The Science Of Successful Brochure Writing

How often have you read a potential supplier's sales brochure and thought "Oh that was interesting (not)........(yawn)" and then consigned it to the large round file on the floor?

A familiar scenario? Yes, because most copywriters (whether they work for the company, an Ad Agency or a PR Agency) compose their brochures from their company's point of view not from their prospect's perspective, explains Turtle PR Company.

The A4, Full Colour Glossy Sales Person Reflect for a moment on the purpose of a sales brochure. It is there to perform a selling function. And in most cases it must do this when there is no sales person accompanying it.

We can assume that if your target or prospect has taken the trouble to leaf through your brochure, you have-for a brief few minutes-grabbed his/her attention. And if the brochure is merely scanned and then dropped into the bin or a filing tray, you have just lost a sales opportunity.

Now let's look at a structured approach. If you have ever had the benefit of any formal sales training, you will already know the magic formula. This same prescription can be applied just as effectively to copywriting.

1] Identify with your prospect

2] Answer his/her questions

3] Knock down any objections

4] Close the sale

1.Identify with your prospect

First of all, realise that your reader thinks of him/herself as a single person, not as part of the frequently and insultingly referenced animal "the customer". So talk to him/her in the first person singular.

Don't start with a history of your company; paint a picture that makes your reader think: "Hey this is about me - they're talking my language". You immediately engender the opinion that you understand his/her needs, problems etc.

2. Answer his/her questions

If you've done your homework before starting to write, you will have developed a sketch of your target person. So you can readily work out what s/he needs to know about your product or service.

3. Knock down any objections

This part is not easy, but be honest with yourself. What factors will put your prospective purchaser off? Bite the bullet and tell him/her why these are not reasons not to buy. Turn these negatives into positives. If you need help, talk to one of your sales people-they combat objections in virtually every sales negotiation they conduct.

4. Close the sale

This is usually the part of selling that people dislike the most. It seems that most people just don't like to ask for the order. But, as my grandmother taught me "If you don't ask, you don't get".

So, having just persuaded your prospect that your left-handed widget really is the best thing since sliced bread, we can either let him/her do nothing and file the brochure, or we can attempt to make them take some form of action.

It is rare that anyone places an order purely from reading a sales brochure…our aim is to get the prospect talking to a sales person.

So finish your brochure with a call to action.

Tell your reader that your brochure has only been able to tell him a small part of the story. Persuade him/her to fax or post a response back to you asking for more information. Then you've got a warm lead to pass to your salesforce.

Better still, suggest that they phone and speak to a sales person. If they do this, you've got a hot lead.

And don't forget to put the contact details right there in the copy, to make life easier.

Summary Checklist

Use headings and sub-heads - then your reader can dip straight into the areas that particularly interest him/her.

Use short sentences.

Don't be afraid, occasionally, to treat a phrase as though it were a sentence, if it makes more impact.

Never make your reader have to read a sentence twice.

Replace hard words with easy words.

Avoid acronyms, unless you are 120% sure that every single potential reader has known their meaning since he/she was in nappies.

Even then, it is courteous to spell acronyms out in full at their first appearance with the initials immediately after in brackets.

Remember, you and your company are not the targets of your brochure - it is for your prospective customer.

Congratulations, you have now created the main ingredient of an "A4, full colour glossy sales person" instead of another pointless brochure.


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Phil Turtle is a serial Entrepreneur, Business Consultant and PR Expert and CEO of Turtle Consulting Group. Turtle Consulting Group is a PR Company that specialises in tech and business to business PR. According to many Editors Turtle PR Agency is refreshingly different to most other agencies because it is totally focused on the needs of Editors."