Many think of a website as an electronic
brochure, and in many ways it is. A website, however, keeps
going where a brochure leaves off. This response often leads
to the question, “Well, how different should my brochure
be from my website then?” There are ways that your brochure
should be similar to your website, but there are many more
ways that your website should be different from your brochure.
It is also important to consider who will receive your brochure
and who will be visiting your website. Find out what these
differences and similarities are—keep reading.
A brochure is typically a lead-in
First, focus on the purpose of a brochure.
A brochure is a brief overview of your company and what it
offers--a brief overview that intrigues readers enough to
act by picking up the phone, by going to your website, or
by walking into your store location for more information or
to buy what you are selling. You control the action you want
them to take by stating it in the brochure—the call
to action portion. Since most brochures are an 8.5”
x 11” sheet of paper folded two or three times, there
is no way possible to fit everything your company has to offer
in it. This is where your website comes in handy.
A website is more than a brochure
A website picks up where your brochure leaves
off because a website provides you more room to connect with
the reader and get them to buy. While a brochure explains
certain aspects of your company and how what you are offering
benefits the client, your website can expand on these details—providing
even more information. A website can also be a form of purchase
since it allows visitors to buy instantly from your online
store.
Brochures should mimic your website and vice
versa
That being said, your brochure and your
website should mimic each other. The tone you use when writing
your brochure should be the same as that represented on your
website. The look and feel of the brochure should also be
the look and feel readers experience when they visit your
website. For example, if you use a friendly tone in your brochure,
this same friendly tone should be felt when visiting your
website. If your brochure is very formal and traditional,
then the website also should have this same look.
Your brochure and website should complement
each other.
When you are creating your brochure and
website, the copy should not be exactly the same on both.
While you may have a client that only sees one of your brochures
or only sees your website, you may also have many clients
that read both. While the tone, look, and feel of your brochure
and website should be the same, the copy should not be a carbon
copy. And the content of each may be altered by the order
in which the piece is read.
It is also important to consider at what
point in the transaction you give potential customers the
brochure. For example, if you attend tradeshows and hand out
your brochure to visitors to your table, then you are introducing
the brochure at the beginning of a relationship. On the other
hand, if you request that visitors to your website complete
and submit a form to receive more information, and then mail
your brochure to them, the brochure is really the second piece
of exposure for clients. Which order the brochure takes may
affect the way you word the brochure and the website.
In many ways your brochure and website content
should be similar, but there ways that these pieces should
differ from each other. How you word the brochure and the
website also depends on which order the pieces are read. Keep
these factors in mind when writing the copy for your brochure
and your website.
