I came across an interesting post in linkedin today, about whether brochures are still worth the investment in today’s digital age of marketing. So I thought I might post an overview of some of the comments…

• No, websites have taken the place of browsers (a little shortsighted I think - e:dit)
• Short answer is that if you do a lot of face-to-face selling and attend a lot of shows/events where you’re meeting customers, then brochures will generate a good ROI. Content should be fairly timeless so it has a longer than normal shelf life and should direct customers to a web site for more update info
• It depends on your industry, your marketing strategy, project objectives, etc. If you think they hold value and you have an important message that calls your customer to action, then brochures could be something worth spending the money on
• Many of my clients need brochures and print material to close sales or even begin negotiation. To rely on a web presence is only a small part of the picture
• I speak for the tourism industry - YES - brochures are absolutely needed. When you’re driving down the road, stop at a restaurant and want to get local information about what’s in the area, a well-stocked brochure rack is extremely useful.
• Websites have taken over brochures for the most part. That said at trade events, a brochure or a flyer gives a bit more detail and might hook more people to visit the site, thus gaining some leads.
• Yes — they are absolutely still worth the time and money. The goal is with the brochure developement — to plan on presenting an online option as well. The nice aspect of having a printed brochure, you can take it with you to read at leisure without the glare of a computer screen and offers a comprehensive, offline resource to store for future reference.

Some interesting thoughts and opinions. Please feel free to add your own ideas and comments…

The Smart Company website (www.smartcompany.com.au) recently posted an article on “10 marketing tips that won’t cost the earth” which I thought was a decent read for any small business owner … read it here.

Some interesting and innovative ideas there that wouldn’t be difficult or costly to implement.

We use and recommend a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system called info@hand. euler:design it has implemented it for a number of our clients as well, with some customisations to suit their particular business process and need. That would be my number one recommendation when looking into adding a CRM into your business - going with an organisation and application that would be able to provide customisations - so that it will work according to your business process, rather than changing your business process to work with the CRM. It is only software after all and should be there to serve you - not the other way around.

Some of the key benefits I have found with our CRM system include:

1. Easy and fast quote development - setting up standard products and prices makes it quicker to create quotes.
2. Even faster invoice development - once a quote has been accepted, a couple of clicks turn that quote into the invoice.
3. Easily track incoming payments and how much an account owes through the built in statements.
4. Using the built in campaign module to send out newsletters by email to clients, and tracking opens and click-thrus for each email.

We are currently looking at building on an additional module that will integrate our CRM with Saasu, the online accounting system. With this we will also be able to integrate accounting, payroll, bank integration and day to day book keeping into a single package.

Of course, if you would like to know more about how a CRM system can help the everyday running of your business gives us a bell.

The term ebook is short for “electronic book”. It is read digitally on a computer. Ebooks are increasingly growing in popularity. They are easy and cheap to produce and distribute. They can include video, audio, hyperlinks and animation as well as text and print.

A small business can use ebooks to help boost sales and increase its customer base in a number of ways. For example:

1. Provide a free ebook on your website as an incentive for visitors to sign up to your newsletter or submit their contact details.
2. Regularly publish an ebook that your customers would be interested in, and offer paid advertising space to other businesses as a way to generate income.
3. Partner with another business, offer free advertising space and request that the advertiser distributes the ebook to their customer base - effectively increasing your potential customer reach.
4. Write an ebook that can be distributed world wide, and include links to specific landing pages of your website with strong calls to action.
5. Join an affiliate marketing network, and include affiliate marketing advertisements and links as a means of generating additional revenue.
6. Create an ebook to sell as well as an extract of the full book. Use the extract ebook to entice customers to purchase the full ebook.

On a personal level, if you have an author inside you begging to come out, then publishing online with an ebook is the ideal avenue for you. Some ebook applications not only provide the tools for creating your ebook but they also provide an online library - giving your ebook access to a worldwide readership.

At euler:design it, we use and recommend myebook.com. Myebook makes it possible for anyone to upload or create from scratch a beautifully simple or adventurously complex ebook in no time. Users can easily publish their book and release it to the world before the (virtual) ink’s dry! You can create as many publications as you want. Myebook also integrates the popular page turning effect, giving a real book reading experience to your readers. And it’s all free.

If you are interested in getting published at myebook, let us know and we can help you get online in no time.

A relatively new marketing tool businesses are adopting is the concept of “Coffee Table Books”. The possibility of short print runs (that is, only having as many printed as you need rather than the previous 1000 quantity limit) are turning them into an ideal promotional tool for small business.

What is a Coffee Table Book?

Generally they are large books with thick spines, use a heavy weight paper and hard cover printed in full colour. Often seen as ‘photo books’ the content is really limited only by your imagination.

In a business situation they can be used as:

• gifts for special customers
• seasonal gifts
• incentives for survey/questionnaire completions or competition prizes that further market your business
• a sellable product
• product portfolios

Naturally a photographer or artist can use Coffee Table Books as a means of displaying their artistic creations. Tourism operators can use them as mementos for their guests to purchase as a keepsake. Business operators can turn a Coffee Table Book into a corporate portfolio or as a means of self-publishing a book on a subject matter of their choice.

If you google “Coffee Table Books” you will come up with a number of printers specialising in this new resource. However Click on Print (www.clickonprint.com.au) are an Australian owned photo book printer, with the printing right here in Australia too.

Naturally, the success of the book is largely based on its physical appearance - especially the graphic design, photography and typography…and euler:design it can help you with that and arrange the printing too! ;o)

There are so many new ideas, tools and online resources out there for business that it is near impossible to keep up with the latest trend. Hmmm, ‘trend’ probably isn’t the best word - as some of these ideas and applications really are excellent tools for business. It could be new ways of marketing and promotion or online tools that can help the efficiency and organisation of your workplace.

Hence, the birth of the euler:design it blog - Small Business Marketing Solutions - online and inprint. We will do the trolling of websites, reading of whitepapers and testing of betas to bring you new ideas that you just might be able to use in your business.

So, let’s begin shall we…