Do most brochures suck? And would I be able to fix it?

[Stan_]

I've struggled to find a business idea for over 2 months now and I've ended up jokingly searching "Brochure design" through Keyword Planner (recommended by Demarco in his book, thank you) thinking "I'll just make some little brochures to make a living". In my surprise I found out that MANY people are searching for brochure designs alongside similar terms as "pamflet/leaflet/catalogue". This got me curious and in the next few days I immediately realized that not only so many companies around me give brochures (food, telecomunications, transport, fashion, charity groups etc.) but the brochures LOOK THE SAME :

Why are 99% of brochures basic rectangles that you just open?
Why aren't there any 3d shapes in them? (Imagine opening a tourism brochure for France and seeing an Eiffel Tower popping out)
Why do all of them use bland pictures when you can find amazing artwork paintings for free these days?
Why do their text never catch my eye?
Why can't they change how they look based on the angle you see them ?(think of how Mona Lisa is "moving" her eyes if you change your angle, but on another scale)
Why none utilize the noses of the customers ? (smell as a pine if it's a tourism brochure to visit a mountain).

I am writing this post not just for feedback, but to see if it's only me who is noticing these "problems" and thinks they can be "fixed".
Now yes, the elephant in the room is that there are "free designs" that you can download. Free designs that are not tailored to your need (you just search and pick). And they all suffer from the problems I've mentioned above it feels...

I've also began learning Machine Learning programming and started to realize the massive potential that AI's currently have in producing beautiful artwork, alongside obviously writing attractive texts. I don't know if it's allowed or not to link some videos/websites but I will let you google "dalle e pictures" for example.
My ultimate idea would be to make brochures for the tourism industry that are not rectangles, pop 3d shapes or even be 3d shaped, use generated artworks / combinations from stock images that change how they look based on the angle you see them and have distinct smells. An AI would ideally do most of this work, especially the picture generating parts, but more likely used as a giant automation machine to just make designs be easier to be produced. Then you'd tailored them to the specific company's needs.
I don't know if this is too ambitious, if there is no demand for this or if this is already being done. Don't hold back your criticisms,

 

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[Hong_Kong]

Why are 99% of brochures basic rectangles that you just open?

Likely because this is working.

Why aren't there any 3d shapes in them? (Imagine opening a tourism brochure for France and seeing an Eiffel Tower popping out)

Likely due to cost.

Why none utilize the noses of the customers ? (smell as a pine if it's a tourism brochure to visit a mountain).

I have seen this tactic mentioned in previous books for direct marketing. They had a list of methods you can use and all the different scents you can spray onto mail. They even included crazy scents including asphalt, and cannabis.

 

[Parks]

I have seen this tactic mentioned in previous books for direct marketing. They had a list of methods you can use and all the different scents you can spray onto mail. They even included crazy scents including asphalt, and cannabis.

LOL! Scented direct mail. Interesting way to catch someone's attention. Nice share.

 

[Jobless]

Printed media / advertising is declining in favor of digital.

That said, if you could prove with tests and numbers, that your system of brochure design catch attention and convert better, it is very possible.

 

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[doster.zach]

I've struggled to find a business idea for over 2 months now and I've ended up jokingly searching "Brochure design" through Keyword Planner (recommended by Demarco in his book, thank you) thinking "I'll just make some little brochures to make a living". In my surprise I found out that MANY people are searching for brochure designs alongside similar terms as "pamflet/leaflet/catalogue". This got me curious and in the next few days I immediately realized that not only so many companies around me give brochures (food, telecomunications, transport, fashion, charity groups etc.) but the brochures LOOK THE SAME :

Why are 99% of brochures basic rectangles that you just open?
Why aren't there any 3d shapes in them? (Imagine opening a tourism brochure for France and seeing an Eiffel Tower popping out)
Why do all of them use bland pictures when you can find amazing artwork paintings for free these days?
Why do their text never catch my eye?
Why can't they change how they look based on the angle you see them ?(think of how Mona Lisa is "moving" her eyes if you change your angle, but on another scale)
Why none utilize the noses of the customers ? (smell as a pine if it's a tourism brochure to visit a mountain).

I am writing this post not just for feedback, but to see if it's only me who is noticing these "problems" and thinks they can be "fixed".
Now yes, the elephant in the room is that there are "free designs" that you can download. Free designs that are not tailored to your need (you just search and pick). And they all suffer from the problems I've mentioned above it feels...

I've also began learning Machine Learning programming and started to realize the massive potential that AI's currently have in producing beautiful artwork, alongside obviously writing attractive texts. I don't know if it's allowed or not to link some videos/websites but I will let you google "dalle e pictures" for example.
My ultimate idea would be to make brochures for the tourism industry that are not rectangles, pop 3d shapes or even be 3d shaped, use generated artworks / combinations from stock images that change how they look based on the angle you see them and have distinct smells. An AI would ideally do most of this work, especially the picture generating parts, but more likely used as a giant automation machine to just make designs be easier to be produced. Then you'd tailored them to the specific company's needs.
I don't know if this is too ambitious, if there is no demand for this or if this is already being done. Don't hold back your criticisms,

Usually they are passed out in mass in numbers in the 1,000s. I remember Alex Hormozi saying that one of his business would expect a rate of about 0.5% in leads when using flyers as advertising. (Which is really good.) So that means adding 5 cents to the cost of a flyer would be adding $10 in acquisition cost for one customer.

 

[Stan_]

Usually they are passed out in mass in numbers in the 1,000s. I remember Alex Hormozi saying that one of his business would expect a rate of about 0.5% in leads when using flyers as advertising. (Which is really good.) So that means adding 5 cents to the cost of a flyer would be adding $10 in acquisition cost for one customer.

Well is that lead rate due to them being bad or is that due to brochures as a concept being bad? Could that be improved, even significantly by improving the brochures?
And how much does it cost to make these?

 

[BizyDad]

And how much does it cost to make these?

Isn't that a question for you to answer? This is your idea. Printing costs will obviously be different in different parts of the world.

And since printers typically aren't built to inject smell, or do a 3D brochure, I'm wondering if you won't inevitably have to build your own setup to keep costs down.

He's just talking about a 5 cent increase per brochure. But your ideas I'm sure are going to be more expensive than 5 cents/flyer.

Could that be improved, even significantly by improving the brochures?

Getting the brochures in the right hands will likely lead to bigger improvements in cro than just making a better brochure.

Can you really double response rate just because you added the smell of cannabis? Even then the response rate is 1%.

I like your idea. I just don't know if you can make it profitable.

 

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[doster.zach]

Well is that lead rate due to them being bad or is that due to brochures as a concept being bad? Could that be improved, even significantly by improving the brochures?
And how much does it cost to make these?

The lead rate is through the nature that nobody looks at them anymore, their appeal is that they are already so cheap, so it’s an acceptable rate.

It’s cheaper than social ads, but it doesn’t scale as well.

 

[Stan_]

I like your idea. I just don't know if you can make it profitable.

I guess the big part of the business profit would be from getting these to be cheap. The biggest challenge for that would be to make them to be as cheap to print as possible. I would either sell only the mostly AI made designs of the brochures or make find a way to minimise the cost of producing lots of them to give to many companies.
I'm guessing most people don't just want to buy the designs though. Could be wrong. Still, if they're really eye catchy, would it be far fetched to say people would pay more for them?

 

[BizyDad]

I guess the big part of the business profit would be from getting these to be cheap. The biggest challenge for that would be to make them to be as cheap to print as possible. I would either sell only the mostly AI made designs of the brochures or make find a way to minimise the cost of producing lots of them to give to many companies.
I'm guessing most people don't just want to buy the designs though. Could be wrong. Still, if they're really eye catchy, would it be far fetched to say people would pay more for them?

Can you get someone to do a first order? Probably. The organizations you want to target have a marketing budget and are likely willing to try something new.

The question is whether they will be effective enough that the marketing department will want to order again and again and again.

If your designs are effective enough, those people will tell other people, and your stuff will get noticed.

If not, this is not going to be a good enterprise for you. You will always be chasing the next client, and always climbing uphill to convince people.

Only one way to find out. Print a few example brochures and try and sell your ideas. Once you get an order, people will understand if it takes a few weeks to deliver, so don't worry about printing a lot of these until you've actually got a real order.

 

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[Hong_Kong]

Isn't that a question for you to answer? This is your idea. Printing costs will obviously be different in different parts of the world.

And since printers typically aren't built to inject smell, or do a 3D brochure, I'm wondering if you won't inevitably have to build your own setup to keep costs down.

He's just talking about a 5 cent increase per brochure. But your ideas I'm sure are going to be more expensive than 5 cents/flyer.



Getting the brochures in the right hands will likely lead to bigger improvements in cro than just making a better brochure.

Can you really double response rate just because you added the smell of cannabis? Even then the response rate is 1%.

I like your idea. I just don't know if you can make it profitable.

Well actually common printers can print scents.

 

[Hong_Kong]

I've struggled to find a business idea for over 2 months now and I've ended up jokingly searching "Brochure design" through Keyword Planner (recommended by Demarco in his book, thank you) thinking "I'll just make some little brochures to make a living". In my surprise I found out that MANY people are searching for brochure designs alongside similar terms as "pamflet/leaflet/catalogue". This got me curious and in the next few days I immediately realized that not only so many companies around me give brochures (food, telecomunications, transport, fashion, charity groups etc.) but the brochures LOOK THE SAME :

Why are 99% of brochures basic rectangles that you just open?
Why aren't there any 3d shapes in them? (Imagine opening a tourism brochure for France and seeing an Eiffel Tower popping out)
Why do all of them use bland pictures when you can find amazing artwork paintings for free these days?
Why do their text never catch my eye?
Why can't they change how they look based on the angle you see them ?(think of how Mona Lisa is "moving" her eyes if you change your angle, but on another scale)
Why none utilize the noses of the customers ? (smell as a pine if it's a tourism brochure to visit a mountain).

I am writing this post not just for feedback, but to see if it's only me who is noticing these "problems" and thinks they can be "fixed".
Now yes, the elephant in the room is that there are "free designs" that you can download. Free designs that are not tailored to your need (you just search and pick). And they all suffer from the problems I've mentioned above it feels...

I've also began learning Machine Learning programming and started to realize the massive potential that AI's currently have in producing beautiful artwork, alongside obviously writing attractive texts. I don't know if it's allowed or not to link some videos/websites but I will let you google "dalle e pictures" for example.
My ultimate idea would be to make brochures for the tourism industry that are not rectangles, pop 3d shapes or even be 3d shaped, use generated artworks / combinations from stock images that change how they look based on the angle you see them and have distinct smells. An AI would ideally do most of this work, especially the picture generating parts, but more likely used as a giant automation machine to just make designs be easier to be produced. Then you'd tailored them to the specific company's needs.
I don't know if this is too ambitious, if there is no demand for this or if this is already being done. Don't hold back your criticisms,

Check out the company Maxi-Mise. They might be a competitor to your idea. They offer 3D printed mail with scents. Or alternatively you can buy just the vials of scents.
There is another company that will sell you just the scent that you add to your printer as well.