Self-Employed Freelancers & Home-Based Businesses: How
to write more powerful brochures, leaflets & catalogs for your Small Business
by Suzan St Maur
Probably
the most interesting thing about brochures and leaflets is
that they’re seldom read in what we’ve come to
know as the right order – as you would read a book.
Rather in the same way that many people read magazines in
dentists’ waiting rooms, they will flick through brochures
and leaflets and stop to take a longer look at bits that grab
their attention. Alternatively they’ll flick all the
way through and then go back to bits they’ve noticed
and that have interested them. They’re just as likely
to flick through from back to front as they are from front
to back.
What all this teaches us is that despite seeming logical,
writing for brochures and leaflets in the form of a story
that starts at the beginning, goes through the middle and
finishes at the end, is not necessarily the best way forward.
Obviously you can’t make every page stand alone with
a message on it that says “in case you’re flicking
through backwards or only want to read this page, here’s
a summary of our corporate profile again.” But there
are some tricks you can use to get this random reading pattern
to work a bit more effectively for you, rather than against
you.
Brochures & Leaflets for Home-Based, Freelance, or Small Business
A
lot depends on the type and style of brochure or leaflet you
want to write, of course. In my experience, generally speaking
the more specific the purpose of a brochure or leaflet the
more likely readers are to read it properly and thoroughly.
If a leaflet contains assembly instructions, or a brochure
contains technical specifications of equipment, there’s
a good chance that readers will start at least near the beginning
and then work through towards the end.
Once
again, that’s because readers will only get their full
value from the leaflet or brochure – the “what’s
in it for them” – by reading it properly. Where
you get the worst random grasshopper reading, however, is
with the less specific documents like “welcome”
leaflets or “corporate” brochures. So let’s
look at how we can minimize the problems with those.
Despite
all of the above, often it is still worthwhile to organize
your content in a reasonably logical order. Many people do
absorb brochures in the usual order, and even if they don’t
they still expect to find the introduction at the beginning,
the substantiations in the middle and the conclusion at the
end. This approach is useful for the moderately subject-specific
document, like a leaflet about a new service or a brochure
about a new line of garden furniture.
The
trick here is to put the main points in as crossheadings (some
people call them sub-headings) in bold type, so that someone
scanning the document will get the gist of your message even
if they don’t have time to read the body text. You should
also ensure that the crossheadings make sense in their own
right and that understanding them is not wholly dependent
on their being read in any particular order. Body text should
support and expand on each crossheading and lead the reader
towards the next one, but without creating a “cliffhanger”
(in case the reader is going in the wrong order).
For
the more general subject matter – the most likely to
be skimmed, scanned, flicked through, read upside down or
otherwise not absorbed properly at all - here’s some
advice from US writer John Butman from “Writing Words
That Sell” which he and I co-authored some years back.
This is what John calls “chunking:”
"Chunking
means that the story you are writing is not, in fact, a story
at all … it doesn’t have a sequential flow. It’s
a string of tiny stories, each with its own message. Each
chunk is relatively separate and each page or page-spread
is also reasonably separate. This approach means that you
need to be careful about antecedents – you can’t
refer to something mentioned on page one, because the reader
may have started reading on page twelve.”
I
find that John’s “chunking” approach works
particularly well when there is a lot of visual material,
with the “chunks” of text acting almost like expanded
captions to illustrations. With “chunking” you
may also use crossheadings, but their importance in telling
the story by themselves is not as critical. Crossheadings
here, then, can be more cryptic or abstract provided that
they are relevant.
And
a quick word about style, particularly if you are writing
a “corporate” brochure or leaflet: this medium,
equaled only (perhaps) by the “corporate” website
is the most prone to suffer from the curse of “corporate
speak.” Sadly it would be very easy for me to illustrate
what I mean just by including excerpts here from corporate
brochures I could find in the offices of both small and large
companies based in the city where I live. The curse of “corporate
speak” lurks everywhere regardless of the environment,
rather like cold viruses or head lice.
Catalogues for Home-Based, Freelance, or Small Business
Many
people fail to realize that catalogues should be written.
Often their objective in creating a catalogue is to cram in
as many products as they can with descriptive copy kept to
a few misspelled words in tiny type squashed into a corner.
These people are the on-paper equivalent of the “stack
‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” species you encounter
in retailing.
However
in a retail environment customers can usually pick up the
products, have a good look at them, read the on-pack copy
and find out all they need to know, so the fact that they’re
in a no-frills environment doesn’t matter too much.
When a product is pictured in the small, two-dimensional environment
of the printed page it’s not only no-frills but also
very lonely, unless the product has the support of some well-chosen
words to inform readers and encourage them to buy it.
Considering
that for many businesses and other organizations their catalogue
is their only shop window – or at least represents,
potentially, a very significant revenue stream – you
would think that everyone’s attention and skill would
be focused on its written content as much as its other elements.
But no. All too often catalogues look as though their copy
has been written by a well-meaning secondary/high school pupil
who can look forward to a glorious future as a street sweeper.
Yes,
of course some products that get sold via a catalogue do not
need a lot of description and the only words you need to include
are choice of colours/sizes/quantities etc. But what about
the “how to order” messages? I don’t know
about you, but if I’m thinking of buying something from
a catalogue there’s nothing that puts me off faster
than having to spend a lot of time figuring out how to fill
out the form, who to make the cheque out to and where to mail
it, etc.
The
same applies if I have to hunt around for website details.
It’s not difficult to get the process right. Simply
work out the steps you want customers to take, write them
down simply, rough out the order form itself, and then try
it out on your mother, your brother, your neighbor, the milkman,
or anyone else - provided they are not involved with your
organization. That’s a cheap and fast way of discovering
any flaws in the system, especially small goofs that can get
overlooked so easily if you’re too familiar with them.
And
here’s another one. How many times have you looked at
a catalogue only to find that crucial information you should
keep (like contact details for ordering, delivery information
etc) is placed either on the order form itself or on the back
of the page the order form is on? The result is when you mail
off your completed order form you’re obliged to mail
that important information away with it. Stupid, huh.
There
is no mystery about creating good catalogues – only
common sense. It’s perfectly okay in my view to keep
your writing crisp and concise because it helps to use the
space more efficiently. But whatever you do, never lose sight
of the fact that the way a catalogue is written and designed
says a lot more about your organization than you think. If
it is cluttered, unclear and illogical, customers will think
your company is too. If it is busy but accessible, clear and
easy to understand and logically planned, well – need
I say more?
Retailers
spend fortunes on the design, layout and flow of their instore
displays. Supermarkets can increase or decrease their turnover
by thousands, simply by moving the fresh produce from the
back wall to the side wall or by putting the bakery beyond
the delicatessen or by increasing the aisle width by a few
centimeters. Think of your catalogue as a paper-based store
or supermarket, and you’ll find it easier to give it
the consideration and respect it deserves.
Instruction
leaflets & manuals for Home-Based, Freelance, or Small Business
A
few years ago I bought a new computer, printer, keyboard and
monitor all at the same time. I heaved all the boxes into
my office at home and unpacked each piece enthusiastically.
There was metal and plastic and cabling and cardboard and
polystyrene and bubble wrap all over the floor. My two dogs
picked their way through it, sniffing suspiciously as if all
these items were chickens lying dead and headless after a
fox attack. I sat cross-legged in the middle, leafing anxiously
through the instruction booklets, desperately trying to find
the English language pages. When I did, I couldn’t understand
a word, largely because the instructions a) had been compiled
by technical people who assumed substantial prior knowledge
even though it was a “home” computer and b) whoever
had written the UK version must have been taught English by
Donald Duck.
And
do you think the manufacturer might have supplied a simple
instruction sheet telling me how to bolt it all together?
No. Every piece had its own awful instructions but as far
as the manufacturer was concerned, each item was on its own.
So I phoned my dear computer guru Jason and booked him to
come over the next day and sort it out, despite him telling
me it was easy and I could do it myself. “Just read
the instructions,” he said.
"I
can’t understand the ****ing instructions,” I
shouted back down the phone. “You come and do it, I’ll
watch what you do, then I’ll write it down and send
the text to the manufacturers with an invoice for my time.
At least that way poor so-and-sos who buy this kit in the
future will find out how to get it working without having
a nervous breakdown.”
There’s
one very strong point that emerges from this true story. When
people read, listen to or watch a set of instructions, they
often do it in fairly stressful circumstances, in uncomfortable
surroundings, in poor light, etc. Accessibility, simplicity,
visibility, and clarity are vital.
People
who buy products that require instructions, need to know how
to use the product as easily as possible. And because many
people are technodorks like me, instructions need to be understood
by the lowest common denominator. Logically then, you might
think, the best person to write instructions for technodorks
like me is someone who knows every last detail about the product,
how it was made, how it works, what it does, and what its
inside leg measurement is. In other words, an expert. This
could not be further from the truth.
Instructions
should never be written by experts, because they know too
much. What this means is that they are very prone to making
the mistake of assuming the reader knows a little bit about
the subject matter already. To an expert, the fact that before
you begin assembling the bookcase you need to align sections
A, B and C with each other may be so blindingly obvious it’s
not even worth mentioning. To someone like me it’s not
just worth mentioning, it’s absolutely essential if
I’m not to spend the next three hours wondering why
on earth I can’t find any bolt holes that line up.
Wherever
practical, instructions should be written by someone who knows
as much as, but no more than, the audience. For any form of
instructions to be followed by non-technical users, the writer
should assume zero prior knowledge and the best way to ensure
s/he does that, is if s/he doesn’t have any prior knowledge
her/himself. Provided that the writer has a logical mind and
the ability to write clearly and simply, s/he can’t
fail to work out and then write good, usable instructions
- because if s/he understands them so will everyone else.
Equally,
instructions should not be written by the sales people, the
marketing executives, the guys in the lab, the production
staff, or anyone else – even you – if there’s
a risk they might have become familiar with the subject matter.
Familiarity can breed if not contempt, at least wrongful assumptions
about the audience’s existing knowledge.
For
any product to be used by ordinary folks in the street, try
to get the instructions written by someone from a totally
unrelated department or even from outside your organization.
Failing that, get them tested by one or more typical users
who have no prior knowledge of the product, and edit them
carefully on the strength of the feedback you get.
There
is nothing that will blacken the name of your product and
your company faster than a customer like me not being able
to put your product together easily. Although customers like
me will get over it after taking a cold shower and asking
the brainy next-door neighbor to interpret the instructions,
we’ll probably remember all those bad things next time
we’re shopping for the sort of products you sell. And
we’ll buy your competitor’s.
Suzan St Maur is a leading business and marketing
writer based in the United Kingdom. You can subscribe to her
bi-weekly business writing tips eZine, “TIPZ from SUZE”
on her website – see link - and you can check out her
latest book, “POWERWRITING: the hidden skills you need
to transform your business writing” on any of the Amazons.
http://www.suzanstmaur.com
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