What would a ‘Better Brochure’ look like? We used the ‘Four Actions Framework’ from the Blue Ocean Strategy to re-imagine a brochure used for student recruitment.
In this post we re-imagine your brochures in 4 steps:
- Step 1: We eliminate information that changes e.g. Fees, Dates…
- Step 2: We reduce information that is overly detailed.
- Step 3: We raise and enhance what you’re promoting – your value proposition.
- Step 4: We create digital connections to information that changes and do it on every page for maximum engagement.
Take these 4 steps to create more effective and durable print collateral that can:
- Be distributed far more widely across your agent network for no additional cost.
- Eliminate brochure obsolescence and waste.
- Become a physical launchpad for digital engagement with your brand.
Read on to see how.
What’s a Blue Ocean Strategy?
Here, companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, leading to cutthroat or ‘bloody’ competition. Hence the term red oceans.
…the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.
Case Study: Cirque Du Soleil
Whereas other circuses focused on offering animal shows, hiring star performers…Cirque du Soleil did away with all these factors [which] had long been taken for granted in the traditional circus industry…Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, p14
But it also added new elements, such as theatrical story lines, whilst boosting the role of acrobats and glamorising the big tent.
Not only did this create a circus that was more appealing to a wider range of people (new markets) but it transformed (reduced) the cost base of the circus (animals and star performers being expensive and troublesome to maintain).
Institutions often feel the same way about brochures (expensive and troublesome), so could the same be done with them?
Four Actions Framework

For brochures, which are typically produced annually, the factors (in terms of content) have traditionally been:
- Who we are. Brand and story.
- Where we are. Location and map.
- What we look like. Campus photos of smiling students and interesting architecture.
- Why study with us. Selling points.
- Who vouches for us. Student testimonials.
- What you can study. Programs.
- How much it costs. Fees.
- When it happens. Key dates.
- What it takes to get in. Entry requirements.
- How to apply. Check list and application form.
Eliminate
Any information that is readily changeable:
- How much it costs. Fees.
- When it happens. Key dates.
- What it takes to get in. Entry requirements.
- After printing, it cannot be changed! At least, not without significant cost.
- Production is often delayed pending faculty decisions on fees or entry requirements.
- Changeable information causes brochures to become obsolete each year causing waste.
Tip: Keep pages dedicated to these topics but frame them in terms of the value proposition and then use digital platforms to manage and distribute the information that changes e.g. Fees.
Reduce
Any information that is overly detailed:
- What you can study. Programs.
- How to apply. Check list and application form.
Raise
The value proposition:
- Who we are. Brand and story.
- Where we are. Location and map.
- What we look like. Campus photos of smiling students and interesting architecture.
- Why study with us. Selling points.
- Who vouches for us. Student testimonials.
- Value for money
- A great return on investment
- Flexibility of payment
- A sign of status or prestige
Create
Brochures are physical entities in the real world, which, like billboards or banners, can be used as a launch pad for digital engagement with the student.
Comparing the Old and the New
- a better sales tool, with greater emphasis on your institution’s value proposition, even to the extent that the Fees page speaks to your institution’s selling points.
- less detailed with no changeable information extending life-cycle and eliminating waste.
- integrated with a digital ecosystem providing opportunities to measure ROI and generate leads.
Consider this scenario:
Old Brochure
- 2000 printed annually.
- 5 sent to each agent.
- 400 agents receive brochures each year; 800 miss out.
Over 3 years, 6000 brochures are printed, with 400 agents receiving 5 brochures each year.
New Brochure
- 6000 printed in year 1 and designed to last 3 years.
- 1200 agents receive 5 brochures each; none miss out.
Far greater reach is attained for:
- The same cost of distribution (total number of consignments is the same over 3 years).
- Reduced print cost due to the higher print run (overall cost saving would be as much as 50% **)
** These savings can be banked or reinvested in higher quality/durability of the brochure.
Conclusion: Is this a Better Brochure?
Learn more about the Blue Ocean Strategy.
Click here to learn more about The Better Brochure Project.
Reference: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Harvard Business School Press, 2005.