#1. Why a glossy, expensive, color brochure. Why not save a little money and just print up some black on colored tri-folds.
First of all, rid yourself of the false opinion that the right brochure is expensive. Like anything else, it all depends on several variables. One can secure a top of the line brochure for as little as $300, or as much as... well, "...how much you got, Bub?" I just delivered 1,000 glossy event cards to a band announcing their first gig for less than $300. That's designed, printed and shipped.
The consumers of our western culture get inundated with sales flyers daily in junk mail, and in brochure stands at hotels, supermarkets and doctor's offices. We as consumers are savvy in the ways of advertising. We have been treated like everything from dumb sheep by the news media, to the intelligencia of the Jaguar and Mercedes set by advertisers. This might best be portrayed by counting the number of Hummers and BMWs parked seven days a week in the nearest Wal-Mart parking lot. We know the difference between an important message and a waste of our time.
The truth is, glossy brochures have their place as do the single-color-ink-on-colored-paper flyer. The difference has more to do with appropriate matching of media than it does being a penny pincher.
If you are a not-for-profit group announcing a one time event to a small venue, then the lower cost flyer would most likely be appreciated by your donors; like a little league baseball team pizza party. However, I've been designing a full color, glossy tri-fold for an annual fundraising event conducted by a local church now, for several years. The difference? The venue; a golf outing being held at a prestigious golf club in Northern Illinois, the demographic profile; preachers and pastors from across the country, and even around the world. I wouldn't even entertain the possibility of anything less than a four color tri-fold when it will be sent across the nation at the least, and read by church leaders from around the world. Another major factor is that I have donated my services for this event every year for five events, now.
Yes, I understand that the free services rather cloud the issue of the important element of VALUE. But, it is more important to me that my services be associated with appropriate media to match the venue, than it is that I add another $600-$1,000 a year to my gross annual line item. That, and the ever present belief that my career in the long term will do better if I am constantly honoring the fact that there is something in this world more important than me and mine.
And finally, one offering products or services for profit MUST present them in a way that convinces the consumer that the product or service is top in its line and in the leading pack in the industry. This really would be difficult to pull off using anything less than a “Class A” color brochure. Some folks incorrectly liken brochures to cars, where a letter or single color flyer is a Chevy, and glossy four-colors are Cadillacs. So, since not everyone can afford Cadillacs, only the rich can afford glossy four-color brochures. This might be a true analogy if we were comparing blue collar workers that aren't running a business. But, people like us that own or run our own businesses are a cut above the rest. We can't afford to only work 40 hours a week. We also can't afford to only be open 40 hours a week in most cases, and we certainly can't afford anything but the best foot forward to our customers and potential clients. In this analogy, we should all be driving Cadillacs. To our potential clients, we have the best, do the best and are the best.
The best analogy is to think of a brochure as a snapshot of your business that you're sending out, representing all of the best points of the location of your building (if you had one). Before you took the picture, certainly you would remove all of the weeds and grass growing up through the cracks in the side walk, chip off all of the old, flaking paint and repaint the brick fascia, have the old, flickering sign replaced with a brand new one with your business name on it by a trusted, professional sign company, clean the windows and ask the village to run the street cleaner past your address a few times. You would probably also have the sign people paint your business name on the big, glass window out front.
The bad news is that all of this is going to cost a lot of money. A restaurant owner, for whom I just delivered a proposal for a $2000 startup web site, was sharing with me his recent cost of a new sign. It was a lot more than $2000! The good news is that most of us have already done this to our building, or better yet, we don't own one! If you already have your building looking good then all you need to do is let your market know where you are, and why they need to stop by. If you don't own a building, then you have a lot less to take care of, but even more reason to send out a top notch brochure.
Without a building, your message, your good name, and your reputation are everything. With a building, the flyer delivers to hard-to-reach customers an interesting, attractive, in-depth essay on your product or services.
#2. In future weeks, I'll be adding to this article by commenting on important elements and features of web site design.