Released on: March 17, 2008, 9:07 pm

Press Release Author: gurpreet singh/technoflicker

Industry: Management

Press Release Summary: Web Design Graphics Copywriting Kirwood Inc., Web Design,
Graphics, Copywriting


Press Release Body: Web Design Graphics Copywriting Kirwood Inc., Web Design,
Graphics, Copywriting
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brochure design
Corporate Brochures:
Are Yours Helping or Hurting Your Company?
Please contact us at (519) 439-8884 or Email to discuss your particular brochure or
copy writing requirement.
How Good Are Your Company\'s Brochures?
Desk Top Publishing software does not solve your copywriting and professional
design/layout problems any more than owning a wrench makes you a qualified mechanic.


Do you find yourself reluctant or even a tad apologetic when you hand out your
company\'s brochure? Are you unhappy with it, but not sure why? If so, chances are
you need a new brochure. But before you leap into that project, consider some of the
points that follow. A little thought and planning now will go a long way in the
creation of a brochure which both projects your corporate identity and image
positively and is a brochure of which you can be proud.

Why Do You Even Need a Brochure?
First and foremost, a brochure is just as important and basic a tool as your
business card. However, where your business card simply introduces you as an
individual, your company brochure introduces your entire company. It is like an
executive summary of your operation and offerings. It is an important marketing and
sales tool, one in which you can do a little bragging and shamelessly present your
credentials in the most favorable light. It is your opportunity to create a lasting
impression. Make sure that it is a good one.

A Good Brochure
is essential to the success of your business. It must be brief. It must effectively
communicate the most important fundamentals about your business and your products or
services. It must communicate with, reach and move a prospective customer who, you
must assume, knows nothing about your company. That is a tall order.

A Good Brochure
must leave the reader with the impression that yours is a solid, reliable company
and therefore its products must be equally as good, solid and reliable. It is a
corner stone in building trust with your prospective customers. It must leave the
reader wanting to learn more about your company, but not necessarily today.

A Good Brochure
will introduce your company and give the prospect a visual feel for who you are and
what you do. It should function well as both a door opener before a sales call and a
reminder afterwards to which prospective clients may refer. While your brochure will
seldom actually get you a sale, it will make getting the order so much easier

Does Your Current Brochure Do All That?
No? Well, Change It.
A Bad Brochure Is Like Bad Breath.
No one will tell you what is wrong, but they will avoid you, or in this case, your
company. Your brochure, along with your phone number, will simply go right to the
trash.

When that happens, you will find you have done more than just waste your money and
time. You have turned a prospect into a permanent no sale without even getting a
chance to get in the door. If you saved a few hundred dollars on producing your
brochure, was it worth it?

A badly done or cheap looking brochure reflects badly on you, your company and your
products. Do not scrimp. A company which economizes on a brochure may also be seen
as scrimping on its products.

Your Brochure Should Not
attempt to be a comprehensive technical manual detailing all your product specs. It
should not be a price sheet listing special sales items and the like. These are
sales sheets and have completely different requirements in look, design, and
purpose.

When companies try to combine these functions in a one piece all things to all
people brochure, they often end up with a confusing, disorganized mess. You can be
absolutely certain that if your brochure is difficult to read, it won\'t be. This
could reflect a confused company to a prospect. Remember K.I.S.S.?

An acceptable combination of both types is often seen in a presentation folder. One
pocket holds your corporate brochure; the other pocket holds special deals, sales
sheets, price lists and the like.

Brochures Are Usually Used In Three Ways:

* Initially: as an introductory mailer. You may mass mail the brochure to sales
leads and follow up later by phone.
* Secondarily: Your brochure should always be used as a leave behind at initial
sales calls. Even when you have mailed out a copy in advance of a meeting, it is
always a good idea to leave another copy as you finish up your sales call. It serves
as a reminder that there is a solid, respectable company behind the sales rep who
just left. And it certainly never hurts to have several copies of your brochure
circulating in your prospect\'s office(s).
* Thirdly: A corporate brochure is essential to fulfill requests from potential
clients for literature, either in response to an ad or a phone enquiry.

Do NOT Do This....
A major Canadian Bank produced a series of \"Advice to Small Business\" booklets to
hand out to prospects. Each branch manager was supplied with a quantity of these
brochures. However under the bank\'s accounting system they were only charged if they
actually gave out the brochures. The result? You guessed it. Many of these branch
managers stashed the brochures in the vaults and refused to give them out to avoid
being charged.

Brochures and advertising material are wasted sitting in your mail room. Get this
material into your prospects\' hands.

CHECK THE TRUNKS OF YOUR SALES REPS\' CARS
More than once we have seen expensive sales material only get as far as the sales
rep\'s car trunk and no further. Make sure they are giving it out as intended.

How Do You Develop a Good Brochure?
The easiest way is to contact us today for a free discussion and proposal. No
obligation. Telephone us at (519) 439-8884, Fax us at (519) 439-9491or EMAIL us
right now. You probably get dozens of brochures, flyers and general junk every week.
Pay attention to what you do with them and why. Some you probably scan quickly and
file for later reference. Others, you toss straight in the garbage. A very few you
will actually read. Why? Take a second look and see what attracts and sells you . .
. and what repels you.

1. Learn from your competition. Before you start to develop a brochure for your
company, review all your competitions\' brochures. You\'ll be surprised at what you
learn. Pick out the points and techniques that attract and sell you. It is easier to
point to a brochure with the type of image you like than to verbalize it in briefing
a creative person.

The best way to learn about your industry is from your competition. You do you have
their brochures, price sheets, promotional material, samples of their products,
don\'t you? This is the first step.

2. Involve your Creative person from the start. Bring in a creative services person
for a preliminary chat. Show him your competitors\' material. Give him an idea of
what you are trying to accomplish and a little company background.

A skilled, creative person should be able to elicit from you all he needs to develop
an initial rough concept, copy and layout. Work together to develop the brochure you
need.

We usually (but not always) will develop a rough at no charge on the understanding
that we produce the work if it is accepted. We find this is actually very productive
for all concerned.

3. Determine how much you can spend on your brochure? It\'s no good just telling your
designer to develop some ideas unless you provide a realistic budget within which to
work. You do not want to waste money, but neither do you want to produce some
schlock just to save a little. That\'s penny wise and pound foolish. A good bench
mark you could use is that your brochure should match or better the quality of the
best competitive brochures.

Set a budget that tends to hurt and then add 10%.Your brochure must reflect the
quality your company sells. There is seldom profit in looking second rate.

4. Printing Budgets Setting up a reasonable printing budget is easy, if not
painless. Call up a couple of printers and ask them, in general terms, what it will
cost to print the type of brochure you have in mind, based on all artwork supplied.
Usually they will be glad to assist. After all it could mean an order.

5. Pre-Press Budgets As a rule of thumb; use about 50% of the printing cost as a
budget for your copy, design, type and final artwork. This percentage will be lower
on larger printing jobs of course. Take heart. There is some consolation in the fact
that your pre press costs are a onetime item.

After you get over the initial shock, fire up your spread sheet and set a realistic
budget.

For the best results, let your printer print but have your creative person do all
the copy, design and related pre press work. Do NOT have your printer designing
brochures. And no matter how good your receptionist is with her paint program, do
not have amateurs creating your corporate material, unless of course you want to
look amateur.



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