Your catalogue is your shop, your sales force and your checkout, all in one. And it’s open for business 24/7.

Here’s how you can begin to make your catalogues even more effective.

1: No detail, no sale

If you were selling an item in person to a customer, you’d point out the details and intricacies of the design which make it so special. So, show close ups. It creates belief in the quality, more desire to own it and, more chance of a sale.

2: Use the whole page

Don’t be afraid to allow a product to bleed off the page. It enables you to get it up bigger, richer, which is good. Don’t worry about the customer not seeing the entire product. People tend to see the total image in their mind’s eye. Crops and bleeds also add a contemporary design feel to a spread. Even if you are selling antiques, people like to feel that the image is current and that the people selling it to them recognize and celebrate the relevance of antiques in a modern world.

3: Highlight the important bits

If you have new or special products, it helps to provide a visual-shorthand for spotting at a glance those items. But remember to keep them simple and as clear as possible. Otherwise, you are just adding gobbledy-gook, hieroglyphics that defy comprehension and creating a missed opportunity to sell.

4: A word about words

Catalogues can also be a riveting-good read. There is much talk about ‘content’ these days. Some people will even try to convince you that ‘content is King’. But that simply isn’t the case. The real monarch of marketing is ‘context’. If your content is not relevant, it’s meaningless.

Therefore, it is essential to reinforce your imagery with contextual copy that gets attention, retains the reader’s interest and gets them thinking of buying something.

Consider this, a picture paints a thousand words. That’s true. What is also patently clear is that it took a great copywriter to coin that expression. Not a designer, not an artist, not even a customer. By saying a picture paints a thousand words, the skilled writer has made the need for words less essential. Those six words say it all. The reader’s is compelled to study the picture with more interest and their imagination and observation does the rest. However, having a great picture and some beautifully-crafted, highly descriptive and convincing text is by far the best solution. Firstly, imagine what your best salesman would say to ensure a customer is totally convinced about the benefits and value of a product. Then add a sense of urgency and, most importantly, ask for the order. Remind then how easy it is to buy. A lot of so-called sales copy forgets to say call now or buy now. Ask for the order more than once. It works better.

5: What do your pictures say?

If your pictures are inferior quality, for whatever reason, your catalogue will say less.

And it’s not just product shots. A good catalogue is a mirror of your target audience. By that we mean the people you are most likely to get the most sales from. So, for those people to engage in the most effective way you need to carefully select images that represent the customer’s feelings about themselves. Not necessarily the reality of their situation, but their perception. For example, older people don’t see themselves as old as the years suggest!

Also, don’t assume that picture of your product will be self-explanatory. You know what the product does. Some items may need a ‘demonstration’ image to illustrate the benefit.

6: Ask for the order and make it easy

Make it as easy to buy, as it is to browse. If a customer has made up their mind to buy, don’t make it hard for them. Make sure you have all the preferred methods of purchase right there on the page. Every page. That’s the difference between a nice brochure and a damned good sales catalogue.

7: Production values affect sales

Great design, copywriting and photography can be wasted if the production values of the finished product are of poor quality. At TCP we manage and buy hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of printed catalogues each year for clients. It’s important to ensure that you have a professional eye on the details and an experienced hand on the wheel.

Follow this simple guide and you will create better catalogues and more sales.