Writing a brochure for your Las Vegas business can seem like a daunting task when first starting out. Remember to keep the copy short and concise and keep short sentences and paragraphs and lists with bullet points if possible. Cover the who, what, when, where, why and how and tell readers why they NEED to hire you for your products and services and how you differ from your competitors.  I’ve put together a list of 10 simple and effective tips to consider when writing your Las Vegas business brochure.

5 Reasons You Need a Brochure for Your Las Vegas Business:

1. Establishes credibility. Just like a website and a business card, having a professional brochure help you to look like a real business with real marketing materials.
2. Helps Marketing Efforts. Have a brochure as a leave behind or a take a way can help keep your company’s products and services in someone’s mind even when you are not nearby.
3. Explains What Your Business Offers. A brochure can describe in brief everything your business offers.
4. Can Post Online. In addition to having your brochure printing, you can also have a PDF version available for download on your website!
5. They Generate Interest. A brochure that is well designed and written with a clear call to action can peak the interests of the reader.

I write a lot about what businesses and companies in Las Vegas SHOULD do to ensure proper marketing, internet marketing and marketing communications strategies and tactics, but I thought it was important to point out marketing mistakes that businesses and companies often make and should be aware of.

Top 10 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid for your Las Vegas business:

1. Not having a basic marketing plan written. You need to know where you are going to go and how to get there, right?
2. Not reserving a marketing budget. This is a big one in Las Vegas. You need to be aware that to market your company or business properly in Las Vegas, you need to have a budget to execute a marketing plan.
3. Not understanding your target market and target customer and their challenges and problems. You need to know this in order to best market to them and to know how to effectively communicate with them and help solve their specific business problems and issues.
4. Not having consistent messaging across all of your marketing materials including brochures, websites, flyers and ads can hurt the core messages that you are trying to communicate through your marketing efforts and leaves potential customers confused and makes your business look unprofessional.
5. Not understanding your product or service’s specific benefit that is provides to your customer. You need to clearly define how you can help your client and why they should choose your products or services over your competitors.
6. Targeting “everybody” is a huge mistake as well. You may think your product or service may be targeted to “everybody” but it’s not. It’s always best to define groups within your market, a zip code, an age range, one particular issue you can solve for a prospective client.
7. Badly written marketing copy can ruin the first chance you have at converting a looker into a customer. The copy and text on your marketing materials, brochure and website should be well written, concise and should describe the benefits of your products and services and should contain a clear and compelling call-to-action.
8. Not using testimonials from your present clients. They are your most powerful advocates and you should use quotes and case studies in all of your marketing materials.
9. Thinking you do not need a website. A website is CRITICAL to competing in the Las Vegas business market. Your competitors all have websites!
10. Not measuring the results of your marketing campaigns and refining them as you go along. Marketing is not an exact science, you make professional estimations and even if a campaign is going great, you can continue to monitor and refine a marketing campaign to ensure you get the best results possible!

There are many things to consider when starting a new business or company in Las Vegas and many things to consider if you want your business to be successful.  Business licenses, insurance, legal services, sourcing an office space, hiring and last but certainly not least, marketing materials to help market your new business.  Marketing is often an important factor that the beginning business person tends to overlook. Be aware that if you aren’t thinking about marketing from the beginning, your competitors throughout town already are.

Professionally designed and well-thought out marketing materials will give you instant credibility when searching for new customers and clients. Remember, your marketing materials are most likely a potential customers first impression for your new Las Vegas business, and as you know, first impressions are EVERYTHING.

Marketing Materials Your New Business Must Have:

Business Cards
A professionally designed business card, printed well, will be hugely important in helping establish credibility and market your company. Leave some sort of white space on the front or back of the card and make sure you can write on it with a pen without it smearing as potential customers sometimes write notes on your business card after meeting you.

Website
Many Las Vegas businesses often overlook the importance of a professional looking website, well written, well maintained. A website is as critical as having a business card. Potential clients will visit your website in researching your company. The key is to have it look and sound as professional as possible.

Stationery
Again, when corresponding with potential clients, a professional stationery including letterhead, envelopes and labels can really help your business credibility.

Brochure or Flyer
You also need some type of printed leave-behind when meeting with prospective clients. Some sort of trifold brochure or flyer that describes your company’s products and services and why they need to hire you to help them. Of course, they should be professionally designed.

All of the above marketing materials should be designed so that they all look like the come from the same company. This is known as corporate identity. A consistency across the board in using the same logo, fonts, colors and images creates a polished and professional corporate identity for your new Las Vegas business.

For more information or assistance with creating the above marketing materials, visit www.perkolate.com, my company’s website:

• Las Vegas Web Design Services
• Las Vegas Graphic Design Services
• Las Vegas Website Hosting and Domain Registration
• Las Vegas Marketing Services
• Las Vegas Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Studying small business marketing case studies can be a valuable resource and discovery process for your own Las Vegas business or company. I’ve take some time to gather some links to small business marketing case studies for your review:

Business Case Studies, Small Business Success Stories – SmartBiz.com

Articles on branding, re-branding, internet marketing link partnerships, business strategies and case studies.

Small Business Case Studies – Leveraging Twitter! – The Marketing Studio

Over the past year, more and more businesses of all shapes and sizes, are investing time to explore what all the hype is behind “Twitter.”  What many have discovered is that this microblogging phenomenon presents a great opportunity for their companies.  learn more.

8 Visual Case Studies for Fun Marketing Materials! – smbmarketingguide.com

B2B Social Media – The Business.com Case Study

As 2008 unfolded, our team at Business.com closely monitored the explosion of social media interest in the B2B marketing world. learn more.

Successful Email Marketing Case Study – smallbusinessarena.com

“I have recently had a successful email marketing campaign for one of my ecommerce sites. I will share the story of this email marketing campaign as a case study….” read more.

Small Business Marketing Case Study: How We Built Our Business on $200 – Ezine Articles

We started our business with $200. When we opened our bank account, we each deposited a whopping $100. That was the only capital investment we eve made. Everything else that has ever flowed into that account has been earned – albeit, sometimes it seemed as though by rubbing 2 sticks together. read more.

Marketing Case Studies – Marketingprofs.com

Some of these cover larger businesses and companies but still a great Case Study read!

Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business - Paperback book from Amazon.com

by Holly Berkley (Author) “What’s the difference between a $100,000 online marketing campaign and a $1,000 campaign?…” (more)

Social Media Marketing Case Study: Smartkit Online Games

Many companies, large and small, are struggling to discover the best way to begin social media marketing efforts. This case study features a small business social media marketing effort with TopRank Online Marketing and online games site, Smartkit. read more.

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting is a new way of broadcasting – over the internet, it’s an audio file that audiences listen to that they WANT to listen to. In a nutshell a podcast is a compressed multimedia file (audio file) that is distributed over the internet for playback on your mobile device, iPod or your PC or laptop. Subscribers or listeners of your podcast can download a podcast from your website and listen to at a their leisure.

Why Podcasting Could be Important to You

It’s a convenient way of having website visitors (and potential clients) listen to your programs, messages, bulletins or tips and tricks. It’s an opportunity for you to provide relevant and useful content to your listeners and stay in their minds and consideration set for potential business. 

It can reach locals and people on a national and world wide scale and with a podcast you can express your emotion in speaking about your topic (vs. the written word which can be open to interpretation). 

You can find content for your podcasts from your current marketing materials including:

• your website
• your white papers and collateral
• any articles you’ve written
• your marketing plan and research

A logo can make or break your new business.

A logo is most often the single most identifiable representation of your business and in Las Vegas, creditiblity is key. Your logo appears on your business cards, stationery, letterhead, envelopes, forms, collateral, website, email signature, maybe even on trucks and signage. It represents everything your company stands for, the tone, your products and services, your professionalism.

Many smaller companies make the mistake of not having a solid professionally designed logo for their business. Or worse, they use different logos for different marketing materials, or change the colors, fonts, styles, and more. This creates an inconsistent image in your customer’s and potential customer’s minds. It detracts from your professional identity. 

With this in mind, you should ask yourself the following when evaluating your current company logo:

• Is your logo professionally designed and used consistently across any and all marketing materials?
• Does the look and feel of your logo represent your company in the best possible manner?
• Do you feel that your logo separates you from your competition?
• Does your logo provide that invaluable “first impression”?
• Does your logo speak directly to your target market?
• Do you feel that your logo makes you look more established and bigger than your competitors?