
Last week, FEI marketing whiz Marka advised Zoot on how to use brochures during his selling activities. This week, the tables are turned; Zoot shows Marka how “show-me” pieces can creating effective, attention-grabbing brochures. Remember, fire = print.
One afternoon, Zoot met in his office with Aventinus Jones, a sales rep from Hercules Printing & Bindery. Zoot was considering using Hercules to print, bind and finish FEI’s new sales brochures. To demonstrate Hercules’s capabilities, Aventinus had brought in one of the company’s own promotional brochures.
Aventinus held up the brochure for Zoot to see. “In the printing industry, we call this a ‘show-me’ piece,” he explained. “‘Show-me’ pieces—which can be brochures, postcards…really anything printed—help printers and binderies sell their services by physically demonstrating the impressive printed materials we can create.”
“Your brochure is in the shape of Hercules’s bicep,” Zoot noted. “Is this meant to show off your diecutting capabilities?”
“That’s right,” Aventinus said. “Not many printers in Olympus have diecutting equipment. We want prospects to know what this means for them. This piece emphasizes that complicated diecut shapes are a breeze for us. It also shows prospects that we can apply our creativity and capabilities toward creating a distinct diecut piece that relates to their brand or product.”
Zoot opened up the brochure. “This staff photo is an impressive two-page spread. It’s so colorful, it just jumps out at you.”
“The entire brochure is printed using stochastic screening technology with inline UV coating,” Aventinus pointed out. “The random dot patterns combined with UV help images appear to jump off the page. This combo is another specialty of ours.”
Zoot was suitably impressed. “Anything else?”
“I’ve saved the best for last,” Aventinus boasted. “The Hercules bindery is known for its super-strong PUR adhesive binding capabilities. We’ve bound our brochure with PUR glue. Every Hercules salesperson has been trained to demonstrate exactly how strong it is. Let me show you.”
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- Business Management - Marketing/Sales

Very much alive and now officially an industry curmudgeon, strategic growth expert T. J. Tedesco can be reached at tj@tjtedesco.com or 301-404-2244.