Just because everyone else in your sector gives out a glossy brochure to prospective customers, doesn’t mean you should do the same. In fact, it’s a good reason why not.
You’ve heard about USPs, you’ve heard about ‘being different’, you’ve heard about standing out from the competition…so why even think of doing exactly what the others do?
Some thinking points for you:
- What have you done with every brochure you’ve ever been given? I bet it’s been put away somewhere safe, and never looked at again, or maybe even filed straight in the recycling bin.
- Print, paper and postage cost money. Yet times change fast. Almost as soon as something is printed, it goes out of date, so you’re left with a useless brochure and wasted stock. Or you hurriedly pay more money to print stickers that correct your beautiful brochure, yet your prospect is left with an unfavourable impression of your professionalism.
Are you convinced yet?
Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you dangling. I do have an alternative for you to consider.
Newsletters.
Yes, despite writing in other blog posts that ‘newsletter’ is a dirty word, and that e-newsletters should be called tipsheets and used for data capture on websites, I still recommend printed newsletters in place of glossy brochures. (As long as they contain industry news, company news, and product/service news mixed with staff profiles, customer profiles, testimonials, competitions and so on, so they are not dull.)
Here’s why:
- Print newsletters stand out from the competition that are doing what they’ve always done
- Newsletters contain the most up-to-date information
- Newsletters can re-purpose content from your blog/tipsheet
- Newsletters express your brand’s unique personality, helpfulness and friendliness
- Customers like them
Years ago, I recommended this approach to a mobile telecoms company I worked with, because theirs is a fast-changing business (is yours?).
Their brochure budget went a lot further, the newsletters helped the sales team to build relationships, and customer loyalty and spend increased.
What better recommendation do you need.
photo credit: IronRodArt – Royce Bair (“Star Shooter”) via photopin cc
