Are you showing your customers the way …?

I sat down recently with a guy to talk about his brochure. To spare him any blushes let’s call him Fred.

The job was simple.

He was clutching a years old brochure that he wanted to freshen up a bit.

Nothing too complicated. Perhaps a colour change here and there, a few new graphics and a small number of text amends to bring things up to date.

He’d already spent several hours poring over it and made a few tweaks here and there, but he’d got stuck and wanted some help.

After listening to what he wanted to do we rolled up our sleeves, grabbed a veterinary prescription strength coffee and got to work.

Pretty soon, we were now both stuck in a metaphorical mess. Every time we changed something here, it impacted on something over there and I very quick realised that the discussion was going nowhere. I wasn’t bringing any value to the table and it was time to have another think.

Reaching for a fresh sheet of notepaper I quizzed Fred on what exactly it was he wanted his brochure to do. The audience he wanted to reach and what did he want them to do when they’d read his brochure?

Very quickly, it all fell into place.

Once he’d got the outcome crystal clear in his mind, everything we did was geared to helping his customers along each small step leading to that outcome.

Just like a set of safety lights when the power goes off. You don’t have to know the way, just follow the lights leading you to safety.

And that’s what we made Fred’s brochure do.

He’d got horribly tangled up in product features and detailed specifications when he really should have been thinking more about showing how he could help his customers achieve their desired outcome.

Simple really.

If you want a hand getting your message straight, please drop me a line and I’d be delighted to help.

Have a great week.

Alec

Fineline Print & Web. The Eagles, 32 Clwyd Street, RUTHIN, Denbighshire LL15 1HW

T: 01824 70 8800 E: [email protected] W: www.finelineprintandweb.co.uk