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How to Write a
Corporate Image Brochure People will truly want to Read
Writing a corporate image brochure is truly a
study in futility. Two things are certain about these expensive, glossy
booklets:
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1) Almost all companies of any size feel
compelled to produce them.
2) Virtually no one ever reads them.
It is not difficult to understand why. It's in the name. Most such
brochures are far too concerned with "image", i.e. making the company look
good, than with communicating with readers. So why should people read it? |
The solution to the problem is well-known:
Write from the reader's point of view. But while everyone may know this,
hardly anyone actual does it. They think they do, but they don't. Too
often the rationale for the brochure is, "This is interesting and
important information, so people will surely want to read it." This is not
writing from the reader's point of view, but the company's point of view.
The results of this self-delusory approach to corporate image brochures
are plain to see: high costs and low value.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Some years ago, I was commissioned to
write a corporate image brochure for a pharmaceutical company. When it was
printed, not only did people read it, they actually called the company to
request additional copies to give to friends, clients, and professional
colleagues.
How did I achieve
this miracle? You guessed it, by writing the brochure from the reader's
point of view. But how did I know that I wasn't deluding myself,
only thinking I was writing from the reader's point of view and
not my client's? I had help and guidance from what is known as the
"expository writing attitude".
All writing can be divided into two broad categories: creative (fiction)
and expository (non-fiction). Creative writing comprises texts such as
short stories, novels, poems, radio plays, stage plays, television
scripts, film scripts, etc. Expository writing comprises texts such as
such as memos, reports, proposals, training manuals, brochures,
newsletters, marketing proposals, research reports, etc. The approach the
writer takes to these essentially different genre must also be essential
different. Broadly speaking, the purpose of creative writing is to amuse
and entertain, so when sitting down at the keyboard the fiction writer can
assume that "everyone will want to read what I am going to write". This is
the "creative writing attitude".
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The purpose of expository writing is usually
to inform and instruct. When called upon to be informed and instructed,
most people would very much prefer to be doing something else. So when the
expository writer sits down at the keyboard, he is constrained to assume
that "no on will want to read what I am going to write". This is the
"expository writing attitude".
This dreary description of the expository writer's challenge may seem a
rather negative note on which to set about one's work. But is it really?
If it is a realistic assessment of the situation, then it is the best
starting point for defining and achieving a text's objectives. This can
hardly be considered negative. |
So how did I apply the expository writing
attitude to produce a corporate image brochure that people not only read,
but recommended to their friends and colleagues? Starting from the
assumption that no one would want to read anything about the company, I
and my colleagues (it was a brainstorming) asked ourselves: What things
does this company do that people might want to read about? Its basic
activity was producing vaccines. We are all naturally interested in
health, and virtually everyone knows the importance of vaccination, for
themselves but especially for their children. Here were already two things
people might want to read about.
We were given the assignment in the
mid-1980s, just when a strange new term --genetic engineering -- was
beginning to appear more and more in newspaper headlines. According to the
reports, this new technique would revolutionize medicine, so people were
becoming more and more interested in learning what it was all about. This
was a third topic of broad general interest.
To make a long story short, we defined seven areas of the company’s
activities that would be naturally attractive to potential readers.
However, it didn’t stop there. If all this exciting information were
jumbled together with company propaganda, people probably still wouldn't
want to read the brochure, despite their natural inclination to do so. We
therefore made a daring proposal. The brochure would be laid out in seven
double-page spreads, i.e. each of the seven areas of activity would be
allotted two facing pages. But the text would be rigorously segregated.
1) Theory. The left side of each page
would be pure science; the company’s name would never even be mentioned.
2) Practice. The right side of each page would explain how the
company used the science explained on the left to produce vaccines.
When we presented the concept, the reaction was one of shock. “You mean
people could read the brochure left side only and never see our name?”
Exactly. But having learned about the basic science, wouldn’t they
naturally want to learn how the company was using the science to produce
safe, effective, and (relatively) inexpensive vaccines?
It took a while for management to accept the proposal, but finally they
did. When the brochure was ready, they couldn’t print enough of them. Of
course, not all companies would be suitable for this particular type of
corporate image brochure. The important idea here is not this particular
brochure, but the thinking process that led to it. I subsequently
wrote several other corporate brochures. None of them had quite the same
overwhelming impact. However, all of them received positive feedback. Not
only from the company's management, but from the people who really count
-- the readers for whom they were intended.
The next time you sit down to compose a corporate image brochure (or
virtually any kind of expository text), ask yourself the question: I know
that no one wants to read what I am going to write, so how can I write
something they will want to read? Until you can find at least one good
answer (preferably more), keep your hands away from the keyboard. You are
simply not yet ready to start writing.
Contributed By :
Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall
Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He
now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium.
Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his
approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other
communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the
Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional,
available from the publisher (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).
Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com, phil.yaffe@gmail.com
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