Are Brochures Best for a Service-Based Business?

When a customer or prospect calls your customer service department to get some information, is your first gut instinct to say “Thanks for the call. Let me send you our brochure for more information.”?

But is a brochure really the best answer for a service-based business? Not always and here’s why.

When a prospect contacts you, this is a great chance to show your knowledge and understanding of your industry and your services. By speaking with the customer directly, you can help your customer make a more informed decision about your services. With service-based businesses, developing trust with your customers is crucial to the success of your business. Customers must feel as though you know what you’re talking about. Customers don’t want to get service from a Joe-Schmoe who doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about.

Brochures are often about the “why” and “what” of a product or service. A brochure does not invoke trust.

Brochures are also too hard to fill with targeted info. If people just want prices and not detailed product descriptions, is pretty hard to fill an entire brochure with just prices.

What can you use instead of brochures?

Marketing a service-based business requires more thought than a product-based business. You don’t have a product to show, but you can show before-and-after results of your service, and you could give out handy info that customers are most likely looking for. Also, by giving customers info they’re looking for, you become a trusted expert, which helps bump that trust level up more.

So instead of a brochure, or in conjunction with a brochure, give your customers:

• A fact sheet: a 1-page sheet on why a certain problem occurs and how you can fix it.
• An informational sheet: a 1- or 2-page sheet that gives facts about your company, including success stories, history, testimonials and maybe even case studies. Only include info that the customer will want, not facts that will simply toot your own horn.
• A checklist: a list of all of your services, broken out into categories of when which service is needed to help customers determine which services they really need now.
• A folder or postcard with important info related to your business jotted on it. (An accountant could put tax rates or important tax dates on a postcard for customers to keep handy.)

All of these alternatives to brochures are less expensive than printing brochures and you can customize all of these for each customer easily. By creating a fact sheet for each type of problem you can help with, you send out only those fact sheets that people need.

By using these informative alternatives to brochures, you’ll be trusted by your customers and seen as an expert. Brochures have their place, but in service-oriented businesses, brochures can’t be your only marketing piece. When someone needs more info on a specific problem, you can impress that prospect by sending her just the specific information she was looking for.

How to Get Your Brand Heard

You have decided to start your own small business. You'll be selling a product or service emanating from your true passion, whatever that may be. Let's assume that it is golf. The market for "golf" is quite large. However, it includes many smaller facets. They range from golf travel, to analysis and ratings of equipment, to sellers of the clubs themselves.

Within the overall golf market there are many niche markets. As a small new business it is advised to select one of these niches for your focus. Let's assume you select the small niche of golf in California. This allows for much greater targeting of your audience.

You are now ready to build your brand. What color scheme would most appeal to California golfers? What would be an appropriate corporate logo? The knowledge of who your audience is enables you to effectively research and answer these questions.

Once you have finished creating the perfect brand and associated sales copy the work has only begun. You must then get your message in front of your audience. Studies have shown that it takes over ten exposures for a new brand to stick in a consumer's mind.

You have many tools for publicizing your brand. Many operate exclusively online. Others take advantage of all avenues including advertising flyers. Flyer printing can often prove to be surprisingly cost effective. Creative marketers have discovered an endless array of possible ways to increase brand awareness.

The reputation of your brand in the marketplace must be protected at all costs. This is done by treating both your customers and employees fairly and with respect. Happy customers and employees translate to happy sales figures.

How to Get Your Brand Heard

You have decided to start your own small business. You'll be selling a product or service emanating from your true passion, whatever that may be. Let's assume that it is golf. The market for "golf" is quite large. However, it includes many smaller facets. They range from golf travel, to analysis and ratings of equipment, to sellers of the clubs themselves.

Within the overall golf market there are many niche markets. As a small new business it is advised to select one of these niches for your focus. Let's assume you select the small niche of golf in California. This allows for much greater targeting of your audience.

You are now ready to build your brand. What color scheme would most appeal to California golfers? What would be an appropriate corporate logo? The knowledge of who your audience is enables you to effectively research and answer these questions.

Once you have finished creating the perfect brand and associated sales copy the work has only begun. You must then get your message in front of your audience. Studies have shown that it takes over ten exposures for a new brand to stick in a consumer's mind.

You have many tools for publicizing your brand. Many operate exclusively online. Others take advantage of all avenues including advertising flyers. Flyer printing can often prove to be surprisingly cost effective. Creative marketers have discovered an endless array of possible ways to increase brand awareness.

The reputation of your brand in the marketplace must be protected at all costs. This is done by treating both your customers and employees fairly and with respect. Happy customers and employees translate to happy sales figures.

Letting Your Customer’s Get to Know You

I don’t fly very often, but when I do, the airline I choose to fly with is always a very important decision. Most of the flights I’ve been on have ranged from one to three hours, and a three hour flight, stuck in a plane where I’m completely dependent upon the service being provided to me, can be a scary experience if I don’t already know I’m going to get good service. I think a plane ride is a perfect example of the importance of good service because I am, quite literally, unable to leave once that plane takes off. I’m at their mercy.

I always research an airline before I bother booking a flight for this very reason. I look over whatever promotional flyers they’ve sent me or what their brochures look like to get a good feel for the type of service I’ll be getting. And once I know a place is good, I like to read their newsletters to make sure nothing has changed within the company and I’ll still have just as good of a flight the next time I go. This applies to every kind of service industry, and the sooner companies realize how important it is to let me know what kind of people they have working for them the more willing I’ll be to give them a try. Too bad more companies don’t realize this.

It’s Not Your Ads; It’s You

Let’s face it. It’s not your full color brochures or flyers that can get you to increase your sales. It’s actually the kind of service you provide that turns a potential client to a definite buyer.

Even with outstanding and excellent work in your ads, it doesn’t take a genius to know that if you don’t combine it with great customer service, you’ll surely lose even that iota of success you imagined. Without good customer service to back up what you promised, no amount of color, design and copy would save you from failure.

Hence, it is a must that your staff and employees can deliver what you have promised. If they can sales-talk their way with their actions, then the better for your business. Who wouldn’t be enticed with someone who can tell you everything you need to know about the things that they’ve advertised? Not only do you come out as experts in your field, you also build credibility and trust among your prospects, which can fast track their decision to buy from you.

And who doesn’t love salespersons who serve you with a smile and friendly attitude every time you walk in their doors? Whether we like it or not, the attitude of our staff reflects the way we deal with our clients.

So remember: it’s not your ads that provide success. It’s the people in your organization and great customer service that brings in the best results.