In our cyber world, the humble brochure has been getting a bum deal of late. In our rush to covet all things digital, good old fashioned ‘hard copy’ has been left by the wayside. But we are a tactile species, by and large, and many people are rediscovering the delight of actually holding something tangible. We are seeing a strong resurgence in direct mail of the old fashioned variety (snail mail). Businesses intent on standing out from the crowd are steering away from all things online and investing in more solid forms of marketing collateral. But out advice to businesses wanting to achieve results in ‘hard copy’ is to put in a little extra groundwork at the beginning to ensure the end result works hard for you.

7 steps to a brilliant brochure

1. Begin with the end in mind

It’s important to know what you want to achieve before you begin. Do you want to promote your product or service, entertain or perhaps to educate? The tone, look and feel will need to alter to suit each purpose. If you are seeking to promote your offerings, it helps to focus on the problem/s most common to your target audience and then to offer solutions to those problems. If you are hoping to entertain, your language, design and overall style will need to engage your readers. And if you’re hoping to educate your audience, the facts will be super critical.

A copywriting tip from the professionals:

• Be the person you are trying to reach. What does it feel like to be them? What are their greatest worries or fears? Their greatest problems? What would it take to ease those worries or solve those problems?

• Can’t imagine what it’s like to walk a mile in their shoes? Time to bust out some research! Get out there, ask questions, survey people, read everything you can get your hands on about your target audience. To crack the copywriting code, you need to know your audience almost as well as you know yourself.

2. Find your voice

In our advertising-drenched world, the voices that sing loudest and with the most clarity are those that are truly authentic. You and I both know that fraudsters are common and easily dismissed. Never be afraid to allow your own character, personality and style to shine through in all that you do – brochures, included. And it never hurts to inject a little emotion into what we do. After all, it’s what makes the world go around…

3. Design perfect

Yes, it is possible to whip up a passable brochure in Publisher, but is this the look you’re really aspiring to? A professional designer will give you polish and style. There are many aspects to consider in terms of design. Design tips from the professionals:

a. Avoid over-used typefaces (or fonts) such as Helvetica, Arial and Times New Roman.

b. Keep the font size small throughout.

c. Use as much negative (blank) space as you possibly can.

d. Don’t use more than three, and preferably fewer, fonts throughout.

e. Use high resolution images always. Fuzzy is never a good look!

f. Unless you plan to use a laminate coating, be wary of large expanses of dark colours which can result in unsightly finger smudges.

g. Try to steer clear of using background or watermark images with overlaid text (unless your designer has a good reason for doing so)

h. If your brochure is destined for a display rack amongst many other brochures, try to ensure there is a prominent heading or eye-catching design feature across the very top.

4. Size does matter

An important consideration when designing your brochure is how you plan to distribute it. If it’s via mail, the most cost-effective size is generally a DL which fits snugly into a standard business envelope. Will you be displaying the brochure upright in a display rack? If so, you’ll need to ensure it fits in the rack in the first place!

5. Shapeliness

Most of us are familiar with the common DL, 6-panel brochure. But don’t forget to ask your designer about other clever and quirky folding options such as gate-fold, z-fold and tri-fold. Die-cut and embossing options can create interesting design features that are unique to your and your business. And then there are the paper stock and finishing options, including laminates or foil embossing… With some imagination and some professional advice about the possibilities, you really can stand out in the crowd!

6. Be original, but always with an eye to the corporate side of your business

The brochure design process is seriously great fun! It’s a great opportunity to really get creative and imaginative to project your key messages. But your brochure should also marry with your corporate identity. Can you extend fonts or images from your logo? Can you use your corporate colours as the basis of your brochure colour palette?

7. Proofreading is paramount

Sadly, this is the most commonly overlooked step. Nothing evokes sloppiness more quickly than a brochure pockmarked with ugly typos and grammatical errors. If your budget does not extend to a professional proofreading service, ask a trusted friend with a gift for words. We cannot state this strongly enough – proofreading is paramount!

Step 1

Develop a shared understanding of the issues the organisation faces or could possibly face. How could they impact upon the organisation and any other stakeholders?

Step 2

Conduct a risk assessment to pre-empt, as far as practicable, the likely course of events for each of these issues.

Step 3

Know your communications protocols. Who is the nominated spokesperson? What are the usual processes for handling media enquiries? And does everyone in your organisation know what these processes and protocols are?

Step 4

Refine your key messages. By clearly articulating your story, you have a better chance of avoiding the trap of falling into a defensive position. Know exactly what you want to say before the issue arises.

Step 5

What will be the best ways of communicating your key messages? Possible strategies could include staff meetings, a media conference or briefing, a media release, website statement, letter to stakeholders, paid press advertisement, etc.

Step 6

Involve the entire organisation. Communication with staff is even more important in times of uncertainty. Regular updates and briefing sessions are highly recommended. Nobody wants to hear news about their own organisation via the media. Ensure all ‘touch points’ are briefed as to communications protocols and processes so staff know exactly how they should respond to questions from the media, clients or the public.

Step 7

Document the issues management plan and who will be responsible for implementing it.

When things get nasty – countering negative publicity

Do try to resist the temptation to get defensive or to respond to individual public accusations. The best way to counter negative publicity is to stay on message.

1. Avoid seeming defensive.
2. Resist the temptation to respond to negative reports via the media. Instead, if it’s warranted (ie to correct misinformation), respond personally to the person or group making the negative claims.
3. Counter negative reports by flooding the media with positive messages at every opportunity.
4. Stay on message. The key to countering negative publicity is consistency of message.

Why do businesses lose customers?

1. The customer moves – 4%
2. The customer is referred to another supplier or company – 5 %
3. Competitors win the customer via special promotions or marketing – 9%
4. Customers are dissatisfied with the product or service – 15 %
5. No customer contact or relationship strategy – 67%.

These findings, from Howard Feirertag and John Hogan, have important ramifications for business. This week, we offer seven simple strategies to help get the relationship right.

1.                   Start the relationship right

From the outset, ensure everything you do reflects what you want your business to become. Ensure your marketing materials, from your logo and stationery through to your website and beyond, are professional and worthy of your customers.

Respond to their initial contact promptly and courteously to set the tone for a great relationship.

2.                   Ask them what they want

It sounds simple – ask your clients what they want. But too few businesses take the time to do this. Collect information whenever you can, from the moment a prospective customer first interacts with you. Ask questions directly. How do they expect to be served? What do they need from your business? In this way, you can begin to anticipate their needs to not only deliver smoking hot service, but to also begin developing or reshaping your products and services to better meet your customers’ needs.

3.                   Give them what they want

Superior service is no accident.

4.                   Inspire trust and confidence

Trust takes time. It’s about doing what you say you’ll do, and about transparency. It’s also about being available to your customers, no matter high ranking you are in your own business.

Special trust-building tip: Resist the urge to trumpet your own successes. Instead, bring something of value to your clients to the table at every meeting.  Show that you have heard them and understand their needs.

5.                   Become involved

Engaging with your community demonstrates your level of commitment. Offer pro bono work, join a service or sporting club or find some other way to actively contribute to your community. This will enable you to forge real relationships with people and inspire trust.

6.                   Engage with your customers

Social media makes engaging with a large number of customers and prospective customers, easier than ever before. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the huge array of social networking sites mean you can connect quickly and efficiently with large numbers of people in your target market. But don’t forget the value of human contact once in a while!

7.                   Just do it. And do it always!

With marketing as with life, consistency is key. Apply these principles across your entire organisation with style, grace and honesty to begin forming lasting, loyal relationships with your customers.

We all know that the difference between a bad business and a good one is marketing. An effective marketing program literally is the key to building a stronger, more profitable and more sustainable business.

So how effective is your 2010 marketing program going to be? Before you do another thing, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions…

1. Do I know what I want to achieve in my business?
2. Do I know what I want my marketing program to achieve?
3. Do my staff understand what we hope to achieve?
4. Is my approach planned and strategic with a clear calendar of events and activities, or am I going to take an ad hoc approach in 2010?
5. Have I allocated sufficient resources (time, staff, expertise, budget) to achieve my goals, or do I need to scale back my expectations?
6. Do I know how my competitors are marketing themselves and to whom?
7. Is there a compelling reason why people should buy from me and not from my competitors?
8. Are my marketing messages clear and unambiguous?
9. Do my marketing messages speak directly to my target audiences and solve their most compelling problems?
10. Am I going to project a polished, professional image with all my marketing materials (website, stationery, advertising, brochures, etc.) or is ‘near enough’ going to be good enough?
11. Am I going to utilise ‘multiple pressure points’ and layering in my marketing activities (eg social media, online, SMS, electronic and press media, direct mail, etc.)?
12. Will I know what works?
13. Do I know what worked well for me in the past?

If you answered mostly ‘yes’ to the above, well done! With your strategic, planned and carefully managed approach, the sky is the limit.

If you mostly answered ‘no’, that’s OK, too. This is a fabulous opportunity to put in place some clear and easy-to-follow strategies to help you wrest back control of that all important marketing function.

o2 Media is delighted to offer you a completely F*R*E*E, no-strings marketing audit (valued at $597) to help you create a lean and mean marketing machine in 2010. Email info@o2media.com.au to redeem this special offer.

How to get loads of free publicity for nothing!

During my years as a Journalist, there was always one month that I dreaded – January. Not only were many of my friends and family languishing on various beaches while I toiled away at the office, it was also really, really hard to find news.

With much of the country shut down, January is an ideal time to make the most of journalistic angst to get loads of free publicity for your business, event, club or group, cause or issue.

There are a few important points to remember. First of all, avoid being overly commercial. This will destroy any news value. Secondly, try to think like a Journalist. What sorts of stories would pique their interest.  And thirdly, try not to limit your imagination.

Need a little inspiration? Read on for our foolproof ways to generate some free publicity.

13 foolproof ways to get free publicity

 1.       Write a media release.

Not sure how to do this? Of course the best way to maximise your coverage is to employ a professional PR practitioner who knows how to identify the best possible news angle.  But you could also try this yourself. Our first blog entry for 2009 will provide a few insider secrets to help you compile a media release with muscle.

2.       Offer surprising facts about your industry.

Did you know demand for solar energy has grown by 30 per cent over the past 15 years? And were you aware that Australians spent in excess of $12 million on accommodation last year? Journalists are always hungry for easily digestible facts such as these.

3.       Customer survey

Do your own customer survey and issue the results. The media always loves a good survey, particularly if the results are couched in statistical format.

4.       Create a Top 10 list

If you’re a hairdresser, it’s “The Top 10 Most Popular Hairstyles for Women”. If you are a lawyer, perhaps “The Top 10 Ways in Which People Were Injured at Work in 2009”… You get the drift.

5.       Ride on the coat-tails of the news

Is there a way you could tap into current affairs to provide a local angle for your regional media? As an example, a Business Advisor might write a media release offering local advice to businesses to help them ride out tough times. A security firm might offer tips on improving household security in the wake of a spate of crime in an area. Or even simpler, offer your own comment about something happening in the news right now.

6.       Tell your story

Everyone has a story to tell. Perhaps it’s a rags to riches tale, or a lucky break. Perhaps you’ve survived some great personal or professional challenges? During quiet times, the media is always on the lookout for interesting human interest stories.

7.       Be charitable

Here’s a great idea – close down your business for one day each year and ask all of your staff to spend a day working for a charity. The next day’s headlines could read something like: “Local bank staff spend a day with homeless”.

8.       Look at the calendar

Are there times throughout the year that are important within your industry? For Accountants and Tax Agents, it could be the end of the financial year. For a Jeweller, it could be Mother’s Day. Leverage off these important dates to offer the media great, topical stories.

9.       Award someone

Your business could ‘invent’ an annual award that is presented to a person in the community or within your industry. For instance, you may like to acknowledge the efforts of a volunteer or community leader.

10.   Apprentice Day

Do you employ trainees, apprentices or other young people? Hand over your business to one of your rising young stars for a day. And don’t forget to tell the media all about it!

11.   Debunk a myth

Is your industry dogged by old wives’ tales? Consider ways you could publicly debunk those old myths. An example – an underwear manufacturer issues a media release citing statistics that prove men who were boxer shorts don’t really have higher fertility!

12.   Solve their problems

This is something you should be doing in your everyday marketing efforts, anyway, but to get some free publicity, write a story detailing how your target audience can solve their greatest problem. For example, a personal trainer may write a story about maintaining fitness routines during the holidays.

13.   Bring in a star

A high profile person of almost any persuasion will get the cameras clicking. Is there a high achiever in your industry you could invite to launch a product/service/office/event? Consider sporting stars, actors, politicians, etc.

How well do you know your clients or customers? Do you know how they found you in the first place or how much time you have invested in them to date?

Systematically tracking your clients or customers will give you a much clearer understanding of how your marketing efforts are performing for you. Importantly, it will also help you separate out clients who are taking up too much of your time for too little return, leaving you to focus your efforts on your dream clients.

There are a myriad of ways to track your client dealings, some simple and others more complex.

Click here to continue reading this article on the o2 Media blog.

Tracking systems can be as simple as a phone log or data spreadsheet or a more sophisticated software package. Here are some of the methods you can employ in your business today.

1. A phone log
Among the simplest ways to monitor how your clients find you. It can be an electronic spreadsheet or even a notebook beside the phone in which you or your reception staff log how each new client has found you. It involves asking the obvious question: “May I ask how you heard about us?” and then making a note of it.

2. Contact Management System
A good contact management system will reveal a great deal about how much time you’re spending with individual clients and which marketing techniques are working for you. Whlie it is possible to set up your own contact management system using simple databases, there is a range of software on the market that can do the work for you. Programs such as ACT!, Goldmine, Salesforce and Highrise will be able to track and calculate exactly how much each of your clients is generating for you.

Information you may want to include as part of your contact management system include:

• Date and length of time of each contact
• Time to convert each lead into a paying client
• How each client came into contact with you in the first place (which marketing activities worked)
• Revenue made from each client
• Cost of effort
• Return on Investment, or ROI.

3. CRM – Customer Relationship Management
A good Customer Relationship Management system will help you to develop targeted marketing plans that will get right to the people you most want to deal with. Put simply, a CRM is a system to help you track and learn more about your customers and their behaviours. It’s a great tool to help you build stronger relationships with your customers or clients.

There are many software applications available to help make this process easier, but it is important to remember the human element of CRM. This process is about systematically gathering information from multiple sources and then using that information to help inform your own business process to offer a better product or service to your client.

You can begin implementing your own CRM today with a box of index cards and a ballpoint pen! If you are a Microsoft Outlook user, you can use the Address Book function to take notes that may be useful.

A CRM can track communications and contacts with your clients, remind you of their previous buying behaviour and alert you to significant dates for your clients (eg birthdays, anniversary of their first project completed with you, important dates within their industry, etc.) in a way that helps you to build a more meaningful and productive relationship.

4. Website statistics
Does your website developer provide you with statistics about the numbers of people visiting your site, where they are coming to your site from and how long they stay at your site? Many web programs enable you to monitor these sorts of statistics yourself.

If you don’t currently have access to this sort of information, try Google Analytics. It’s quite user friendly and it’s free!

5. Client surveys
When was the last time you asked your customers what they think of you? No, really! Aside from requesting testimonials from all your clients or customers, it’s almost essential to ask them for sincere feedback about their dealings with your business.

A fabulous (and free) tool to help in this process can be found at www.surveymonkey.com.au. Survey Monkey is a quick and fun way to set up surveys for your clients. Simply send them the link and request that they take few moments to fill in the online survey.

Hello and thanks for dropping by!

I’m currently sunning myself on a tropical beach in Malaysia with my family, but please check back in the next week or so when I’m sure to have something interesting to say about the complex world of marketing!

In the meantime, please feel free to have your own say. It’s our sincere hope that our blog becomes an interesting conversational forum.

Take care!
Karen