Avoid 4 Common Print and Website Goofs

5 Minute Brochure and Website Evaluation

Thinking About Printing A New Brochure or Updating Your Website?

Take This Evaluation And Avoid The 4 Most Common Goofs That Discourage Response

Brochures and websites are essential, but how do you avoid investing in concepts that won’t do the job? You want something that gets read and separates you from your competition. The biggest mistake you can make is to assume that a graphically pleasing piece of eye-candy decorated with your logo and a menu board of services with self-serving platitudes will get the job done – it won’t. Only your printer and web/graphic designer will be well served by that type of expensive commercial art.

So here are a few tips and evaluations to help you get the results you deserve from your next printed brochure or website update:

Goof # 1: Platitudinous Cover or Homepage Headline or No Headline

Tip: Use a problem-solving headline on your cover or homepage.

Avoid making your focus cute phrases, tag-lines, or your logo by itself (you are not Coca Cola). You can still have beautiful graphics, but don’t forget an engaging headline.

Evaluation: Interrupt Format

When you look at the cover or homepage, does it provide the promise of helpful educational information inside, or does the reader quickly draw the conclusion that it is just another puff piece? Typically, just pictures, logos, and tag-lines SCREAM “puff piece.”

Goof# 2: Wrong copy points

Tip: Organize your information by “what readers want to know,” not by what you want to tell them.

Your readers’ interest is in learning quickly (in a Cliff Note fashion) why they should trust you to provide the best care when it comes to diagnosis and treatment. This means explaining your process and how it compares to some industry standard of care. Avoid making the focus of your content a menu board of services or the “I am so glad I found you” testimonial.

Evaluation: Need to Know Information

When you scan the brochure or website, does it quickly guide the reader through diagnosis and treatment? Can the scanner become a reader and stop on a topic to learn more?

Goof #3: Offers missing, hard to find,  or not as appealing as they could be.

Tip: Provide clear offers for more educational information and encourage some form of free consultation.

Your hours, website, physical address, and your phone number are critical pieces of information, but you should do more. Consider offering free educational resources like seminars and free consultations. Give these offers a “marketing handle” with features and benefits to make them stand out as something of special value. For example, you could appeal to implant candidates with a handle like “Implant Readiness Assessment.”

Evaluation: Offer Strategy

Other than providing contact information, do you have appealing offers of value that can be easily identified without reading through the text in the brochure or going on a random clicking spree on the website?

Goof #4: Format Driven, Not Content Driven

Tip: Determine the size and format of the brochure based on content. Determine website layout, graphics, and navigation based on the content.

Avoid selecting the format or website platform before you complete the content. First, determine what to say and how to say it. Only then should you select the size and length of the brochure. (Hint – if you are producing a tri-fold pocket brochure from a single 8-1/2” x 11” sheet, chances are the content will miss key strategic elements).

Evaluation: Is Content King?

Did you select the size and page layout before completing the content? Did you contact an agency or designer who asked you what format limitations you had before discussing your content needs? Did the agency or designer ask you to direct the copy points? An experienced marketer will already know how to provide good strategic content after learning about what you do.