I’m not a Door-Stop customer, as some of you will know, but whether you are a customer or not, you have got to take your hat off to their marketing department for really pushing the boundaries of how we should be marketing our products. Remember those big white “books” they introduced? They weren’t brochures. Filled with high end photography and clean styles, it was proof that if done right, our products can be demonstrated in a classy way.

Since then, the quality of most printed marketing material has improved massively. Although there is still some work to do in some areas. However, last week Door-Stop launched something called a brochure builder. To see exactly what it is, click this link to watch a video explainer: http://www.door-stop.co.uk/brochurebuilder?gclid=CL_cg4HekL8CFaPItAodQTYA3Q

Signal Of The Future

You had a look at it? Looks pretty nifty does it not? Now because I’m not a DS customer, I’m not able to actually get in there and have a play around with it, but if it is as easy and affordable as that video makes it out to be, then I think Door-Stop will be on to a winner. The idea of making more specific, branded, focused brochures in a world of almost unlimited choice is a far better way to narrow down those choices and help a homeowner pick which new front or back door they would like.

As an idea, this should work rather well. For most installers, using a generic brochure that most of their competition will have doesn’t really get their mojo going. But if it was possible for them to create something bespoke to them, easily, then that is a different kettle of fish altogether. Suddenly they aren’t like their competition on the marketing front, and can easily differentiate from others around them. Something which is becoming increasingly hard to do these days with all the varied but repetitive choice now out there. But is this online tool which is a signal as to the way brochure marketing is going in the future.

Useful In All Parts Of The Chain

For me, creating something like this is going to be incredibly useful to all manufacturers. I would fully expect similar services to be rolled out from other companies fairly soon.

A service like this though is going to be useful in all parts of the chain.

Manufacturers/Fabricators

Before this service existed, creating bespoke brochures for installers meant over-printing their logos over standard brochures. Simply swapping the logo and contact details of the manufacturer for the installer. It has worked like that for many years and it has been adequate, but not always impressive.

Now though, with a service like a brochure builder, it takes the task of designing a new brochure specific to an installer out of the hands of the manufacturer and into the hands of the installer. Thus freeing up more time for the manufacturer to focus on other areas of the business. A system like this is probably going to be automated so once that installer has finished designing their brochure, it is sent to print and is then delivered, with little input from the manufacturer by way of man hours spent designing and tweaking until the installer is happy.

Installers

Speaking with my installers hat on, the idea of a bespoke brochure, unique to us and no one else, is a great advantage. As I said earlier, the market has been flooded with new products and a lot of our competitors tend to do the same sort of stuff, which also means handing out the same brochures much of the time.

But the idea of being able to log on somewhere, design our own, tailor what type of products get included, using our own branding and contact details, quickly and easily, well that’s going to change things up a bit for sure!

This creates a simple, hassle-free to control our print marketing, without having to liaise with the manufacturer which slows everything up.

Consumers

If I’m a consumer and I’m in the market for a new front door, I may get three or four different quotes, to compare prices and quality of course. But it is also more than likely that in the process I will see the same brochures from each of the companies I see. And of course each of them are going to tell me they are better than the rest. So what do I do, here I have very similar brochures, selling a similar product, with prices differing. See the problem?

Items like brochures do help a customer to make their mind up, providing they are designed well enough. So being able to hand over a bespoke brochure, designed by you or your company, is going to help fight your corner to get the sale. It is even possible to design that customer their very own brochure if you know exactly what they are after. A personal touch that most won’t be bothered to do.

Hat’s off to Door-Stop for once again being the first to create something like this online. They have been able to spot a problem and produce a solution to it that in theory should work easily. But just like my Modus post from yesterday, this is more than just a new service, this is the start of a revolution in print marketing. A sign of change that takes manual work out of the equation, to be replaced by an automated, customizable service that everyone can tweak to suit their own requirements.

Thanks to the internet, it is rather a simple idea. But then again, the best ones are.