5th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention Proceedings
Goiania, Brasil July 22-25, 1996
ELT
Marketing: Effective Brochure and Leaflet Production
As competition increases between schools, effective marketing becomes
even more crucial. The brochure or leaflet may only be one aspect of a
school's promotional activities but it is a highly visible aspect and
one which contributes to the image of the school as it is perceived externally;
one which "tangibilises the intangible". Too often promotional material
is produced in-house to save money, and ends up neither promoting the
school accurately nor in the long run effectively.
This workshop outlines the stages that need to be covered in order to produce a successful leaflet or brochure, and the questions which need to be asked at each stage.
1. Objectives
First of all, what is the objective of producing the brochure/leaflet? What are you actually trying to achieve? Is the aim to get new students enrolling, or to raise awareness of your courses or to strengthen the image of your organization in the market, or a mixture of all three?
If the aim is to get more students, then how easy is it for the consumer to actually find the fees and course start dates in the leaflet? Similarly, how visible are phone numbers, and how clear is the "offer"? One of the key problems with much of the promotional material produced is that too much "information" is crammed into too little space, taking the readers' attention away from the key points, and making it correspondingly more difficult to buy. Most people only spend a couple of minutes, if that, looking at promotional material. The message has to come across immediately.
If the aim is image building, then you have to know first what image you want to project. You then need to work with a designer to make sure that this is the image the leaflet or brochure actually projects. Where budgets are low, this is one area where people think they can save money and do it themselves on the computer. This is frequently a false economy, and there are innumerable examples of leaflets which have actually harmed the image of the school rather than enhanced it.
2. Who is the target market?
The second question to ask before you produce the brochure is who is going to be reading it. Who are you talking to? Is it the student, the parent, the training manager, or again a combination of people? Are you going to address the copy directly to the reader, or are you going to write more generally? Either way the style has to be consistent and clear.
3. The message
The third area of importance is the message - what you are trying to say to your readers. Are you sure you know what the USP, or unique selling points, of your organisation are before you start writing the copy? Why should anyone want to study at your school rather than the one down the road? Indeed do you actually know as much about the competition as you ought to? It is extremely important to know what others are offering in order for you to write your own copy effectively, emphasising what you have which is either different or extra to what is being offered elsewhere. A related question refers to accuracy. One of the key causes of student dissatisfaction is the unkept promise, and this is often caused by what they have read in the leaflet not corresponding with what the student gets once they have actually enrolled. On the part of the school it is almost certainly not a deliberate lie - things may have moved on since the brochure was produced, but any relevant changes need to be pointed out to students before they enrol.
4. Timing
The fourth question is one of timing. Not only when you want the brochure/leaflet by, but what the implications of this are. If you need the material for January, for example when does it have to go to the printers (remembering that Christmas is always a difficult time to get this done). How long does the designer need - when do they need to receive the copy by? Leaflets are obviously easier, but if you are producing a full colour brochure it would not be unreasonable to allow 2-3 months from start to finish.
5. Responsibility
Lastly whose responsibility will it be to see the leaflet through from start to finish? Without a decision on this right at the beginning, nothing is likely to get done! The issues of working with a designer or not came up in point one. Whether you do or don't, however, it is very useful to look at the sorts of things which contribute stylistically and designwise to an effective brochure or leaflet. It is also a useful checklist when analysing competitors' brochures before you produce your own.
The
logo
How strong is the logo and how instantly recognisable? Is it reinforced
in any way within the leaflet or brochure? Does it stand out boldly or
is it cluttered with other surrounding information?
Overall
design
How good is the overall design? Is the material easy to ready, or does
there appear to be too much information on the page? Is there sufficient
"white space"?
Quality
of paper
Paper varies enormously in quality and in price. The important thing to
remember, as with all these aspects, is that the type of paper used needs
to fit the image you are trying to project. There is clearly a conflict
if you are a top quality school using newsprint for your leaflets. The
weight of the paper is also a consideration if you are going to be doing
a lot of mailing, as postage costs can rise dramatically with heavier
brochures.
Size
Issues of what size the brochure/leaflet should be depend on the type
of use that will be made of the material. If it is purely going to sit
on the counter at reception, then it is less important. Otherwise the
size should at least be standard, so that it will fit neatly into normal
sized envelopes for mailing. For brochures, and A4 size often gives more
impact than the smaller version, but to some extent it is a matter of
personal preference.
Text
or copy
As has been mentioned before, the clarity of the message and USPs are
very important but it is also important that sufficient information is
included to allow the reader to make a decision, and that the dates and
fees and conditions of payment are absolutely clear.
Size
and clarity of photos
Photos often make a huge difference to the overall attractiveness of a
brochure or leaflet but frequently they can also do a lot of damage. Photos
which have been taken a long time ago, for example, are likely to show
their age on the page. Similarly photos which are "fuzzy at the edges"
or out of register detract from the overall appearance. Again it comes
back to image and message, but what are you really trying to say with
the photos you have chosen? Does it look like the sort of place you would
like to study at yourself if you were, or indeed are in the target age
range? Often it appears that photos are purely used for the sake of it,
and using tiny little photos on the page frequently ruins a good design.
As most people spend so little time actually reading or looking at leaflets or brochures, the effect of all your promotional material has really got to be instantaneous. You have to get the readers attention before you can stimulate the interest, the desire and the action. However, if you are clear on the answers to the questions in the first part of this article, and the design is checked for all the aspects above, leaflet and brochure production cannot help but be more effective in the future.
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