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please help- making a good brochure for web dev company

by Rendition
11 replies
Hey warriors,

I am looking for help in my brochure design. Specifically, what sort of content to put inside it now that the design of the brochure is finished.

We are a web design agency offering premium services on a local level to clients. Our primary goal is to sign customers up to a management plan on a retainer fee, but we also take on customers on a flat-fee basis. Our agents will be going directly to businesses and will be provided with a trifold brochure that overviews our service which they can also present to potential customers. As far as the content in the brochure, we are looking for feedback on the following...

1) Because we are a start up we do not have any testimonials for our company, instead our specialists all have personal testimonials, but none of us really feel ethical just altering the testimonials as if they were for our company. Should we just omit testimonials? We really do not have the budget or free time right now to do any pro bono projects for testimonials.

2) We are overviewing two things right now. One is our "Service", the other is our "Strategy". The "Service" category is meant to overview what we plan on delivering. This includes SEO, Marketing, Graphic design, and other by-demand services that we offer retainer clients on a monthly basis. The service category doesn't include details or data about what exactly we can deliver because we don't have any way to promise a specific rate of increase sales or traffic. The service part of the brochure is actually very short hand. Here is an example...
User friendly website catered to your preferences.
Reliable consultation with one of our agents.
Custom content provided by demand.
Active and growing social media to expand your customer base.
Custom graphics provided by demand.
Print design and shipment.
Search engine optimization to improve your traffic.
Internet marketing to improve your outreach.
The "Strategy" page is meant to highlight what makes our product quality, and is meant to overview what differentiates us from other web developers/designers. Here is an example of that (also very shorthand)...
Communication: Our agents focus entirely on your strategic
needs. Our specialists help with work load so the agent can spend more time on you.

Quality Control: We do not outsource our work. Our
team creates everything we offer.

Qualified Staff: All of our consultants and specialists are
hand picked for sociability, knowledge, and the quality of their work.

3) We are lacking images in the brochure. Right now it is just the format of the brochure + text content. Because we do not have testimonials it is lacking a bit of personality. The problem is that on our website we take a very personal approach by displaying a bio and picture of each of our specialists/agents. So if we were to put a random picture of a few people next to a computer or on the phone and put it into the brochure, it might seem out of place in the context of our website. Would it be best to just include some generic "look how friendly we are" pictures pulled from the web, or should we consider some other sort of graphic?


4) Besides those two categories we will also have an overview of us. Basically just a paragraph about who we are and why we are special. Advice on how to approach that is also welcome. Right now it is just ...
WHERE PIXELS MAKE YOU MONEY
WE PROVIDE WEB PRESENCE FOR BUSINESSES AND PRIVATE PROFESSIONALS WHO WISH TO INCREASE SALES. OUR COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE HANDLES ALL OF YOUR INTERNET NEEDS.
But I need advice on how to make that block of text more effective in drawing in the customer. Maybe we should make it more personable?


Any and all feedback, advice, or questions will be welcomed! We are hitting the ground running with our offline pitch next week, so would like to hone this before then. Thanks so much to anyone will to give advice!
#brochure #company #dev #good #making #web
  • Profile picture of the author ekalaivan
    Rendition,

    Here are some suggestions:

    – I think you can include personal testimonials of a few people. Just make sure you include headshots of them and a short bio.
    – Consider making two brochures - one for web designing and the other for print designs.
    – Include a strong headline... something like – "Your online marketing secret - comprehensive, measurable, profitable"
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Brochures should not be about the people who give them, they should be about the people who are reading them. A list of services is going in the trash faster than you can blink. You need to engage them and make them think "This person can help me."

    I have a bigger question for you though. Do you really need a brochure? Are you using time and energy on the brochure in order to distract yourself from selling? If you can't reach out and get a few testimonials, perhaps you have not been working hard enough to sell. Brochures don't sell. You must sell.
    Signature
    Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      After I read your post I thought how can I say this
      without sounding like a jerk.
      No brochures!

      But, Dan McCoy and Eddie Spangler said it very well.
      Go read what they said.

      Thanks guys.
      Signature
      "Nothing Happens Until Something Is Sold"
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  • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
    Damn a fancy brochure, all them buzzwords and stuff you wrote doesnt really mean squat , its just a bunch of stuff you think you are supposed to say.

    User friendly website catered to your preferences.
    Reliable consultation with one of our agents.
    Custom content provided by demand.
    Active and growing social media to expand your customer base.
    Custom graphics provided by demand.
    Print design and shipment.
    Search engine optimization to improve your traffic.
    Internet marketing to improve your outreach.

    Find people with a problem and tell them how you will fix problem, collect check.

    PS. Im really just ranting on all the stupid, crappy sales material that I see local
    businesses using. They try to sound all big and important , using corporate speak that
    doesnt really mean anything and even when they try to sound like they are different they
    sound just like the other guy trying to do the same.
    Signature
    Promise Big.
    Deliver Bigger.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      What's your positioning? Who are your clients? Why would they choose you (i.e., what problem of theirs do you fix and why do they want you over anyone else who fixes that problem)?

      When I was an appraiser, I was approached by a company that created website. They had a nice brochure. Kind of like what you propose. When I did meet with their rep., he showed me a book with tons of beautiful images.

      Lots of talk about colors and great design. Told me, it would run me $3,000.

      Before I had time to decide, another company approached me. They did not have a brochure. However, they had a plain piece of paper that went something like this:

      Your website is going to cost you money. What do you want it to do?

      Here are your options:
      1. pretty brochure online
      2. 24/7 sales person
      3. positioning tool

      1 and 2 can be combined with 3.
      1 and 2 cannot be combined.

      I did not even consider the 1st one. The 2nd one, I would have bought from, however, had they had their other bleeeeep together. (In other words, I made a down payment, they failed to deliver, even after I approved 2 3-week long extensions.)

      The web site they proposed was a heck of a lot plainer than that the 1st company proposed. However, they talked about conversions, calls to action, asked me a ton of good questions about what type of clients I want, how I wanted to be known for, etc.

      Neither one nor two talked about SEO.

      So, if you must create a brochure, create one that does the following:
      helps your readers qualify themselves in or out
      gets them to raise their hand (gets them to ask for some freebie that lets you know what type of help they need)
      gets them to think you're a good fit for them, better yet: the only one for them

      i.e., position yourself as the source of relief in the area of websites not as a web designer.
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  • Profile picture of the author af7850
    I would be very pleased to give you a brochure design that will make you enough money to raise you two income tax brackets, and compel total strangers to like you, trust you and desperately want to do business with you, but I cannot do this until you answer the following question:

    What exactly are you selling?

    I know, you probably think I'm either blind or stupid. After all, there's a whole list of services up there, right?

    Wrong. I don't care about all of the crap that you have listed. What is the one thing that you are actually selling? Or better phrased, what is the one thing that your customer wants you to provide?... And it is exactly one thing, not two or twenty. Do you see the answer?

    Like Napoleon Hill, I can't give you the answer to this question. Not because I don't know it (I certainly do), but because the more you are guided to the answer the further you will be from knowing it. However, when you find the answer, you will have found the key to limitless wealth, happiness and success in every area of your life.

    Can anybody here pick up what I'm laying down?
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    • Profile picture of the author hiddenbrook
      This is good stuff, thanks Jason

      Originally Posted by af7850 View Post

      I would be very pleased to give you a brochure design that will make you enough money to raise you two income tax brackets, and compel total strangers to like you, trust you and desperately want to do business with you, but I cannot do this until you answer the following question:

      What exactly are you selling?

      I know, you probably think I'm either blind or stupid. After all, there's a whole list of services up there, right?

      Wrong. I don't care about all of the crap that you have listed. What is the one thing that you are actually selling? Or better phrased, what is the one thing that your customer wants you to provide?... And it is exactly one thing, not two or twenty. Do you see the answer?

      Like Napoleon Hill, I can't give you the answer to this question. Not because I don't know it (I certainly do), but because the more you are guided to the answer the further you will be from knowing it. However, when you find the answer, you will have found the key to limitless wealth, happiness and success in every area of your life.

      Can anybody here pick up what I'm laying down?
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  • Profile picture of the author Rendition
    Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I am going to try to lay out our methodology to hopefully help answer your questions...

    Each consultant is dedicated to customer service while the specialists deal with the actual design. We carefully select a specialist for each field (coding, web design, seo, etc), so that they too can focus on putting all their energy into the product. This way the specialist can focus on delivering the product, while the consultant can focus on customer service and translating their needs to the specialist (and vice versa).

    Right now we have...
    1 coder
    1 coder/web designer
    1 web designer
    1 marketing/seo specialist
    2 graphic/logo designers
    2 consultants (marketing/service agents) who will be hitting the streets next week

    The consultant (marketing/customer service agent) updates content for the customer by-demand via social media and website (a certain amount each month). Any other services the customer wants (seo, marketing, graphic design, print, etc) can be requested by-demand (a certain amount each month). Lastly, the consultant provides consultation, answering any questions the customer might have or helping them by suggesting strategies for their web presence.

    I suppose the issue I am having is with phrasing. How do I phrase in a way that makes it clear to the customer that
    1) We really do care about the quality of our product
    2) We strive to make it so that each of our team members can focus and specialize on one thing, therefore delivering a higher quality service in their field
    3) We will deliver a high quality website and help them increase their traffic, social media following, and general web presence.

    So, looking at the OP, If anyone has any ideas as to how we can phrase in a way that will interest the customer, please let me know. Specific examples would be the most helpful. Or if anyone has any more clarifying questions for me I'd be happy to answer.

    Thanks again!
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      This link will help you...http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...5k-2-days.html

      You need a brain cleanse because your first and last post was all about you.
      Your prospects are like you too, they only care about themselves, therefore you have to be very specific on how you can benefit them.

      Failing to do so gets you ignored and rejected.

      Go study that link to the ad because it brought $25,000 worth of annual billings within 2 days and has become the most ripped off ad for web designers.

      Remember your message has to be about them,
      not you.

      And the best way to re-train your brain is to think in terms of what problems
      other people have first.

      Name the problem.

      Then split the problem into a division of the problem.

      Example: Restaurant isn't very profitable
      Restaurant has slow days on Monday and Tuesday
      There Is No advertising specials for those days
      They are using bad advertising
      Even if the advertising brought customers in,
      they don't ask them to come back
      They can't ask them to come back because they don't collect their contact details
      They don't collect their contact details because they don't know how to use the technology
      They think it will be expensive
      They think it will be complicated to use
      They don't know what to say to get customers to come back
      They don't have a customer reward program
      They don't understand they can invest less in bringing in new customers
      because they can concentrate keeping existing ones coming back
      They don't have upsells in place

      And on and on it goes.

      Carry out your own exercise like this because it will train your brain to be a problem detective
      and go "Ah ha I know how to fix this problem!"

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author Rendition
    Thanks for the help folks. I have come to the following conclusions...

    1) A brochure is not personable enough, at least not right now. We will go with business cards to start
    2) We are going to adjust our pitching strategy so that it is very customer centric
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  • Profile picture of the author icsmindia
    User friendly website catered to your preferences.
    Reliable consultation with one of our agents.
    Custom content provided by demand.
    Active and growing social media to expand your customer base.
    Custom graphics provided by demand.
    Print design and shipment.
    Search engine optimization to improve your traffic.
    Internet marketing to improve your outreach.
    Signature
    Quality Revenue cycle management NY, Medical Billing Company NY
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9396132].message }}

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