Victoo - Tourism and Hospitality Management

...brochure body should tell what is new,
different, attractive about your product or services

While being consistent with the theme of the cover page, the inside pages should describe the benefits gained by using your service. People are not as interested in a product's features as they are in how the features will benefit them.

Focus on the benefits

 

Focus on your prospects’ needs and the needs of the people you want to be your customers rather than yourselves. You don't sell the drill, you sell the hole. Are your customer's priorities budget, comfort, safe, delicious, friendly, clean, warm, warranty.?” Your brochure should address those needs and explain how your company or services can meet them.

Convert the features of your service into benefits for the customer. Companies always want to list the many important features of their products. The problem is that customers could care less about any feature unless there is a clear benefit to them. A "feature" is what a product has. A "benefits" is what will this product do for this customer?

For example: You are not selling a ticket on a boat trip, but an opportunity to see wild game along the shore and enjoy pretty sites without having to walk or drive.

Focus on what the customer is interested in, and make the sales message personal. You know who your potential customers are. You may not know their names, but you do know where they live, what they like to do, their ages, etc.

Write the sales message as though you were describing the benefits of your product to a friend.

When writing the copy, write the copy as if you were talking to that person. Tell them what they want to hear. Promote customer benefits that are unique to your facility. What distinguishes your facility from others in your area? Why should someone come to your place of business?

Look at your facility through the eyes of the customer. What are the most outstanding features of your facility? What do you do best that people will remember long after they leave? Why should a customer recommend your business to friends?

The fact that your facility has 12 modern units is not an outstanding feature. Instead, the customer is more likely to remember your terrific personality, that your facility is within walking distance of three major attractions, or that you offer a babysitting service. Look at your business from the customer's vantage point.

Put your best foot forward. If you do not present your strongest selling points first, you may lose your readers' attention before you persuade them to buy. Get to the point. Be brief. Use short sentences. Anticipate as many questions potential guests may have as possible.

Use pictures to emphasize the main benefits you can provide. Include close-up pictures of people enjoying your facilities. Do not include pictures of cars, faddish clothing styles and other scenes that will quickly outdate your brochure. Pictures should tell the story with just enough copy to support the message you are trying to communicate.

Emotion vs. Logic

Whenever emotion and logic come into conflict, emotion always wins! We make emotional decisions and then create a logical argument to justify the decision. Have you ever bought a music CD just to get one song. Did you tell yourself you'd learn to love the other songs? Or the song is sooooo good, its worth it and besides, you deserve it.>

This is a very important message to keep in mind in all your advertising. If you present a logical argument in your brochure and your competitor presents an emotional argument for a similar product, you may have a problem. Find out the right emotional words or phrases to describe your services and inspire your prospects as soon as possible, your brochure will have more chance to win.

Be sure not to include in your brochure any information which is subject to changing in the next 12 months or so. Also, be wary of using a specific person's name as a contact person unless he or she is someone you know isn't going to leave in the next year. The same goes for printing photographs of people. There's no sense in spending several thousand dollars to create a brochure only to have it become out of date because someone leaves the company.

In brochures of eight pages or more, a list of contents is useful. Make your list in bold and separate it from the rest of your text. Use the contents to sell the brochure. Don't use mind-numbing words like "Introduction". Pick out your most important sales point and use that in your heading.

The operative word, implied or in fact, is "you." Most brochures die when the first word is "we." Your brochure must be cast, invariably, in terms of the needs of the market -- what the prospective client needs, not what you have to sell.

Try to eliminate as many decisions as possible. Always assume the customer will eventually buy the product or service. Don't use the words, "if" and "maybe" which invite the possibility of a negative response from the customer.

Regardless of how you organize your brochure, there's only one way to end it. Ask for action. If you want your reader to respond include an 800 number, reply card, or some form of response mechanism.

We recommend that the back cover of your brochure include a 3-4 paragraph corporate biography that conveys to your audience your firm's abilities and expertise. These initial paragraphs position you and your company as experts and gives you an edge on the competition. Don't forget to include all contact info, phone, address, fax, e-mail, etc.

Brochure body copy should tell what is new, different and attractive about your product or services. it should also combine features and benefits statements seamlessly. However, keep in mind that brochure sell mainly with visuals, feature and benefits statement, not with body copy.

Your brochure overall effectiveness will also be determined by the attractiveness of your proposition or offer, how good your price or discount are, whether you are perceived to be an expert, whether you are perceived to be someone who cares or promotes quality, or how good your guarantee is.

Brochures should contain the following basic information in roughly this order:

1. Main Product

Carefully explain your facilities. For example, cabins (with or without electricity?), kitchen facilities, motel rooms, hotel rooms, type of heat (individual room control?) TV, pool (heated? indoor?), restaurant (family style? gourmet? number of seats?), length of tour, size of facility, size of inventory, etc.

2. Special Advantages

Describe special advantages your business offers to its guests: nightly movies, live bands on weekends, peace and quiet, located on a class A trout stream, within walking distance of three major attractions, plenty of free parking, family dining, marina adjacent, shopping nearby, buses welcome.

3. Type of Facility

Describe the general age of your guests, whether your business is> seasonal or year round, and your special emphasis-skiing, fishing, snowmobiling, history, seafood, etc.

4. Recreational Possibilities

Include all recreation and entertainment facilities on your property as well as other public and private facilities nearby. Be sure to mention historical sites, sporting events, plays, pageants, festivals, parades, etc.

5. Special Facilities

a. Children---playgrounds, swimming, child care, planned activities, game rooms, children's menu.

b. Senior Citizens---game rooms, elevators, planned activities, senior citizen discounts.

c. Handicappers---ramps, railings, wide doorways, restrooms, etc.

6. Location

Make it easy for potential customers to find your facility. Include your mailing address (city and state), telephone number and area code. A line-drawn map showing major highways and a listing of distances from major population centers is generally the best method of indicating where you are. Be sure your map is accurate and easily read. Mention the fact that you are near a major city or located in the Upper Peninsula. Is your facility on a nearby highway or in a remote location?