Working with marketing management, I provided freelance conceptual, branding, and design skills to help grab and point attention to a complex story Print design for cardiac science tech brochure“Well, how about a six-page brochure?” the team asked me.
“No. You don’t want to do that either,” I warned.
“Look, l know you have a lot to say. And I know this is your primary printed piece. You’re so excited to tell more and more. But six pages? When a prospect knocks over that coffee on their desk while unfurling all twenty-five-and-one-half inches of your message, think how they’ll remember you.”
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Earlier I was asked for my opinions regarding an eight-page brochure. “No, you don’t want to do that,” I said. “You might surely fill it all with information, but at some point we’ll need large images to offset all that text. Your one non-product “feature” image is already on the cover, and we’ve agreed that product images don’t help us focus on user benefit stories so features have to stay secondary.” The budget disallowed the evocative images we’d need and the schedule was beckoning.
“It’ll be a bit tight, but four pages is better, to tell the kind of story we’re talking about.”
Might as well do it rightMy next advice raised eyebrows. “Now that we’ve settled on four pages, you have to limit the meat of your message to two pages. All your content here is important, and if it is truly important, keep it off the back cover. You’ll look professional, more self-assured and less desperate. Let this piece present the same helpful tone and attitude as that of our other marketing touch points.”
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“The front cover however, is a different story! Our ‘big sexy cover image’ (in situ, featuring a certain recognizable, balding doctor touching the product screen) should add credibility and lure readers in. Problem is, it’s a low resolution, somewhat-blurred snapshot. To feature it as a full color cover will backfire. So I’ll give it a color-branding treatment, the perfect backdrop for an irresistible message.”
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“For text, instead of a pretentious ‘We’ve Arrived!’ cover title, let’s actually start our story on the front with a provocative question guaranteed to get ideal prospects to open it.” Joe Hage, project leader and writer, understood the opportunity and wrote copy that fit the bill perfectly. Some typographic finessing later, the cover was realized. I even worked in an arrow to guide any lost readers 😄.
In a comprehensive and engaging manner, we successfully portrayed how users’ needs overlapped the benefits available in this exciting cardiac diagnostic technology. Being a tactile, in-your-hand presentation, absorbing it required no log-on/log-in, scrolling, or clicking (although it perfectly complemented – and drove visitors to – the website and other marketing media). Only one pleasant and revealing action required – just open it.
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