WHY NOBODY READS YOUR BROCHURE (OR ANY OTHER MARKETING MATERIALS)
by Maribeth Kusmeski
I’ve been trying for years to determine why some marketing, just doesn’t work – and is often counterproductive. Consider the typical company brochure. Some firms work for weeks, even, months to create the perfect brochure with the best writing and layout. Yet later they discover that they could have inserted a swear word inside, without a single person noticing (I don’t recommend trying this). Why don’t people bother reading the piece into which you poured your creative blood sweat and tears into?
The objective of most marketing is to present a distinctive company “brand” offering unique benefits that a customer needs and wants. The brochure should be compelling that people read it and then decide they must do business with the firm! However, few people read brochures (or other marketing materials, for that matter) because they know that they’re written .to “sell” them.
A brochure or even your Web site, filled with perfectly created marketing phrases and pictures of models and ocean waves hitting the shore, is certainly aesthetically pleasing. However, to attract people to read your brochure and find out more about your firm, your message must sound and be as authentic as you are. Use the words your clients and prospects would use to describe their challenges, solutions and benefits – not perfect words and perfect pictures. People want to do business with people they’re comfortable with and can trust. To market effectively, we need less “pitch” and more of an informal conversational approach
To attract customers, use authentic marketing and portrayals of what you do and who you are. Replace the perfection of your marketing with you. Create a blog with your words, use real pictures, create a video, etc. Show them who you are. You might be surprised at how much more attractive this makes your company – without any of the fluff!
Maribeth Kusmeski is president of Red Zone Marketing, LLC; 1509 N. Milwaukee Avenue; Libertyville, IL 60048; phone: (847) 367-4066; fax: (847)-367-5226; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.redzonemarketing.com.