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Your Brochure Should Show You're a Problem Solver

When you think about spreading the word about your business, a brochure automatically come to mind. Even though customers may find out about you and your services on the Internet, when people meet you, they like to come away with something more substantial than a business card.

Brochures can give a good "snapshot" of your business. Aside from presenting your logo and your contact information (address, phone/fax number, website, email address) - business card content- the brochure gives you a chance to tell the client what to expect from you. It usually lists the things you can do, but offers you an opportunity to go beyond that.

business,folderer According to Robert Middleton, author of the Infoguru Marketing Manual, most brochures focus mainly on what a business does, rather than the problem the client has and how a business can solve it. No one is really interested in what your company does unless they believe that your company can solve a problem they have, or you create a want or need in them.

Once your brochure hooks in the customer with how much he needs you, don't drown him with detail. If you offer a specialized service ( i.e., relocation) or serve a special market (i.e, mature homebuyers), that's material for another brochure. Briefly tell your story, but use white space and pictures to set off your content. You don't want your message to be lost in a wall of words.

How should you effectively use your brochures? Aside from making them available to visitors to your office, you should include them in regular correspondence to customers or hand them out at events. This means that brochures should be printed on good stock but not be so costly you are tempted to "save them." Many times they can be produced in house if you have a good color copier or delivered to your local Kinko's or Staples in camera ready form for commercial production.

Your brochure is a carry-away reminder of the solutions you can offer!

Need some help reformatting your current brochure or developing a new one? Please give me a call for a complimentary overview of your brochure and your business.

Bob Corcoran

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Posted by Bob Corcoran on 09/23/2009 06:31 AM

Comments (41)

Your Brochure Should Show You're a Problem Solver in the Sales Strategies / Tactics Channel

brochure, real estate coaching, client marketing

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41 Comments on Your Brochure Should Show You're a Problem Solver

SEP

This is great and timely information for me. Thanks for your post. You have inspired me to produce a brochure.

As always a timely ad good post. Our company Brochure is chock full of that and has been a great tool for my business as well.

Years ago I had thousands of slick personal brochures printed and you're right... they were too expensive to hand out. Finally, most of them got thrown out because I changed companies and the photo was obsolete. The brochures I create and produce on my own lil inkjet printer are the most effective ones I've ever had. Your suggestions are excellent and would be very helpful to agents in the Real Estate Rookie Group.

Thanks for your comments.

Kari, with modern technology, it is possible to produce a small quantity of brochures. If you need to change something, you can do it in the next run.

Joyce,glad your brocrure is working for you.

Margaret, thanks for the suggestion about where to post this. In the "old days," I think all of us were mesmerized by how cheap printing got when you ordered thousands of copies. This made fro a lot of extras when things changed.

Bob - These are excellent brochure guidelines. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Marc. Once we realize what a great tool a brochure can be, this takes us to a whole new level of thinking about what should be in it & how we shouldlay it out.

Bob, good point about solving a problem with the brochure. Time to take a look at my brochure and updating it. Thanks!

I think these same guidelines can be adapted to your ONLINE presence also. Many of the same aspects Bob brought up would fit social media profiles, websites, emails, etc.

Thanks for the advice today on "brouchures" I like them!

I do find more and more that the internet has the lead as we all now know on leads. THere are fewer people to hand out brouchures but yes I do use and like them

Patricia

Bob good post and a timely reminder. We use brochures for different markets and we print in house so it's managable to change and adjust when needed. More white space - less works and more pics. Like it!

Looks like I need to update mine! Thanks for the reminder

Jason R. Anderson, MBA
Team Leader, Tag Realty Advisors

Thanks for your comments! All of you have reinforced what I was saying. People like something in their hand - brochures have some weight and size to them, so they fill the bill. If they briefly tell your story & can be updated as your story changes, you've got a winner.

Bob, content is the key to great literature. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

Sounds like something I would like to do. Any pointers on good templates so I don't have to start from scratch.

Very nice tips Bob - this type of personal marketing is often thrown together with little regard to content and goal - more of a "Me Collage".

Great advice.

Bob - I need to update my brochure, it's time. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction.

Thanks for all your comments. Please give me a call for some tips on improving your current brochure or starting from scratch!

I love the idea of making your brochure about how you get deals completed by thinking outside the box...congrates on the feature!

I'm bookmarking this gem. All the points you make are valuable for anyone creating a brochure or redoing an extisting brochure. Thanks!

Great advice- I created a brochure 2 years ago and it was very well received. You are correct that using them in addition to a business card give potential prospects something to carry away from first contact and will help you stand out above other Real Estate Professionals they may also be interviewing. Good jobs!

Thanks for all your comments. The idea in creating a brochure is to convery basic info, of course, but it should also remind the reader why they should choose you to buy or sell your home. If you get a lot of inquiries about specific things like green homes, relocation, downsizing, choosing a lender, etc., get back in the brochure-making mode & create a specialized one.

Thinking outside the box is something few of us do when creating a brochure. You need to make sure that it is an integral part of your marketing plan.

Very good information Bob. Thanks for sharing

Bob, thanks for the reminder. I used to practice this and got away from it. You make an excellent point on how valuable a well done brochure could be for business. Thank you!

I"ve never been a fan of brochures for the very reasons that you mention. This is an excellent strategy to implement. Thanks for this.

Great post! I'm in the process of designing my brochures, cards, etc... as we speak. You should also mention, that your brochures should match the rest of your products as well (website, cards, ...)

Thanks!

Classic Roger Butcher. The brochure is definitely the way to go. I need to look ours over right now to assure that it addresses how we can help the client. We always refer to ourselves as problem solvers, and not Realtors. I wonder if there is a NAR designation for problem solving :-)

Thanks for your comment. Suma.

David: Brochure preparation these days can be quick yet effective!

Kate: Even if you put the bare bones of the benefits you offer on the brochure & direct direct interested parties to your website for in depth information, you can satisfy clients.

Shannon: Good point in the design. It is easy to have a lot of designs going if you get post cards with real estate templates from one place, have stationary in your website package or contact management package, & have other things designed for you! I was saving this point for another post but it is well noted here too.

Melissa: There should be a problem solving category! More & more agents say on their website "we're not just agents, we're your real estate solution!"

You hit the nail right on the head. As a consumer we are interested in what's in it for me. The company information may be 'important' but things like experience, integrity, customer focus are things that are expected and need to be put in terms of the customer, not the agent or the company. Thanks for the post & comments.

I hadn't thought of this. I'm definitely bookmarking this for future reference. I now have something else to add to my arsensal of marketing strategies,. Thanks for the advice, it is very much appreciated.

Basically, its the old marketing axiom of "give them a reason". They've spoken with you, they know what you do. Now give them a reason.

I posted about this a couple of weeks ago, can you pick yourself out of the "lineup" of me-toos using your own marketing materials.

Try it some time, its an eye opener.

Bob - thanks for sharing your thoughts on brochures. I need to revise mine a bit, in keeping with these great suggestions - mine is more detailed than it needs to be, I think. I use them at networking events, open houses and in my relocation/prelisting/buyer kits.

Jeff

Thanks for comments, Jeff.

William, good luck in trying this out. Give me a call if I can help.

Mike, thanks for the backup.

Bob, I agree that in addition to local expert or info on the market niche you serve, problem solver is paramount!!

What great tips indeed. I can not tell you how often I see agents and other businesses with the main concept of me, me, me - meaning the agent or the business not who the recipients are. ~Rita

SEP

Thanks for your comments, Gary & Rita.

Gary, if you show yourself as a local expert & cater to your market, you are a porblem solver for many.

Rita, I agree. It seemed like the "law of brochure writing" was that you included the company history & a list of agent acheivements. In reality, unless you can turn this information around to show how you are serving the client, who cares!

I agree! Excellent post with excellent points. We are problem solvers plain and simple and if we do not convey that information to potential clients, we are missing the boat. I like your approach...I shall focus more on this in my marketing.

We are in the mist of working on changing our brochure ~ thanks for the tips, we will be sure to add something about being problem solvers. Thanks again for a great post.

One mistake people make is in putting in TOO MUCH info/details.

You want them to call you and make contact, not have 100% of all the info they need.

Thanks for the comment, Jeanie.

Glad this is helpful, Sandy.

Agreeed, Erica. It is tempting to put too much information in a brochure. If the content is interesting enough,people will be looking you up for more details

SEP

Good timing and great tips. Thank you very much. Its time we finished what we started 15 years ago ... getting something to put in the customers' hands.

Jim, you mean you've been working on your brochure for 15 years? That should be a masterpiece! If you need some help streamlining your content, give me a call.

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