Brochures that Generate Sales Leads (and How to Write Them)

One rule in direct mail is that your letter sells your offer and your brochure sells what you're selling. For example, let's say you mail a classic direct mail package to generate sales leads for your enterprise software product. Your classic package will consist of a #10 mailing envelope, a sales letter, a brochure (perhaps an 8 1/2×11 sheet folded twice), a reply device and a #9 return envelope.

In this package, your letter sells your offer (which might be anything from a white paper to a complimentary audit to a discount) and your brochure sells your product (describing in detail the tech features that are too cumbersome to include in a letter). Here's how to organize and write that brochure.

1. Create a compelling and memorable theme
Don't just name your product on the front cover, or simply feature a photo of your manufacturing plant taken from the air. Instead, craft a theme that captures your prospects attention and stimulates interest. Turn this theme into a headline for your front cover. Include a customer benefit, clearly stated or implied, whenever possible. Here are some examples:

(a) Committed to Memory (manufacturer of computer RAM)
(b) Now you're Talking (Voice Over IP service)
(c) We go the Distance (distance learning software)
(d) Get Online Without a Line (wireless email service)

2. Carry your cover theme throughout the brochure
Use images, subheads, captions and body copy that continue your front cover theme throughout the brochure. If your cover theme is "Now you're Talking," for example, a subhead inside the brochure might be, "Talk about a great deal." Your call to action might be, "We need to talk."

3. Start your selling message with your prospect
Inside the brochure, the first image and headline that your prospects see should speak directly to them and the problem they face. Don't start with you or your product. Start with the prospect.

4. Grab attention immediately
Arrest your prospect's attention and show that you understand their problem (the one that your product or service solves). For example, a software vendor sells an application that manages enterprise storage from a single management console. Here is how they grab their prospect's attention:

[Cover theme]
Get more storage without buying more storage.

[Inside headline]
Adding storage solves your storage problems. True or false?

[First line of copy]
Is your distributed storage ballooning by 75% a year? If all you do is add more storage, all you do is compound your problems.

5. Describe your top benefits first
List the top five features of your product or service, and the benefits that customers get from these features. Remember that a feature is something that your product does, while a benefit is what that feature does for your prospect.

Now rank these top five features and benefits in order of their importance to your prospect. Then write your copy so that you mention the top benefit first, the second-most-important benefit second, and so on.

In the above example, for instance (point 4), you would list the following benefits, in this order, and flesh out each one with persuasive copy:

(a) reclaim up to 30% of your storage space enterprise-wide
(b) prevent premature and costly storage purchases by predicting when your servers will run out of space
(c) reduce data access problems and storage-related failures before they threaten your mission-critical data

6. Present proof
Back every claim you make with the kind of proof that resonates with your prospective buyer. In business-to-business mailings, some of the most compelling proofs are testimonials, comparisons with competing products, test results, case histories, industry awards, and names of well-known companies who are your clients.

7. Ask for the order
Treat your brochure as a salesperson who has to give your entire sales pitch. That way, if your brochure gets separated from your sales letter in the prospect's office, the brochure stands alone as a sales tool that can generate a sales enquiry. So ask for the order, usually at the end of the brochure. Tell the prospect exactly what to do take things to the next level (call your 1-800 number, call you, return the reply card, visit your website, download a demo, and so on).

Alan is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation consultant. As President of Sharpe Copy Inc. (http://www.sharpecopy.com), Alan specializes in helping businesses generate leads, close sales and retain customers, using cost-effective, compelling direct mail and email marketing. Alan also uses his direct mail advertising services to help charities raise funds and raise awareness of their causes, using fundraising letters.

____________________

Advertisement: Honest Riches - Click Here!

Advertisement: Lost AdWords - Click Here!

Advertisement: Get $1 Million A Month In Google Pay-Per-Click Ads Free! - Click Here!

Advertisement: Who Loves Money? - Click Here!

Advertisement: SEO Elite, the GrandDaddy of SEO Software - Click Here!

In The News:

---

LA reveals unveils new tourism marketing slogan
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 2 hours ago
AP LOS ANGELES—The city on Friday unveiled a new marketing campaign built around the slogan "That's So LA" to keep tourists coming despite the nation's ...
New campaign to boost LA tourism abc7.com
all 23 news articles

Reuters
Audi says it will increase US marketing efforts
Chicago Tribune, United States - 5 hours ago
Those marketing dollars have an aim to push Audi US sales to 200000 vehicles by 2018. Schwarzenbauer said the company has a goal to sell 1.5 million Audis ...
Audi plans record US marketing spending Reuters
Audi plans to boost US marketing budget Automotive News
Audi says it will increase US marketing efforts Fox 28
DetNews.comall 16 news articles

Columbus tech firm buys Dayton marketing company
Bizjournals.com, NC - 8 hours ago
Implications International, which specializes in interactive marketing, brand design, and Web development, has offices in Peoria, Ill., Mumbai, India, ...

Wellstar/TMI Begins Marketing Imaging System to Long-Term Care ...
MSNBC - 3 hours ago
TMI's marketing plan includes a program where LTC facilities can lease the equipment necessary to perform skin assessments and store the necessary data ...

Halekulani to get marketing boost from Japanese hotel
Bizjournals.com, NC - 7 hours ago
Effective April 1, Imperial Hotel will start reservations service, sales, marketing and public relations activities within Japan for Halekulani and Waikiki ...

Proton Laboratories Announces New Sales & Marketing Office
MSNBC - 20 hours ago
Proton will start by marketing a variety of enhanced water products that provide health benefits for people and the planet as well as the commercial product ...
Proton Laboratories opens Southern California office Bizjournals.com
all 9 news articles

Zoo honored for marketing campaign
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - 4 hours ago
... different companies around the US The Utah Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services recognizes excellence in marketing communications ...

Boston Globe
FedEx trims '09 marketing budget by 25%
Bizjournals.com, NC - Jan 8, 2009
United Parcel Service Inc. rival FedEx Corp. will cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, the company recently disclosed on its blog. ...
FedEx cuts marketing spend by more than 25 percent Reuters
FedEx cuts marketing budget DM News
FedEx to reduce marketing budgets by 25% Brand Republic
all 45 news articles

Katz Media Launches New Marketing Unit
FMQB, NJ - 11 hours ago
Katz Media Group has launched a new, national marketing unit that will create custom solutions for advertisers and their agencies with the goal of ...
Katz Launches National Marketing Unit, Trims Staff Media Buyer Planner
Katz Media Group forms marketing unit BtoB Magazine
Katz creates unit to handle ads for new radio platforms SmartBrief
all 6 news articles

Examiner.com
Cape May tourism department wins marketing award
Examiner.com - 14 hours ago
by William Sokolic, Jersey Shore Examiner The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International will recognize the Cape May County Department of ...

marketing - Google News

Developing A Focused Marketing Strategy

You want all of your marketing messages to have a single focus, so they pull together instead of competing with each other. Great! So how do you... Read More

Five Tips to Make Your Marketing More Creative

Same old same old just doesn't sell anymore. To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get... Read More

A Successful Solution: 10 Things to Consider

A provocation for the coming year, decade, century or millennium.By now, you've set a working direction for the year, established clear-cut objectives. Your first-iteration plan to reach... Read More

Sowing and Growing Your Network

The N-word! We all know the value of networking and we feel we should be doing more of it. Unfortunately, for too many of us the very... Read More

Marketing On The Cheap: Join The What?

Your local Chamber of Commerce.Now before you stop reading, I assure you this really works, and no, this is not an advertisement for the Chamber of Commerce... Read More

11 Ways to Turnaround a Cash-Strapped Business or Practice

This past weekend I received a disturbing message from a dear friend. His business wasn't generating all the income he needed. He's exhausted all savings, started depleting... Read More

Five Joint Venture Marketing Skills A Small Business Owner Must Have

Joint venture marketing is a lucrative way of leveraging the assets of two or more businesses. It is the fastest way for businesses to achieve certain business... Read More

Everything Youve Ever Learned About Marketing Is Wrong

Everything you've ever learned about marketing and advertising is WRONG. Everything you've ever heard everything you've ever tried, everything you've ever done, it's all WRONG.Hello, my name... Read More

Basic Brand Building

A brand is the essence of who you are. The more powerful the brand the more memorable you will become. Think about brands that you can identify... Read More

Budget Marketing: Managing Your Marketing Money Wisely!

There's a saying that half of all marketing efforts are wasted, but it's impossible to tell which half!I know from hard won experience how easy it is... Read More

Six Essential Principles for Marketing to Women Business Owners

Marketing to women entrepreneurs is not difficult. You just have to follow six easy, but essential, principles.As of 2004, there are an estimated 10.6 million privately-held firms... Read More

5 High-Impact Marketing Tips

Here are 5 high-impact marketing tips you can use to boost your sales quickly. All are simple to implement and they involve little or no new expense.1.... Read More

Ten Amazing Ways To Increase Attraction at a Trade Show

These ideas are for anyone that has a small budget to work with or is just starting to expand into exhibiting at trade shows. You can... Read More

Reinventing The Wheel

Revolutionary ideas have always been the mark of mankind. It's what made us superior to animals and prove that we are the dominant species of this planet.... Read More

Marketing the Government for Profit

Steps and tips on marketing your business to the government.Fact: Federal, state and local governments buy over $450 billion combined in goods and services each year.Part of... Read More

Market Planning -- Getting the Word Out

"There are those who get things done and those who think about getting things done." --Col. Wesley L. Fox, USMC (Ret)Marketing cannot be hit or miss; it... Read More

Marketing Hat for Graphic Designers or Wannabe?s

Many people think that the quality of any graphic design is determined by how aesthetically pleasing it is: Although making the card look good is important, this... Read More

Marketing Manual Sample Outline

The key to success in any business relies a large part in your ability to market your product or service. Often MBA students spend years studying marketing... Read More

Business Promotional Items ? How to Stimulate Word of Mouth Advertising

If the promotional items you give out end up in the attic or shoved in the back of a desk drawer, they are probably not doing what... Read More

Developing the Unique Selling Proposition

The "Unique Selling Proposition" advertising campaign was developed by Reeves in 1961. Reeves proposed that marketers offer products different from their competitor' offerings by developing products that... Read More

Generational Marketing

Having run a multi-state franchise company with multiple brands it became obvious to me early on that if one were to properly respond to the needs and... Read More

How Nearly Going Broke Taught Me The Value Of Niche Marketing

If you want to learn how effective Niche Marketing can be, I suggest you "don't" take the route I did.Back in 1983 I started a company offering... Read More

Timing and the Right Product Will Make Your Dreams Come True

Are you looking to erase your debt, buy that new luxury vehicle, or impress that special person?You can, if the timing is right and you market a... Read More

Advertising Your Private Practice: Beware of the Problems-Part 1

One of the biggest mistakes coaches, counselors and other healing professionals make is to assume that they must advertise their private practice in order to get clients.... Read More

Four Keys For Successful Foundation and Corporate Fundraising

Earlier in my career, I worked for a training and technical assistance service provider with significant revenue from foundations and corporations. What was the key to success?... Read More

The M-Word

It was a real eye-opener to hear the perceptions people have about what it means to market professional services, as well as the anxiety the "m-word" (marketing)... Read More