Alan Chait
Attitude – We Are Your “Attitude Firewall”
If you’re like me, you’re tired of people with a bad attitude who provide bad service. I mean waiters and waitresses, support people, customer service people and on and on.
At Greenway, you’ll find a great attitude. So big deal, right? Right!
Behind the scenes we deal with the bad attitudes to make your life easier. Printing is an industry where getting things done is often difficult (understatement). Promises are not kept, specifications are not met, and very lazy, uncaring people will catch errors but let them slide through.
The secret to our success is that we deal with those bad attitudes FOR YOU.
10 elements of an effective brochure
Over the years, we’ve uncovered what makes a printed marketing piece effective.
1. Audience. Do you know your audience and what appeals to them? Are you focusing on a market, geographic area, industry?
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
2. Purpose. Is your piece a point of sale, leave-behind, response to an inquiry, direct mail or a sales support tool? Does the content give anyone a reason to hold onto the piece? Are you trying to build a relationship immediately or do you understand that this may be just a quick attention getting encounter that may eventually lead to a relationship? Can you make this encounter feel good enough to get people to become customers?
3. Content. Have you provided enough information that people don’t have to try to guess or interpolate? Is it educational? Is it worth reading? Is it written well enough that people will want to read it.
4. Action. Is there a call to action? What are you asking the customer to do? Is it a low risk offer?
5. Design – coordination. Is this piece alone or part of another package?
6. Design – appearance. is your design professional or amateurish looking? Is it cluttered, or simple and easy to read? Is there enough “white space” to keep the graphics balanced? Are the colors right for what you want to achieve? Is it divided into short sections with clear, benefits oriented headings so people can find the information they want quickly? Did you provide contact information and directions, if necessary. Are there great visuals, some that hopefully tell a story? Did you use the right fonts?
7. Feel. Did you choose paper thick enough to feel sturdy in your customer’s hands or does it feel and look cheap? The best design on the wrong paper is a waste of your money. Feel is often the most overlook part of a printed piece. Advice, go for the thickest paper practical, even if it cost’s more.
8. Smell. Yes, smell. Certain inks have foul odors. If UV ink isn’t cured correctly, it can smell awful. It will be thrown away immediately. If it’s inside a food bag, it can be a disaster.
9. Testing. Have you tried small tests with different content, design, etc. before printing a large run?
10. Building your brochure. We strongly advise using designers and copywriters who understand printing. Most designers are now educated in web design. Print design is very different. Using a professional designer who understands print can make a big difference in how successful your printing is.
