The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly #2

Has a week gone by already? Wow. . . I need a vacation.

So, whether I believe it or not, the calendar tells me that it’s time for another edition of The Good, the Bad and The Ugly. Today I’ve got a tri-fold brochure that is, I have to be honest, a complete mess. As I always do, I’ve taken out identifying information.

And remember: To see your marketing piece in a future edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, e-mail your piece to me at molly@cmrealestatemarketing.com. Anything goes -- postcards, newsletters, letters, ads, websites, blog posts . . . you name it, if you use it to market yourself (and/or inform your clients and prospects), I’m game.

On to today's critique. . .

What went right

Photos are great (in moderation, see “What went wrong” below). Some people say that a picture is worth a thousand words. As a writer, I’m not too sure about that, but a well-chosen, well-placed picture is worth a lot, to be sure.

The use of bullets on the inside page, explaining what you’ll get for your $90 per square foot is great. Here’s why:

• Bullets break up the text, making it easier to read (and, thus, making it more likely your prospects will actually read it)

• The company is telling me what I’m going to get for my money. If you’re offering a great value (you should be), highlighting that value can be very compelling.

Throughout the brochure copy, the company is talking to me. The word “you” is used throughout. That’s key to establishing an emotional connection with your prospects. Use the word “you” but really mean it -- talk to your prospects, not at them.

On the first page, once I got past the distracting formatting (see “What went wrong” below) I read about why I need to act now. Instilling a sense of urgency in your prospects is key. It’s human nature to put off to tomorrow, so you need to give me a very compelling reason why I need to act now. But go a step farther than the company in this brochure does and tell me what, specifically, you want me to do now. Call you? Visit your website? Send you an e-mail? Be specific.

What went wrong

This tri-fold brochure is so busy; looking at it really makes my head hurt. And if just looking at your brochure makes a person’s head hurt, you can imagine that not many people will actually read it. . . And while I like pictures and enough content to actually say something meaningful, this brochure goes overboard.

But fixing these problems wouldn’t be a huge deal. First, I’d pick half of the photos that best reflect the message I want to send, and chuck the other half. I’d do the same with the content. This brochure could easily get the same messages across with half the text -- as it stands it really belabors the points.

And while I like formatting the text to make certain pieces stand out, this brochure goes overboard on that count, too. I feel like I’m being yelled at, which is never a good thing. The whole point of using text formatting -- different colors, underlining, bolding, italicizing and exclamation points -- is to make certain key pieces of text stand out. It doesn’t have the same effect is everything has some sort of formatting (the effect then is to send your readers running for the Tylenol).

And that’s all I’ve got. Have a great weekend!