Brochure Copy-Writing Mistakes
I was reviewing a service brochure one of my clients sent over to me. The 8 1/2 x 11, full-color, multi-page brochure, chock-full of photos and tables, is designed – in theory at least – to describe the full range of services and programs offered by this company.
It’s used as part of a direct mail piece, as a leave-behind after meetings, as a mail-out in response to potential client inquiries, and as a hand-out at trade shows.
As many of you know, I am also a web designer and the brochure was provided to me as a source of content for the website.
It was a most frustrating experience.
Below is a list of copy-writing mistakes that I found in the brochure. For me, these mistakes meant I had to do research to fill in the gaps.
A potential client is not likely to take the time to do that research. In fact, they may not even realize there is a gap. They may simply believe that you either can’t meet their needs, or you aren’t very good at what you do.
Don’t let these kinds of mistakes cost you a potential client. Take the time to do a quality brochure.
Mistakes to Avoid:
- Assuming the prospect will understand what your service offers simply from it’s name. Not telling people specifically what the service does. For example, saying you offer “basic counseling” and “therapy”. This can be confusing. Is there a difference? What is the difference? Do I have to meet some criteria? How do I select one over the other? See how many questions this raises? Now you have distracted the prospect with questions that deter taking action.
- Using different terminology for the same services, and scattering the words throughout the brochure without ever explaining/indicating that they refer to the same thing. This creates the same problems as above.
- Assuming the prospect is familiar with the jargon of your profession.
- Including too much information – more than is needed for a brochure – and bogging down the reader with details that are better suited to a service agreement.
- Using headings that are all the same size, style and format, which means you can’t tell the difference between major sections and sub-sections.
- Photos with no captions that are either totally unrelated or so symbolic that only an insider would “get it”. This doesn’t mean that photos require captions. However, if they don’t have captions, they should speak for themselves.
- Vignettes on different pages from the service of which they were to demonstrate. In this case, because of the way terms were tossed about, it was difficult to know if the vignette applied to the topic on one page or another.
Many of these mistakes occur when you let someone else design your brochure with no real input or help from you. In this case, I’m betting that no-one gave the final draft a serious read before printing it.
Remember the purpose of your brochure. It should tell a story that the reader can easily follow – and include a call to action. If your emphasis is only on design and not functionality, you’ll end up with a pretty brochure that’s frustrating for a potential client to try to understand.
When I read this brochure, I couldn’t be sure if the client was simply using different terminology, or if they had actually created different programs for each term.
Your prospects may not spend that much time thinking about it.
Clients are looking for solutions – not more questions and confusion. Take your time in writing the copy for a brochure. Let it sit a week, then read it again. You’ll be surprised at what you “catch”. Next, let others inside your profession and outside of your profession read over the brochure in its draft layout before final printing. Don’t pooh-pooh their comments just because it’s clear to you.
Add these few tips to what you already know about brochures and you’ll be able to create an effective tool for promoting your private practice.