Direct Marketing Tool: Brochures

Brochures are one of the very important tools used in direct marketing and direct selling. A brochure can be defined as a written hard material that is used to pass information about something. It is an advertising piece which is largely used to introduce a company or organization and inform about products and/or services to a target audience. The alternate names for brochures are pamphlets and leaflets. They may be considered as grey literature, meaning informally published material that is difficult to trace through channels like journals since it is not published commercially or widely accessible.

People often confuse brochures with flyers, although there are some fundamental differences between the two. While a brochure is folded, a flyer is just a sheet of paper that is used as an insert in newspapers and magazines. Brochures also often use more color on high quality or glossy paper.

Brochures are one of the tools that has been used since a long time, and have maintained their popularity even with the advancement of technology rising trend of online marketing and electronic means of advertising. There are a number of reasons for this.  For example, brochures are highly space efficient. Since they are folded into panels, they seem compact, but they can be opened up to reveal large amounts of information. Also, you can control your target market very well with brochures, since they are being delivered to people individually, whereas in other marketing tools such as billboards and television commercials, the marketer can't really control each individual watching them. Brochures are also used as a complement to direct selling, and are used in techniques such as door to door selling. These methods engage potential customers and encourage them to respond, thereby, increasing the chances of a potential customer being tuned into an actual customer.

Common Types of Brochures:
Bi-Fold: A single sheet printed on both sides and folded into halves, which results in four panels (two panels on each side).

Tri-Fold: A single sheet printed on both sides and folded into thirds, resulting in six panels (three panels on each side).

Tips For Making A Better Brochure

• Design a brochure using out of the box creativity, such that it should immediately catch a person's attention. You can also alter the shape, instead of going for the mundane A4 sized rectangular shapes. For example, you can design brochures so that they can be used as coasters or origami toys. This will encourage people to retain the brochures for future references instead of immediately throwing them away in the trash. 
• Provide contact details so that you can get back to people asking for any queries.
• Write an appropriate introduction, with subheadings.
• Use maps for directions, if you want people to know where exactly you are located.

What does GRP Stands For?

GRP means Gross Rating Points. Advertisers and Marketers use GRP to measure the impact of given advertisements.

Actually, GRPs measure the total of all Rating Points during an advertising campaign. A Rating Point is one percent of the potential Audience.

Media planners calculate total Reach, average Frequency, and GRPs as part of the planning of a campaign. The goal is to obtain the highest possible GRPs at the lowest possible cost, while remaining focused on the target Market.

But, be aware: it doesn't mean that everyone you counted even saw your message. So, the impact of GRP on a Marketing campaign isn't very trustful. A high GRP may indicate that a large number of consumers are viewing a company's advertisements, but these views don't necessarily make an advertising campaign successful.

Quote of the day: Business Without Advertising...

Today's inspirational quote comes from Steuart Henderson Britt, and is right on the spot: business without advertising doesn't exist, people don't know where you are or what you do. Nobody notices!
So go out, advertise! Mouth to mouth is the cheapest way, social media don't cost a thing as well, blogs, comments, forums, all of them for free.
Make sure that girl sees the wink (metaphorically, of course)!