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You
Need a Professional Brochure
by Edwin
P. Morrow, CLU, ChFC, CFP, RFC
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Would you buy a new
car or a major appliance from a dealer that had no brochure? If you wanted to compare
two products or models, would you really want to navigate through two or more websites
to get that data? Would you be impressed with a single sheet of typed specifications?
Would a monochrome pamphlet on light weight paper reassure you about the products
or services you are about to purchase?
Every financial advisor, regardless of the method of compensation and the products
and services offered, needs a high quality brochure. It need not be expensive, but
it must be professional. The image must totally reinforce the way you would like
to be perceived by your clients. It should stress your capacity, services, qualifications
and not the vendors of products you may sell. The customer wants to buy you first,
and then agree with your advice, and finally purchase financial products from vendors
you recommend.
Your brochure should be sent with every letter to a referral. It might also be sent
with a letter to clients requesting referrals, in order that they might imagine what
you will be sending to the persons they introduce to you. The text copy of your brochure
might be similar, but arranged differently, from your website. The brochure should
suggest that more information is available on your website.
In your automated drip mailing program you will want to insert a special letter to
be accompanied by your brochure. The letter should be quite brief, and not say anything
about what is in the brochure, which speaks for itself, but be client and service
focused. Your sequence for established clients should also include periodic insertion
of a brochure, but no reference is necessary. What might happen, of course, is that
they pass your brochure on to a business associate or friend. Any automated marketing
campaign, such as with Text Library System (www.TextLibrarySystem.com) depends on your having something
interesting and of value to send with your letter. There is nothing more appropriate
than your firm brochure, or one you have developed or acquired that covers a special
topic.
Options for the Financial Advisor
Retain a PR or Advertising firm. You'll need to budget for a graphics designer,
perhaps a financial copy writer and plan to print at least 2,000 copies. Prepare
to spend thousands for copy, formatting, design and printing. Cost may range $4,000
to 6,000 and revisions will also be fairly expensive.
Do-it-yourself with Word or PowerPoint. What's your time worth, for the basic
design and all the edits? Not only might this be extremely expensive, but you may
inadvertently commit some serious PR or image errors. You will spend a lot of time
preparing your brochure spacing to accommodate one or two folds and selecting the
print and paper combinations.
Use an association brochure. While this may reinforce your professionalism
and could be useful in addition to your personal or firm brochure, by itself this
type of pamphlet is primarily an endorsement for the association or designation.
They don't tell your story or the details of your professional background and services.
An association brochure can still be quite useful, but it does not replace the need
for your personal business brochure.
Use a Template Service. You select from several basic brochures one that fits
your practice, choose text alternatives, edit pre-formatted descriptions and have
your photos scanned and inserted. You edit the draft and then start with a minimum
order. When your initial copies have been distributed you can take several paths:
buy more in small quantities as needed, acquire the electronic file to edit and print
locally, or make final edits and move to a full print large volume order. Cost: of
$400 to $800 for development, plus about $1 for each additional brochure.
Reproduction Alternatives
Color Reproduction. The use of color is very strongly recommended for several
reasons: it establishes an upscale image, it is much easier and more interesting
to read when color is used for headings, and photographs are distinctly better in
color. A monochrome brochure is dull and less professional. There are six printing
choices.
Full Color Printing. This is very expensive for small quantities, but get
progressively less expensive as quantities increase. One drawback is that your copy
may need to be altered long before you consume the quantity printed, unless you plan
to use your brochure liberally in mailing campaigns. A major advantage of printing
is that you can select a wide variety of paper, and have almost any size and fold
pattern. Print cost (not including photo color separations) run about $700 for the
first 500 copies, with larger quantities at reduced rates per copy.
Two Color Print. You can use just two colors in your brochure. One could be
black, but it need not be. You can even extend the impact by printing on a colored
or tinted paper stock. This is normally printed in a shop that makes two press runs,
one with each color. The cost is less than with full color, but photos must be in
one of your two ink colors, and some do not render personal photos attractively.
Cost will vary greatly based on paper stock, but two color printing is always less
than the full color.
Color Laser Reproduction. The unit cost is much higher than large volume printing,
but you can prepare only those you need at the present. This makes it less likely
you will have outdated copy. These copiers are very expensive, and are also somewhat
limited in paper sizes. While they can be set for odd paper size, they handle 8.5
x 11 best. If you want a large brochure (11 x 17 folded to 8.5 x 11) you will find
that some models can't handle the size ó and the cost will be prohibitive. For example,
Kinkos has the capacity to reproduce a Word file onto nice quality brochure paper,
in color using a color laser printer, on both sides. The cost per copy for small
quantities of an 8.5 x 11 three panel brochure is about $5, and for 100, the cost
is $187.57 plus tax and delivery fees ó or about $2 per brochure including tax. You'll
have to check other local reproduction services for the image capacity, paper stock
and pricing.
Solid Ink Color Reproduction. Some manufacturers use a solid wax ink process
to place color on the paper, such as the Tektronix Phaser printer (cost about $3,500).
This type of print can be very cost effective, if you manage the design to use "spot"
color and limited color images and photos, with most of the application in crisp,
sharp black text. The print appears glossy, which makes the color sections and photos
really stand out. The wax impression units convey an excellent quality image ó and
only the discerning person can distinguish it from full color process print.
Inkjet Dot Matrix. The cost of these printers has come down dramatically.
However, the ink cartridges have limited capacity and are fairly expensive. Most
color inkjet printers do not support duplex printing. To print on both sides of the
paper, you normally must feed the paper back through and print a second run. The
image quality depends a great deal on the resolution and setting of the printer,
and especially on the paper stock. You may have to spend a good deal of time manipulating
the brightness and contrast of photos to achieve high quality images. For crisp output
you should use expensive, coated paper.
Using a Brochure Template Service. You would select from several choices of
paper, submit photos (physical or electronic), and mark up "standard" copy
to fit your unique operation. Your information is keyed in and arranged, and you
review a printed proof before reproduction takes place. This enables you to alter
color choices and modify the text. You can order a small quantity and test the brochure.
If you later purchase a color printer you can purchase the unique Word file, and
make all future edits yourself.
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100
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250
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500
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1,000
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| Initial Design. Includes
the basic design, layout, specimen text copy, editing and the draft and proof copies |
$400
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$400
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$400
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$400
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| Reproduction Costs
(with color) |
$120
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$250
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$450
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$850
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| Shipping (ground) |
$15
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$15
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$20
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$25
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| Total Cost |
$535
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$665
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$870
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$1,275
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| Cost per copy, initial
order |
$5.35
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$2.66
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$1.74
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$1.28
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| Cost per copy, re-orders,
w/shipping |
$1.35
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$1.07
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.94
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.88
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| Cost to acquire the
electronic file |
$150
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How to Get Started
The most important step is to make a commitment and set a deadline, "I will
have a new brochure by ____ date." Then decide how much to budget and how you
are going to proceed: hire a public relations or design firm, do it yourself, or
use a template service. Recognize that shortly after you finish your first brochure,
you will decide that you omitted an important topic, or that you would now like to
re-phrase some of the material. That is entirely natural. You will probably end up
revising your brochure annually, and eventually, when you are convinced of the benefit
of having a nice brochure, you may decide to move to a full color and more elaborate
brochure and marketing package.
Edwin P. Morrow, CLU, ChFC, CFP, RFC, is the author of How to Computerize
your Financial Planning Practice, the Complete Millennium Preparation Guide and
Personal Coaching for Financial Advisors. He is also developer of the Text
Library System used by 3,000 planning firms. Ed is a frequent speaker on practice
management and technology to such organizations as the FPA, NAIFA, MDRT, IARFC and
Society of Financial Service Professionals.
For further information you may contact him at Financial Planning Consultants, Financial
Planning Building, P.O. Box 42430, Middletown, OH 45042-0430, phone 513 424-1656
or email to: edm@financialsoftware.com.
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