  Infusion is a marketing consulting firm that specializes in the security industry and delivers marketing solutions that include Public Relations, Direct Marketing, Branding, Collateral Development, and Social Media Marketing.  Visit:  www.infusiondirect.com or call 631-846-1558

Sources:

• 7 Popular Marketing Techniques For Small Businesses
• Ten Powerful Marketing Tips for The Small Business
• 75 Big Marketing Ideas for Small Marketing Budgets
• Image: www.lorrainehiggins.com