What exactly is the purpose of your brochure? An event handout? Will you use it to share a new product? Do you want a certain reaction from its readers?

Marketing products like brochures work best when you break down every action a prospect might take.

Look at it like this:

• They need to pick it up
• They need to read it
• They need to be interested
• They need to be affected
• They need to know what you want them to do. Call? E-mail? Visit your website? Fill out a return postcard?

Most brochures that are sitting in a stand on a counter or set out on an accent table don’t get read. When they’re intentionally sent to a list or handed out personally, they have much more success. You need to grab and captivate your audience quickly, and then very specifically guide them through the entire piece without making it feel like a chore.

Hint: Men and women process information differently. Most men scan – not read – full context information.

That’s a broad characterization, not intended to be sexist.

How will you make sure he understands that what you offer matters to him?

• Be precise
• Be bold
• Speak directly to him, and
• Use graphics

Most women, on the other hand, read emotionally. She is more likely to respond to humorous or insightful messages – messages that give her perspective validity.

• Address the circumstance
• Use sarcastic, cynical or endearing humor, and
• Provide a cure

When you provide products or services that cross gender lines, the tone, content and graphics yield better results when they’re more personal, and written very directly.

Whether selling to men, women or both, make it clear what you expect them to do. Know what response you’re looking for, and keep the call-to-action specific. If you want them to call, tell them to call. If you want them to visit your website, tell them to visit your website. Several different calls-to-action don’t work well with small documents.  Don’t let a sale slip through your fingers because you offered so many options, they choose nothing at all.

Do you take gender into account when drafting marketing materials for your company? What did I miss?

The simple answer is, “No.” Still, you’ll get conflicting opinions when it comes to how you should be reading a barrel roll trifold brochure. Accordion-fold brochures are much easier to figure out, but when faced with two panels at the same time, like the barrel-fold allows, you’re left wondering what the brochure creator’s intention was. The first two panels are a no-brainer, right? Front cover, inside front cover … then what does a reader do? Open the flap to reveal the inside of the brochure to continue reading panels left to right? Or read inside the cover, then the folded flap, then the inside?

OH, brother …    

When planning brochure designs, this is an important thing to consider. It can take far too much time to ponder when a deadline is hanging in the balance, so the thing to do when designing one is to decide how much of the information flows easily together on the two or three inside panels, depending on whether the business brochure is three or four panel. If you have enough information between images and text to populate the interior panels smoothly, then you can break down the rest as follows:

• Cover – Only one purpose, to entice the reader to pick it up and open it – that’s it. It should include color and image. I like text as well.
• Back center panel – 1/2 populated with text or image, 1/2 contact information including contact name, company name, phone, fax, email, and Website.

So what goes on the right side folded flap? Since it will be seen the minute the brochure is opened, it should introduce the subject matter. It might, however, be the last thing read, so it can also be an exit. I think it should either be compatible with the information on the inside cover or contrast entirely with it. In that way you’ll be able to direct your reader’s attention to where you intend it to go. A contrasting folded panel causes the reader to want to open it up to see the inside and come back to the folded panel later. If the text on that folded panel is a continuing thought or theme to the inside cover panel, it will be natural to read it before opening it up to reveal the inside.

Scott Alberts says Shari and I are both wrong to refer to them as a three or four panel brochures, when they really have six to eight panels en totale …

We stand corrected Scott, thank you.

Is there a right or wrong way to read a brochure? Well, don’t read it upside down:p)

Your thoughts?

If you market to other businesses on any level, and haven’t yet subscribed to B2B Magazine, you’re missing out. We receive both the print and online versions, and tend to read them cover-to-cover each month. Today’s issue just arrived in the mail, and the first thing to catch my eye was the “New Channels” column by Paul Gillin, titled “New PR Reality: Link over Ink.”

Gillen hits the nail on the head when he says that “clients and executives mumble ‘That’s nice’ about a Web link, but get excited about a reference in their daily Wall Street Journal.” We’ve definitely found this to be true. But the rules have changed, and one or two good links can now return far greater results than a mention in the most prominent print publication.

It’s a rare business that won’t find its audience online these days. Unfortunately, it’s also a rarity for small businesses to know how to get found online. Publishing a Web site or starting a blog is not enough. Adding your Web address to your print marketing collateral is not enough. Sending out press releases that mention your business or your site … even that is not enough. Don’t neglect any of those activities, but to achieve your online objectives, you’re going to need links … quality, inbound links from other Web sites, blogs, social networks, and relevant directories.

How many times in the past month have you searched for something you read about in a newspaper or magazine? Ok, now how many times have you followed a link from Google or from within a blog or other online article? Is there any comparison?

By the way, you can subscribe to B2B Magazine and a variety of other useful trade publications for free at www.tradepub.com.

It is a cold and blustery Saturday morning, so it is a good time to catch up on some of the things I’ve been meaning to get done. One such item is catching up on reading through a few of the trade publications that came in this week’s mail.

As I was thumbing through one particular publication something familiar struck me. On a recent trip to somewhere we needed to go, my wife and partner commented about a billboard advertisement. It created a little conversation about how much has changed in the past few weeks, but after looking through a few trade publications and magazines it suddenly sparked an important thought.

Is it Time-Sensitive?

Many messages we wish to convey to our customers are time-sensitive. Our business environment is always changing and lately it changes with each blink of an eye. The one that sparked this particular post, was gasoline prices.

Current Events are … Current!

The billboard and the ads in the magazines were centered on gasoline prices being at all time highs. In a print media there is a lead time between when the ad is conceived and when it is presented to the consumer. The same thing goes for billboards.

Factor In Lag Time For Print Media

In this particular case, both are touting the high price of gasoline. Although this was a major concern just a few weeks ago, in the blink of an eye prices are nearing record lows by comparison. Gas was over four dollars a gallon; now it is just under two dollars (in Neenah, Wisconsin) so the message has lost a great portion of its intended impact. Sure, it serves as a reminder of what the prices were, but for the most part consumers live in the present. If the message wasn’t written to be a reminder, it too will lose its impact towards the market it was intended to reach.

Timing is everything. Remember that print media of any kind has a lag factor associated with it.

Broadcast media is nearly instant. New media (Twitter, Facebook, all forms of social media) message can be updated with just a few keystrokes or even by cell phone. Make sure you consider the timeliness of your message before selecting your media venue.