HFTB Marketing Blog

I attended the Taking Your Brand Online Webinar through BrightTalk this morning. David Meerman Scott, Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan were the panelists and all had, as usual, interesting stuff to say.

image by Glenn.Batuyong

Of course there was the ubiquitous evangelism on the benefits of social media… blah, blah, blah.

But the really interesting portion of the webinar for me dealt with the question of whether or not all businesses should blog.

The unanimous answer, interestingly enough, was “no.”

To me, this is great stuff. Social media has a place. But there is always a tendency (or perhaps a law of physics) for the pendulum to swing too far in one direction. And with the rush to embrace social media for businesses, particularly small businesses, the question of whether or not a blog is needed is often not in the conversation. It is simply accepted.

Guy Kawasaki made the point that a home remodeler might not need to spend a portion of his day writing about his latest project when he is more concerned with making payroll in the next 30 days. I agree totally.

That’s not to say that the remodeler might not want to think about other ways to leverage social media (Twitter Search was Kawasaki’s recommendation). But at some point, business strategy needs to play a role in the conversation – hopefully, the starting point. Simply blogging because seemingly everyone else is doing it makes no sense.

So in sum, blogging is not a cure-all for what ails business marketing. It is most definitely a tool that can help – a great deal if done correctly. But tools should be used where they benefit strategic execution. And not simply because everyone else is using them.

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Marketing, New Marketing, Social Media blogging, Marketing, marketing communications, marketing efforts, New Marketing, Online marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

image by Joe Shlabotnik

Your price, whether you sell a product or service, is most likely based on the costs you pay to produce the product or deliver the service… plus your margin obviously. You have to make a margin, right?

But what goes into your margin? There may be more than you think. In fact, there is often a hidden component that instead of boosting your bottom line, may eventually cost you your entire sale.

Rohit Bhargava has an interesting post on his Influential Marketing blog about a related concept – making your price less expensive to your customers without reducing your monetary price. His point is that there are things we can do to make our services or products less expensive for customers (without reducing the actual monetary price they pay) through what I would term, business process improvements.

The idea makes a lot of sense. After all, we’ve all dealt with unresponsive sales people, poorly designed websites and less than helpful customer service departments. What do all these things have in common? They waste our time. They also make the product or service relatively more expensive.

It’s important to take a long look at the product or service you provide and ask yourself, “What can we do to make our customer interactions and relationships less expensive… for our customers?” I’m not talking about your price. Look more closely at the markup that isn’t seen in what you charge. The markup that includes waiting time, unanswered calls and delayed shipments, to name a few.

The worst part of this unseen markup is that no one gets the benefit. It simply evaporates without lending value to your customer or dollars to your bottom line.

But don’t be fooled. Customers will feel the markup. They may not think of it in terms of an added margin on your services. But they will notice unneeded conference calls, late deliverables and unfulfilled promises. The result, a wandering eye for other service providers that might not be quite as inefficient in managing their time as are you.

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Marketing customer relationships, Marketing, marketing communications, optimize websites, traditional marketing

What does your brochure say about your company (if you’re not there to explain it)?

So if a brochure is supposed to do the talking for you after you’ve left the sales meeting, do you feel comfortable with what your brochure is saying? Or do you feel the need to explain the brochure to your prospective client?

Talking to a brochure is one thing.  Explaining what the copy is trying to say or what the images are supposed to convey, another.

Often, brochures are an afterthought. Simply a listing of a company’s services with little about the real information your prospective clients are looking for – can this company really solve my business issue or personal need?

So what kind of a brochure is right for you? And how do you get your brochure read by your prospect?

First, it is important to understand where your brochure or leaflet fits into the selling process. Is the brochure to be used as a leave-behind, a point-of-sales piece or a sales support tool? The answers to these questions will dictate the type and length of copy or design elements used to communicate the message.

A travel agent, for example, should look to motivate its prospective client with images that convey the perceived need to getaway to faraway places. Thereby making it difficult for the potential customer not to pickup the brochure.

A professional services firm, on the other hand, needs to present a value proposition in a concise, easy to understand manner up front using a strong headline or title.

The cover of this piece should entice the reader to look inside with a title that conveys a strong selling point that articulates the service differentiator(s).

The headline should signal to the prospective client that this is not just another piece of generic collateral, but a brochure containing relevant and useful information about a service that can provide value to their business.

Copy length and layout is also important.

Copy should be long enough to explain the product or service thoroughly. Good copy tells the product or service story, with an intro, story development and a conclusion (which should take the form of a strong call to action).

It is good practice to make your copy, regardless of length, easy to read by using short paragraphs and sentences. Readers have a tendency to scan a brochure first. And if the text is long and unbroken, there is a good chance they will choose not to read the content.

Design of the physical layout should take into account how the brochure will be distributed. For example, if the piece is to be used for direct mail, it might be a good idea to make sure the format can be mailed at bulk rates, assuming proper space for content.

Creating a brochure that is useful to your client beyond the first read is also a good way to make sure your piece is kept instead of quickly discarded.

The travel agent might want to include a map of local hot spots in the piece. While the professional services firm could include a list of tips on tax planning for the coming tax year. Both provide a reason for the potential client to keep your brochure past the first read and therefore extend the useful life of your sales piece.

Last but certainly not least, the copy should build to the conclusion, or the call to action. Part of the call to action is giving ample space to your contact and purchase information. Make it as easy as possible for the prospective customer to take the next important step… buying your product.

While brochures certainly aren’t as sexy as some of the new marketing tactics and tools out there today, very few businesses can do without an effective brochure. And believe it or not, brochures have their place in today’s multi-channel marketing mix.

Just make sure to think “effective sales tool,” and leave the “necessary evil” moniker to accounting.

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Copywriting brochures, copy, Copywriting, Marketing, marketing collateral, marketing communications, marketing materials