1.0 Determine Your Audience

Print:

Age, education level, and interest.

These will determine style, language level, font size, and the specific information that you will include.

Web:

Age, education level, probable computer system(s), probable browser(s), and interest.

These will determine the graphics style, language level, page size, and layout features that you can use.

You don't have to worry about adjusting type sizes for your readers' eyesight--their browsers will do that for them. Page size will be explained in the next step. Note that you can make a lot more information available on a Website, and let the reader selectively choose just what they want to see, so that an Online brochure can include a lot more detail than a paper brochure which is limited to four small pages. You still identify your target audience's interests, but you can reach several different audiences from one Website. For example, if you are selling trucks, your main page might be a general description, with additional information available on gas mileage, payload, custom colors, etc. These details will be displayed only if the reader requests them. This is called "detail on demand" and is a very powerful marketing tool.

2.0 Determine Your Marketing Goals for the Brochure

Print:

Your marketing goals, combined with the information about your audience, will determine the overall theme of the brochure, as well as help you choose between the standard brochure sizes (business letter fold-up; 5x8" pamphlet; 8.5 x 11" folder)

Web:

Are you trying to make an immediate sale? Add to your company prestige? Deliver information to qualified leads? Deliver information to new leads? Provide a public service?

Because of the ability to add detail on demand, many companies find that their online brochures serve much more of an educational purpose than their paper brochures. Since each reader controls just where they want to go, no one should get bored: it's easy to include technical specifications, customer references, industry standards, and so on.

Paper brochures often have an obvious purpose: to get a sale, to get a lead, to support a salesperson with technical detail, or to provide public service information. It's easy to see what fits and what distracts.

Because an online brochure can easily mix all of these, it's also easier for it to lose focus. The paper brochure is limited by its size, but also shaped by it. Online brochures need more planning to leave a consistent image in the reader's mind.

3.0 Decide on the Layout

Print:

Once you know your audience and your goals, you can begin laying out a mock-up of the paper brochure, based on the size you've chosen.

Web:

As mentioned in the previous step, this is actually a task that is made harder by the lack of constraints. You have to really put some thought into the "navigation" and flow of your online brochure. Also, there are marketing reasons for where to put links and how to write copy: see our Marketing Manager's Plain English Internet Glossary for more information on this topic.

Online brochures are also much more constrained in their layout choices by who their audience will be. If you know that your audience will include international visitors, or visitors with specific browsers, that will change the layout options open to your Web designer. This is why it is critical in online brochures to identify the audience before you start on the layout work. Everything from page size to how a page is sectioned can be affected by your audience.

4.0 Design the Graphics

Print:

Your graphics for print are basically style decisions, influenced by your audience and your marketing goals. You also need to make a basic choice between how much color and what print resolution you will use in the final piece, since these both affect the graphics design.

Web:

Graphics design for the Web is also affected by color and resolution choices. In addition, browsers use a special color pallete, much more restricted than most graphics artists are used to working with. Dithering, anti-aliasing, and dynamically-allocated color slots are all new variables that graphics designers must learn to work with on the Web.

5.0 Write the Copy

Print:

At this point, you know your audience, you know your marketing goals, you know the shape and size of the space you need to fill. Good copywriting should carry you through this stage.

Web:

Although the copywriter for an online brochure doesn't have to worry about space restrictions, there are four additional elements added to copywriting for the online brochure. First, the copy must be written not just so that it reads well to humans, but also so that it can be automatically indexed properly by the various "search engines" which act as the automated card catalogues for the Web. Second, hypertext links have to be placed so that they both add value to the brochure and also meet the marketing requirements by not encouraging readers to leave the site too soon. The combination of "detail on demand" and hypertext navigation requires some special copywriting skills in order to make sure that the online brochure reads well no matter which page a reader starts at. Finally, the typography of the Web itself is different, and this can change what makes effective copy. Although there are no restrictions on the total amount of space a copywriter has for any one section, the amount seen at one time is small. So it's like an infinite series of 3 x 5 cards. This requires a completely different kind of copywriting than writing for an 8.5 x 11" doublespread page.

6.0 Finalize the Layout

Print:

Trim here, stretch there--put all the pieces together, and make sure the total effect achieves the goals you're aiming for. You may decide on different header styles, or move some graphics around. Eventually you get the look you like.

Web:

This stage is very similar to the same stage in the paper brochure.

7.0 Publish

Print:

Now you have some additional decisions to make: how many copies? What kind of paper? Do you do a full color version and another in black and white? Most of these decisions are based on cost factors.

Web:

Publishing an online brochure on the Web involves completely different issues than publishing a print brochure. First, you don't have to worry about how many copies--you just publish one, and everyone can get to it. (In this sense online brochures are more like radio spots.) And you have no investment to throw away if things change: you can make changes easily. However, you will run into some contraints based on who your audience is. You will probably want to publish at least two versions of the online brochure: one that looks OK in the simplest of browsers, and one that looks good for those with more advanced systems. Some companies publish three, four, or even five versions, depending on who they think their audience will be. These are marketing decisions, based on who you're willing to turn away, and what compromises you're willing to make to reach a wider audience.

8.0 Distribution

Print:

Decide How You Will Get the Brochure to Your Readers

The printer has just delivered 500, or 5,000, or 50,000 paper brochures. How will you get them to your readers? Will they write to you? Will they be delivered by salespeople? Will you do a targeted mailing? Are they available in retail outlets? The brochure can't serve its purpose until it gets into your customer's hands, so you need a plan for getting it there.

Web:

Decide How You Will Get Your Readers to Your Brochure

On the Web, this process is reversed. You publish one copy of your brochure (perhaps in two or three versions)--now you need to get the readers to come to you. Some of this can be done online through search engines, directories, banners, and reciprocal links. Many companies find as many as half of their visitors learn about the Website through offline sources: business cards, a line in newspaper or television advertising, from salespeople, from magazine articles. This is one reason you need to be clear about the purpose of your site from the beginning. An online brochure can help close a sale or take an order as well as generate new leads, so make sure all your customers know how to find it, even if your first encounter with them is through traditional marketing channels. Similarly, online brochures that include public service information are easier to promote offline,a nd a single newspaper article listing your Web address may bring you more qualified leads than several dozen paid on-the-Web advertisements. A good online brochure should be integrated into your overall marketing strategy, just like an 800 number or a FAX-on-demand system.

Moving a Print Brochure to the Web

1. Know Your Marketing Goals for the Brochure
   1. Pick a name--and a host.
      Arrange for a "host" and decide whether you need a personalized address like www.ourcompany.com
   2. Assign Responsibility for Answering the Mail
      Decide who will answer the e-mail you get, and how. Remember that online readers expect very quick responses. You can use an "auto-responder" which sends back a "thank you for your inquiry" message immediately, and then have the queries processed individually later, or you can process each through your normal customer serviceor sales departments. But make sure someone is ready and able to answer the mail when it comes in.
   3. Pick a Measure for Success
      Decide how you will know that this online brochure is a success. Is it enough to just get it published on the Web? Do you need to have a certain number of visitors? Of e-mail inquiries? Of sales? It takes about three months for any new address online to get published and distributed in the various professional directories, so give yourself some lead time: but know what goals you expect the site to produce in months 4-6 and 7-12.
2. Design steps:
   1. Keep It Simple
      Design for the simplest standard browser features so you don't have to provide more than one version of the online brochure.
   2. Divide and Conquer
      Divide the paper brochure into "chunks" based on the expected typical window size of your readers. (Two seven line paragraphs is a typical browser window). Lay out each chunk individually as you go along.
   3. Redo the Graphics
      Most print graphics have to be slightly reworked to meet Web requirements, using the Netscape standard 216 color palette. Keep graphics simple to avoid long download times.
   4. Rewrite the Copy
      You may need to rewrite to fit the "chunks" you're working with. You'll certainly need to rewrite to improve searchability and readability in the online format. Limit links away from the site to a single link area.
   5. Check the Navigation Path
      Hypertext allows readers to jump between "chunks." Readers can start and stop anywhere. Does each page have a common look? Is it easy to tell where you are and where to go next? Is it easy to get back to the main screen?
   6. Open a Dialogue
      The simplest way is to provide e-mail contact information. Remember the navigation issues, though: if you hide the e-mail address on the last page, many readers will never see it.
   7. Do the Backstage Work
      Put in the "hidden codes"used by search engines, those whose systems can't see pictures, copyright information, etc.
   8. Validate the HTML
      Validation is like spell-checking; it's a tool for making sure your files will be easily readable. Validate to make sure it can be handled by most browsers.
   9. Publish on the Web
      Move your files to your host and test them from a remote location to make sure the download speed is acceptable.
3. Publicize!
   Publicize the existence of your online brochure both through online methods like search engines and by giving out the Web address in your other marketing pieces.

These steps will get you up and running with a simple online brochure as quickly as possible. Your first version will be simple: just an easy way for your customers and suppliers to reach you via e-mail. If you follow the process outlined above, your first online brochure will be consistent with the marketing materials you already produce for paper brochures or magazine ads. It will be professional and tailored for the Web without costing you tens of thousands of dollars.

Too many companies try to do too much with their first Website: the project takes too much time and runs over budget, and in the end they're left with something that may not even fit into their overall marketing plan.

We have found that it's often more effective to start simply, and build up your Website as your own support staff and marketing people develop more understanding of how the Web will fit into your overall marketing plan. A simple online brochure can be hosted for as little as $50/month, and still be an effective way for your customers to reach you.

Once your first online brochure is done, you're ready to start thinking about what else you'd like to add to the basic site.

Most companies add more detail to support "detail on demand" for individual target audiences. This is one of the most effective uses of the Web media.

Online ordering can also be very profitable, especially if you already have a mail order or FAX order business to handle order fulfillment.

Creating an online information center with public service information gives back to the Web community and draws more visitors to your site.

Multimedia options like sound and animation can be effective "window displays" for some sites, although too expensive or slow to load for others.

Finally, integrated databases can connect your Website with copies of company databases and other applications to provide support for field personnel and investors as well as customers.

An online Website is a constantly evolving marketing piece--you will add, change, delete from the site many times. However, no matter where you end up, we believe that you can start from a very simple, very cost-effective beginning with an online brochure that you can have published in less than a month at a very reasonable cost.

1. The Marketing Manager's
   Plain English Internet Glossary
2. Good Web Design:
   • Interview with D. Calvin on "The Nintendo Generation" (Oct. 96)
   • List of Design Resources for Businesspeople
   • Paper Brochure vs. Online Brochure: Comparison Chart
3. List of Webpublishing Copyright Resources