Start Copy with Benefits to the Customer
Product descriptions should start with the benefit customers will receive from the product. People must see that an item will improve their lives before they will want to buy it. Do not assume they will figure out benefits on their own. You should describe benefits for at least your top twenty items. After benefits, then give ordering information and price.

Tell About Benefits in Call Outs
Include call outs in your catalog printing to get the reader’s attention. These are short phrases in large bold print that get attention even if someone is just flipping through the catalog. Just like with product descriptions, call outs should tell about benefits to the customer.

Highlight Best Selling Items
Avoid the temptation to showcase poor selling items to increase their sales. You will increase profits much more by putting best sellers in prominent positions. Also, tell readers that an item is a best seller, because this will reassure them that it is a good product to buy.

Use Presentations that Worked in the Past
Pull out old catalogs and use design elements that worked well in the past. Chances are you stopped using some layouts and techniques simply because the design team got bored. Your customers will most likely respond well now if they did before. Customers are not confronted with your catalog on a daily basis the way your team is, so it takes customers a lot longer to get bored with a design.

Make Purchasing Easy for the Customer
Make sure your catalog design is organized and intuitive. The last thing you need is a confusing layout. Consistently use symbols, such as letters, to match up pictures with product information. Put your phone number and web address at the bottom of each page. Make your order form easy to find by putting it in the same place in each catalog.

Great catalogs are always designed with their customer in mind, as the above tips suggest. So always keep your customer at the forefront when making design decisions, and your products are sure to sell as well as you imagined.

Editorial content
First of all, in addition to all of your product information, you can include editorial content.  This can include a small section about recent changes in the industry, important company-wide information, or just interesting articles that may be relevant to your customers.  Editorial content that is carefully built into your booklet printing adds unique value for your customers by including information they may not be able to find anywhere else.

Industry calendar
If you work within a particular industry, consider including a calendar of events.  This may include trade shows, continuing education events, or even lectures at the local community college that might be relevant to your customers.  You may even want to put this calendar on the back cover of your booklet so your customers can reference it quickly.  Calendars are another value-added feature that can make your booklet important for your customers to keep around.

Further research sources
Finally, make sure that your booklet printing project includes a way for your customers to research your products and services more thoroughly.  Provide them with a technical support hotline or even links to your website.  Remember, you do not have the same amount of space that you might have in the catalog for detailed product information.  So keep them interested in your products and then guide them to a location where they can continue their research.

Conclusion
One of the keys to making sure your customers perceive your booklet printing project as a reference tool is to keep the information relevant to them.  You may have to do a little bit of extra research to find out what your customers want to know, but if you can include this extra information of editorial content, an industry calendar, and further research sources you may very well create a powerful tool that your customers keep at their fingertips at all times.

Cross-sell Services Along with Your Products
Some products are difficult to use and so customers need services to go along with them. For instance, if you sell computers and software, most customers would appreciate help with the installation. Either offer such services at a low price, or include it with the cost of the software as a promotional perk.

Up-sell Products that Work Better
Up-selling is simply getting customers to upgrade to a better product from the one they were originally going to buy. When you create your print catalog, you should describe the benefits of upgrading to a better model in glowing terms. In the computer catalog example, tell how much faster and more efficient a higher quality computer would be.

Sell Packages at Bargain Prices
Customers love to buy everything they need in one package when it saves them money. In your print catalog, spell out how much they will save by buying everything together. On the pages with your big ticket items, give a bullet list of complementary products that go with it along with their separate prices, and then print the bargain package price in large, bold type.

Cross-selling and up-selling can take your struggling business and make it thrive. Just keep the above tips in mind and your print catalog will be one that customers feel they can trust to truly fulfill their needs.

A successful brochure printing can be similar to an athletic event: you too can take that shot that an athlete takes to make the winning score in the final seconds of the game. A good athlete will not let that chance for success pass them by and great brochure printing will not allow a consumer to pass by either. This chance is not a result of pure luck. It is the result of preparation and opportunity crossing and resulting in success. With a few simple tactics and phrases on your brochures, they too will seize the opportunity more often than ever before. Here’s how:

Action Phrases

Action phrases are the best way to motivate your customer.  Don’t sell your message short by being to timid for the action phrases. Most ads use “Call Now! or Purchase Today” to motivate the customer. Your brochure printing should too to move your customers to action.

Free Trial

Don’t just show confidence in your brochure printing; show the consumer that you have confidence in your product. Offer a free trial period in which they will be billed after the fact, if the product is not returned. By establishing a trial period, this will aid in getting that sale when the opportunity arises. Use a “Satisfaction Guaranteed!” for the action phrase in this type of advertising. Delayed billing and a time limit will especially attract new customers.               

Other Incentives

Offer an upgrade, accessories, or something for free for a purchase of $50 or more, for instance. Show the original price of the free items. These offers are sold as a “Good Deal” and the brochure printing should reflect that. The brochure can state, “A Value of $89 for just $19.95.” Also, use the action phrase, “Free Gift, Free Upgrade, or Whiles Supplies Last!” Use “A Limited Time Offer!”  These advertisements entice a consumer to act now before the offer is over and is great for increasing sales.

For even more bang for your buck, combine two or more of these action phrases. For instance, combine “Call Toll Free, Available 24 Hours a Day, Get This Free Gift While Supplies Last, and Call Within 48 Hours For The Promotional Price!” Just make sure to not go overboard with offers or you will be faced with the problem of customers not believing your sincerity.

Ever see an eye catching catalog arrive in the mail season after season and wonder how each one can be so different, but still so attention getting? With these three aspects of powerful catalog design, you can achieve this same result. Great design, high quality images, and professional printing will produce a great catalog as well as a great value. The value added incentive is the interchanging of past great catalog design to create an even better catalog for the next season or year.        

Design

In catalog printing, great design is a must. What makes the design of a catalog great is somewhat situational. Best placement for a tool catalog may not be as critical as the design of a fashion clothing catalog. If you have some hesitation, please consult a printing professional or graphic design specialist. With planning, hard work, and some hesitation you can design a good catalog. But by utilizing a professional who designs everyday, your catalog can go from good to great. So, the question remains, would you rather have a good boost in sales or a great boost in sales from your catalog printing?

Images

High quality images are no longer just for the few exceptional catalogs. The bar has been raised and exceptional images are a minimum requirement for a great catalog. Don’t use text to just tell your customers how much they will enjoy what you have to offer. Show the customer how much someone else is enjoying their purchase – a picture with a customer who is completely content will be a big winner. Or photos of people using your product is another great way to encourage believability in the quality of your offer. If the facial expressions are not clear and crisp, though, the message will be lost. Whatever the message or audience, a great catalog printing always includes high quality images.   

Printing

Professional printing will maximize great design and exceptional images. The do-it-yourself method can be capable of producing a good catalog. But, as with design, using a professional will produce a great catalog printing incomparable to catalogs printed in the office. When it comes to advertising, trying to save money on the front end will cost more in the long run. A low quality printing will diminish the perceived quality of your products, resulting in fewer sales. Not only will printing with a professional improve the appearance of your catalog but also give you more at only a slightly higher cost than printing on your own – binding, mailing, unusual sizes, etc. In fact, with an online catalog printing company, the more copies you order, the less your cost per piece.

When it comes to a successful catalog, paying attention to professional, quality results in the areas of design, images, and printing is vital. So, take the time and effort to make sure that your products look irresistible in your catalog printing. Your desired sales require it.

Catalog printing is well worth the share of marketing dollars it uses but some techniques yield a higher profit than others. Careful design and planning in these key areas will greatly increase the value of your investment. Here are some failproof tips for catalog design:

• Standard size formats are more economical to print and mail, try to resist the temptation to use creatively shaped catalogs. Ask yourself when you last got a catalog from a major company in a non-standard size. The answer is probably “never”.
• 16-page increments are the most economical. If your catalog content lends itself to this constraint, 16-page increments are the way to go (16, 32, 48, etc). 8-page increments are the next best option.
• When planning the layout of your catalog printing, designate more space to products with higher profit margins.
• Cross-sell related products either by placing them on the same page or using the copy to send readers to the related products. Call-outs can also be used.
• Be consistent with the style of your catalogs to maintain your corporate identity. Corporate identity should be consistently styled across printed and electronic marketing and in physical business locations as well.
• Market your website in your catalog printing and vice versa. This will give consumers options when they need to revisit your media.
• Maintain consistent style throughout your catalog. Use the same font, the same placement of copy relative to images, etc. Make it easy for readers to find the info they are looking for.
• Use easy to read font and allow sufficient space between images and copy for easy reading.
• The product should be the focus of images used in a catalog printing. Use high resolution, clear photos that appropriately display the product.
• Choose photos that display products in the simplest fashion possible. Avoid complex scenes that detract from the product.
• Use professional photography.
• Add editorial type feature copy that relates to a designer, new product, customer satisfaction, etc. Feature copy encourages readers to peruse your finished catalog printing at leisure and help form a personal bond between the reader and your products.
• Design your catalog printing to appeal to the popular styles preferences of your audience. This must be balanced with maintaining the brand identity of your company and products.
• A well designed catalog is nothing without a printer who can produce high quality printed catalogs. 

Advertising is important in creating your brand presence, but a strong brand is more than a name and a logo: it must generate an emotional bond with the customer to keep them coming back. It must be memorable enough to gain the attention of potential customers and differentiate it from other brands. What is it about your brand that is special? Why should a customer choose your brand over others? Your advertisements should build and then communicate these things to the customer. A strong brand should seem relevant to the lifestyle of the customer to keep them coming back even after they have made an initial purchase.

A strong brand presence is crucial to maintaining customer loyalty. In some markets, like clothing and footwear, many customers are really buying the brand, not the product. Two sets of shoes may be of equal quality, but a customer may feel inclined to buy the more expensive, name-brand product because they value the brand name and the sense of status it gives them to own it. Such brands are great examples of how a strong brand presence benefits the company: the brand itself is worth money to the customer, and they are willing to pay more just to be associated with it. What makes such brands stand out? They don’t just sell products, they sell an image of a certain lifestyle or status, and that is why they are so attractive to customers. 

Some do this by adding a sense of luxury to the product. Even with products like pet food, some brands advertise themselves as “gourmet food” and advertise by showing pets eating from fancy bowls while the owner lives a life of leisure. They are not just selling cat food; they are selling cat food as a status symbol. The owner gains status by buying such food because they feel they can afford to buy the best in everything; they are buying the feeling that even their pets deserve the best in everything. The important thing is not what the customer associates with your product, but rather, that the customer associates it with an idea or emotion that is larger and more relevant than the product itself.

A strong advertising campaign is important. Your company can print business cards, print posters, place advertisements online and in newspapers and magazines, but all of this may be for nothing if your brand doesn’t really connect with the customer and make them feel that your brand is better than competing brands. Logos should be memorable and well-presented, advertisements should give enough information to generate interest, and websites should be easy to navigate and visually appealing. Additionally, you need to have a clear mission statement with your product. How will the product improve the life of the customer? What associations does the customer make about the product? Your company’s ideals can be further presented with a memorable slogan. When you advertise or print business cards, a short slogan can help to create a brand identity in the mind of a customer even when space is limited, and making your company memorable is crucial to establish brand presence and to maintain customer loyalty.

The problem with too many typos and consistent grammatical errors is that people won’t see you as the professional brand of excellence you claim to be. How many people do you think believed the Stratford Hall Catalog when it mispelled a word right on the front cover of their printed catalog, “Reliability…always upholding the highest standards for every detal.” It’s downright embarrassing.

Sometimes you may use the wrong word completely, but the wrong word spelled correctly. This happened to the student newspaper from Brigham Young University when a front-page caption referred to leaders in the Mormon Church as “apostates” rather than “apostles.” The newspapers were pulled from the stands as quickly as possible, as you can imagine. Blog and Twitter updates, brochure and catalog printing – any marketing piece that holds too many grammatical or spelling errors can give your brand a bad reputation.

The “Typo” in Spellcheck
Because the spell checking tool is only programmed to alert you to words it doesn’t contain in its “memory,” it won’t let you know when you’ve used the wrong spelling of the word, such as “it” and “it’s.” Nor will it let you know when you’ve missed a letter and typed a completely different word altogether, such as leaving out the “o” in the word “hello.” And as with the catalog printing mistake mentioned above, spell check does not catch when you unknowingly use the wrong word. Even worse, it doesn’t let you know when your message implies the wrong meaning. Without thorough editing, it can be easy to let such errors slip through, only to show up blatantly after you’ve already printed a thousand posters.

Tips for Better Editing
Here are some methods you can use for a more thorough editing of your writing. Combine the use of at least three of these methods for the best results.

• Continue to use spell check, as this tool will quickly eliminate the most basic spell errors in your document.
• Use the grammar check tool in your word program to help you catch basic grammar issues.
• Wait to edit your article after putting it aside for awhile.
• Read the article out loud while editing.
• Have someone else proofread your copy.
• Print the article to edit it one last time before sending to your printer or posting it.

Bottom line: don’t rely solely on the spell check tool in your word software. Take the time to edit everything you write for your brand, so that you don’t end up with a newspaper caption or tagline for your catalog printing that gives readers the wrong impression.

There are two very important things you need to know about a catalog to really appreciate the marketing potential: the placement of the products and the information you’re giving people.

I guess a lot of it deals with whether or not you’re going to assume that people are only looking into the catalog to buy something, or if you’re trying to get people who look in the catalog to buy something. Understand the difference?

You need to be worrying about the latter of the two. This is a method of marketing. Here are the basics you need to be aware of.

Your prose needs to be simple and it needs to get to the point as fast as possible. This is about selling your product, sure, but it isn’t about going into detail about how great the product is. You need to provide people with the facts, which happen to be so great people can’t help but have interest in buying your product. How could they pass up an opportunity like this when you’re offering them such a great product for such a low price, right?

A catalog is selling the product based on the merits of how good the product is. You need to use simple, straightforward sentences that detail all of the great things about your product. That’s all. If you try to focus on too much selling people aren’t going to come away with enough to know whether or not the product is right for them. A company telling me the product is right for me isn’t the same as seeing all the facts and coming to that conclusion myself.

Next is the placement. Don’t give equal space to every product and don’t shove your best selling products into the back of the catalog. Give the best sellers special treatment. Give them half a page, give them a front seat, and treat them like a king so that your customers will be able to see that this is the product to buy.

You’re selling it to them not in words but in placement. They can see you’re giving this product so much of your attention that they’ll start giving it a lot of their attention, until you’ve got a sale on your hands.

Catalog printing services should be able to explain a lot of this to you if they know what they’re doing. Hey, don’t just trust me. Research the topic and ask your printing companies. I have a good feeling they’ll tell you exactly what I just have.