Leveraging Printed Brochures Through Mail
Leveraging Printed Brochures Through Mail
Everyone recognizes a standard printed brochure: it's rectangular, and it may be a folded paper or a little booklet which is stapled at the spine. The front page is the "attention grabber". Typically the vital information about your product or service is printed on the inside pages, with your contact information on the back.
Brochures are usually printed so that they can be stood up in a rack or stand in what is called "portrait style", which means that the height is greater than the width. The advantage of putting your brochures out on a rack is that anyone may come along and find out more about the service you are offering without your having to be there. And you don't have to worry if only a small percentage of the people who take your brochures end up contacting you, because printed brochures may be obtained very inexpensively from a quality online printer. Depending on what you are selling, a single sale resulting from this approach may pay for your printed brochures many times over.
The drawback to this approach is that it is somewhat passive: you have to wait for someone else to take action. However, a more proactive approach in regards to the use of printed brochures is in a mailing of some type.
Here's a hypothetical example of how the power of printed brochures might be leveraged by a mailing: Let's start with Ted, who is a regular handyman. Ted can refinish floors; he can do light carpentry work; he can do painting, caulking and brickwork. He can even do landscaping in fact, almost anything that might be needed to spruce up a home and make it look more livable and attractive.
Ted wants to expand his small base of customers, and so we catch up with him as he is leaving the post office where he has just picked up his order of 500 printed brochures which he obtained from an online printing company. On the sidewalk, he runs into Marsha, who owns her own real estate agency. Ted has done work for Marsha both her home and her office and Marsha is a fan of Ted's work. Marsha suggests they pop into the internet caf at the end of the block, so they can chat. After they order, Ted opens his packet in order to inspect his brochure order.
Marsha: What's that, Ted?
Ted: I ordered some brochures from an online printing company. I plan to put them around town and maybe I'll get a few more customers. (He takes a brochure out and inspects it.) Perfect! Just as I ordered.
Marsha sits quietly, thinking. Their order arrives. Marsha hardly notices.
Ted: Something on your mind, Marsha?
Marsha: You know, I just had an ideaThis real estate market is still pretty bad, and one thing I've noticed is that people didn't spend money on keeping up their properties during the recession, and so the houses look rundown and it makes them harder to sell.
Ted: I see that everywhere I go. The problem you're having is that the current owners don't make the connection between a great looking house and salability.
Marsha: Exactly. It just so happens that I'm getting ready to do a mailing to my own mailing list. I'm trying to encourage people who might be ready to sell their homes to use my services. Wouldn't it be great if I included your printed brochure in my mailing? In my letter, I'll stress to them the importance of getting their house in the best possible condition they can.
Ted: And that's where I come in.
Marsha: That's where you come in. Anyone who contacts you as a result of my mailing well, I'll know they're serious about selling. There's just one problem
Ted: What's that?
Marsha: My mailing list has two thousand namesyou have only five hundred brochures. I'll have to pick and choose who I send your brochure to.
Ted: Not at all. The online printer I used has a very fast turnaround time. In fact, if you have your iPad with you I can reorder fifteen hundred more brochures right now.
Marsha: That's going to cost you a fortune, Ted. These look like very high quality brochures.
Ted: Looks can be deceiving. Because of automation, these are actually very low cost brochures. You'd be surprised. I can have a reorder here by the end of the week.
Marsha: Really? That fast? (She turns on her iPad and googles the site.) Actually, that gives us plenty of time. I have so much I haven't done: I have to buy envelopes, get two thousand copies of my letter printed at the copy place, get the address labels printed, and then I'll need my daughter and a couple of her friends to fold the letters, stuff the envelopes, attach the address labels, stamp them, and get them in the mail.
Ted: You're going to do all that? Why not let the online printing company do it for you?
Marsha: Because I want to save money.
Ted: Are you kidding me? Look, when someone tells you they want to sell their own house, what do you tell always them?
Marsha: I tell them that I'm the professional, and I can get the job done more efficiently and can get them more money than they can get by doing it themselves... (She pauses.) Oh, I see your point.
Ted: Look at all the money you're going to be spending doing everything you talked about. And the time involvedThe online printing company can do everything for you.
Marsha: But I thought they just did brochures.
Ted: Wrong. Here, let's take a look at their site. See, their graphics department can take your logo and print it directly onto the envelopes.
Marsha: What a neat idea! All I have to do is upload it.
Ted: And then they can take your spreadsheet containing your mailing information and they can inkjet the addresses onto your envelopes.
Marsha: No need for mailing labels?
Ted: Nope. They can print your letter and fold it by machine so it fits into the envelope. And of course my brochure fits right in there with the letter
Marsha: I see.
Ted: Best of all, they can take your addressee information and personalize your letters when they print them. Instead of all of your letters saying the same thing "Dear Neighbor" or "Dear Homeowner" they can say "Dear Bill" or "Dear Linda".
Marsha: You're kiddingAnd so then they send everything back to me so I can stuff the envelopes, apply the stamps and mail it out?
Ted: That won't be necessary. First of all, they can meter the envelopes to save you money. Then they can send everything to their fulfillment department to assemble all the parts and seal the envelopes. They'll even drop it in the mail on the day you want it to go out.
Marsha: So I don't have to do anything
Ted: Just upload your letter file, your logo, and your data set, and let them know to add my brochures to the mailing. They'll take it from there.
Marsha: I had no idea an online printing company could do so much.
Ted: Well, not all of them can. You have to be careful who you choose.
Marsha: There's just one more problem, Ted.
Ted: What's that?
Marsha: My daughter and her friends are going to lose this money-making opportunity.
Ted: Tell them to look on the bright side.
Marsha: Which is?
Ted: After this mailing goes out, you can keep them busy helping you with all your sales inquiries, and I can keep them busy painting houses.
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