Printed collateral vs. your website

by contributing author Thomas Tate

Many companies will spend thousands of dollars on printing up brochures (i.e. a 4 color brochure normally costs in excess of $5K). Typically these brochures sit in boxes in a closet, never getting handed out and they become outdated the day they are printed. Of the ones that actually do make it out to your prospects, how many of those do you think end up in the trash? Talk about literally throwing away your money !!!

Why spend thousands of dollars on print brochures that people throw away?

If there is a mistake, you have to have them all redone. Whats that take, another 2 - 3 weeks? If you want to make a change, you have to spend thousands again and wait for another few weeks. If you print up 50,000 brochures, how many people to you REALLY think will see them? 10,000? 15,000? That's well over 25% and is actually unlikely. Try somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 -3,000 ..... and that's being generous. That seems crazy doesn't it? Yet, companies continue to do it year after year after year. Why?...

So how do you combat that problem? Simple, The Internet.

"Well, I don't want to spend all that money on a website, it's not worth it." ......

Let's compare the cost/benefit value of a web site to printed materials:

• A website you pay to have done once. There are no "reprints"
  You don't have to store it in boxes in a closet.
• If there is a mistake, it can be corrected within seconds, not weeks.
• If you introduce a new product or service, it can be added in just a few hours or less and for a fraction of the cost and time of a reprint.
• Prospects don't and can't "throw it away"
• The World is your oyster. A properly built and marketed site can and will be seen by potentially MILLIONS of prospects over time.

" I already have a website." You do huh.....? Well........ When was it done? If it is more than 3 years old, chances are, it is extremely outdated and in need of refreshing. What was it built in? Frontpage? If so, then your probably projecting a less than favorable image of your company. First impressions are everything and an ugly or (sorry folks) cheesy website can say alot about your business.

"What makes BlueDarter the experts?" We have been building websites since 1995. Over that time we have studied hundreds of Website Usability analysis, of which many were conducted by the worlds foremost Web Guru, Jakob Nielson. We know what works and what doesn't.