A Message from Kelly

Welcome to The Copywriting Connection! This week we are taking an in-depth look at brochure writing. We are going to look at: what's involved in writing copy for a brochure; what types of things you should focus on (and what you should not); some best practices to ensure your brochure brings in new business.

I have a massive, itchy heat rash from spending the weekend at the pool, I'm swamped with work and don't have time to think (and am stressing out), and my kids only have 3 weeks of summer vacation left. There's a lot to do and a lot to either complain and stress about or slow down and appreciate things. It's time for a run to Starbucks, take a chill pill, and appreciate my good fortune and not complain about it. There could be no pool filled with friends to enjoy, NO work (yikes!!), and no kids to love. Consciously make the decision to appreciate things in life rather than complaining about them goes a long way towards happiness. And success.

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly

What you need to know to write a successful brochure

Writing brochures can be a fun, easy and highly profitable addition to your copywriting services.

Let's take a look at 'brochure writing 101' and some of the common things that should be in every brochure and tips for creating them:

1. The front page should sell, not just have the company name and address. You need to sell the reader on opening and reading the brochure. The front page is a great place to start demonstrating the company benefits.

2. Before you start writing, know where your client is in the sales process and where you want the reader to go. Brochures are often used more towards the front of the sales cycle both for business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) selling. Questions to ask:
   
   
   • Is this your prospects first exposure to your company?
   • Are you selling or introducing a new or specific product line?
   • Is your goal to create confidence in your company and create a sense of trust?
     
     
3. Know your reader. This is true for all copywriting you do, but especially difficult for brochures. I find companies create brochures as a 'catch all' for their sales force and marketing team to use as a leave behind. Because there is not one specific audience the copy tends to be bland and impersonal. The writing tends to revert to 'corporate speak' and that does not allow for connection with the reader - ultimately making the brochure worthless as a selling tool. Be conscious to connect with the reader.

4. Keep in mind what other promotional materials accompany the brochure. Is this brochure being handed out all by itself, or are there accompanying materials? You don't want to waste space by repeating information that's in other marketing materials.

5. Use bolding and subheadings to clearly break the text into readable sections. People read a brochure similar to a book (besides peeking at the back before opening). Your copywriting should walk them through the brochure page by page.

6. Use bullets and numbers to clearly break down benefits and processes. Bullets and numbers make content easy to read and force you to express the company's benefits into a few words.

7. Put something important in the brochure so the reader will keep it. Some good tips, a map -- anything helpful that's worth keeping.

8. Talk to one key person in your copy - not everyone that could be reading it.

9. Talk about benefits and what the product will do for the reader - not just the features.

If you need help in writing your brochure or a brochure for a client, you may want to check out our Learn to Write Copy for Brochures Class here:
www.thecopywritinginstitute.com/learntowritebrochures.html

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Copywriters Challenge

We challenge you to make a file and keep this week's brochure writing tips for your next brochure.

Word of the Week

This week's word of the week is wassail [wos-uhl]. Wassail means a salutation wishing health to a person, used in England in early times when presenting a cup of drink or when drinking to the person; a festivity or revel with drinking of healths; a toast; drinking to ones health.

Tools for your Success

www.confusingwords.com - A lot of times when I'm writing, I find myself rechecking if it should be "affect" or "effect". This site helps with some of that confusion. The site helps explain 3210 words that are troublesome to readers and writers.

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