How To Put Together A Catalog

							How To Put Together A Catalog
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How To Put Together A Catalog

If your company has reached the point where you feel a product catalog
will help you serve your customers better, we ve got a few tips for you
to help you put together a great one.

The Mockup.

When you have an idea of hoe many products you have to sell, start
creating some sample pages, either in a software program such as (Quark
Xpress or Adobe Indesign) or by merely sketching them out on the size of
paper you intend to use. Put the pages together and put words like cover
and table of contents, etc., on the sheets where you envision these
going. This is a great way to help you start to envision your catalog as
a complete, real world object.

You should also start to sketch out individual product pages. When you
are doing this, you will want to make sure there is enough room for
fairly high resolution photos and enough copy to do just the right amount
of selling. In order to break up the monotony, you will want to feature
some products more than others, giving them, for example, a two page
spread, or a model shot, etc. Now is the time to start deciding these
things, and to start strategically planning how best to display your
products for the singular art of catalog sales.

The Copy.

There is an art to writing copy for catalogs, and it s far too detailed
to properly explain here. You have to use enough space to make the case
for the product without taking up too much space   a fine line indeed. If
you feel like this task is more than you can handle, keep in mind that
there are plenty of professionals out there who are more than capable.
Just look around online for someone whose work you admire.

In order to make your catalog as entertaining as possible, you might want
to include such things as testimonials, lots of graphics, story sidebars
and special offers. These are the type of things that keep you reader s
eyes on the page. Another thing to consider might be an opening letter
from the company president.

The Cover.

There are no hard and fast rules here except for one: make them want to
open it. Make your photographs include a person or people living the good
life with your product. Also hint or tease with special offers and the
like. There are so many things vying for the attention to the average
consumer these days, so you want to do everything you can to make sure
you pique their interest and keep it as long as possible.

The Order Form.
Do not take this lightly! There are too many things to take into account
when you are putting together an order form. For instance, you want to
make sure that it is clear what sort of payments you accept, how to order
more than one of a given product, how to calculate sales tax, and
different shipping options. One good solution? Find a good example from
one of the big boys and crib from it.

Print and Bind It.

Glossy? Semi Glossy? Go down to your local printer and take a look at
your options. Remember that pages that are too glossy can be difficult to
read in some kinds of light. As far as binding, a lot of companies just
go for normal two staple saddle stitch, but more and more are finding
that plastic comb or spiral coil bound catalogs tend to hang around the
customer s house longer before they find the recycle bin.