9 Best Practices for Designing Highly Converting Sales Brochures for your Small Business
4 Minute Read
Sales brochures are an essential component of the small business owners' marketing toolbox. When done well, they communicate your brand, showcase your offerings, and help convert prospects into customers. Creating an effective sales brochure can be a challenging task. In this blog, we uncover 9 best practices for designing a highly converting sales brochure.
Above all, knowing your audience is the most important guiding principle. Without a clear foundation of who you're speaking to, your message won't resonate. By understanding your audience and dream client, you can tailor an effective message and design that connects 👏🏻.
Let's dive in to a few effective tactics to implement on your next sales/marketing collateral piece ⬇️
1. Showcase testimonials
Social proof works - 93% of consumers read reviews before making a purchasing decision (financesonline.com). Leading with positive reviews and beaming customer testimonials is a foolproof way to build your credibility and trustworthiness in business ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
*Bonus: Showcase your customers name, title & headshot alongside their customer story 💬. A positive quote is fantastic, but a long-form success story is even better. This type of content can be used again and again - in the form of blogs, whitepapers, videos - you name it (endless marketing content gold).
Beyond validating your offer with prospective customers, positive reviews also help build good associations with future potential employees, business partners and stakeholders ✔️.
2. Provide details: The What
What do you offer? There's a saying that goes “the more facts you tell, the more you sell”. This isn’t always entirely true, but making your niche known by clearly outlining your top offerings is best practice.
Message your offerings in a benefit format - focus on the end-result/key benefit you provide clients. Use strategic copy & imagery to convey your solution and how your client will feel after investing in your service/product 💌.
3. Provide details: The How
How do you deliver your offer in a best-in-class way? Help prospective clients understand how to work with you and how you work (processes, onboarding, project management, team, presence, payment, etc.).
What questions do you get a lot? Answer these throughout with strategic marketing copy, or consider adding a straightforward FAQ section. Reduce uncertainty and increase confidence with more upfront information 📄.
4. Feature your differentiators beyond product/service
What makes you special? ✨ Showcase differentiators like your customer service response times, philanthropy efforts, amazing training program, years of experience, top-notch ingredients, sustainability, etc. etc.
Market what makes you different beyond your outstanding offer. These value-add tidbits can be the secret ingredient to connecting with a prospective client. Use storytelling and emotive messaging to connect on your why - The reason your business exists beyond profit.
5. Don’t be shy with CTA’s
Assume your impaired elderly neighbor is reading your brochure. Make it easy to connect with you by providing clear CTA's (Calls to Action) throughout. 🆒 🆕 🆓
While you should provide a variety of ways to connect with your business (phone, email, website form, etc.) - Consider the most effective and easiest ways for the prospective clients, and know that everyone has unique preferences.
Some people like to call, some like to email, some don't even know how to use a QR code 🤷🏼♀️. While knowing your audience can help nail this down, offering CTA options and plenty of them throughout is beneficial.
Optimize these CTA's for the brochures intended use (print or digital) - You should have 2 versions of your brochure for both. For digital, be sure to embed links. For print, you're better off with more QR codes. Be strategic with format and understanding consumer actions.
6. Showcase your brand consistently
The way your business shows up in marketing materials and promotions are pillar pieces of content for enforcing your visual identity. Follow your brand guidelines to a tee - Be consistent with colors, font types and size, logo dimensions, button colors, imagery tone, etc. 🎯
As you continue to develop your library of marketing materials, they should all be very consistent. If you lay them each next to each other, you shouldn't find more than a few different font sizes, and every logo better be the same size 🤌🏼.
Be your own brand police, or your marketing materials will become a disjointed mess eventually. Working with one partner over time to ensure this consistency is your best bet for a cohesive image.
7. Use high-quality images & creative assets
Nothing will stomp on your credibility more than blurry images, unclear graphics, copy and pasted icons and so on. Use only high-quality creative assets to make your brand shine 📸.
A great free resource for stock imagery (if you're unable to leverage a custom brand photoshoot) is Unsplash. This creator base has thousands of images (for freeee 💸) that can help bring your products or services to life, and make your brochure more visually appealing. Make sure these high-quality images are relevant to your message and communicate benefits.
8. Make it scannable
Most people don’t have the time ⏰ (nor will) to read every word of your sales brochure cover to cover.
Make it easy for readers to scan and digest your marketing collateral by presenting information through strategic layouts - Use consistent headings, bullet points for long-form content, informational icons, and formatting techniques that simplify and highlight the key takeaways you want them to leave with 🔦.
9. Get feedback before you hit publish or send to print
Before you send your sales brochure to print or integrate it to your digital marketing efforts, get feedback from trusted colleagues or stakeholders 💡. This will help you identify areas for improvement and ensure that your message is clear and effective.
Be pointed in your requests for feedback - Ask specific clarifying questions, or you might just get: “It's great!”. People can be shy to provide constructive criticism, especially if they're a close friend or family. Be specific with your questions and areas you feel need more love.
By considering these 9 best practices, you can design more highly converting sales brochures that effectively communicate your brand and offerings, driving tremendous results for your small business 📈.