How to Create a Product Sell Sheet

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Product sell sheets bridge the gap between what you’ve told your prospect about your new product or service and what they’ll remember. Usually offered at trade shows, face-to-face meetings, as part of a media kit, or included in mailings, these letter-sized gems can really pack a punch. Or they can bore the socks off your prospect!

What makes an effective product sell sheet?

Strong copywriting and eye-catching graphic design create attention and interest, the first two elements of making a sale. Let’s talk about copywriting first.

Begin with the questions, “why would anyone want this product or service?” and “who is my audience?” Use the answers to position your product or service as a solution to your market’s needs.

Now consider the features: colors, sizes, specifications, available accessories, etc. Keep it easy on your reader and use bullets, not blocks of text.

Add your call to action. What is it that you want your reader to do? Call? Visit your web site? Join your mailing list? Visit your store? Guide your reader to that next step with clear instructions and contact information.

Designing and printing your product sell sheet

Product sell sheets come in many sizes and shapes, but for today, let’s focus on the 8-1/2 x 11, letter-sized sheet. Whether printed on one-side or both, this size provides the greatest flexibility as to how it will be used because it’s equally at home in a brochure stand or folded and inserted into a standard #10 envelope.

• Design your product sell sheet to emphasize the benefits and features of your product or service.
• Use high-resolution photos of your products or find some quality stock photography to illustrate concepts.
• Base your overall color palette on the images you choose.
• Stay away from dark backgrounds with light text. This combination is hard on the eyes and performs poorly in every test of advertising response.

Use full-color printing. This is not the place to sacrifice color due to printing costs. Think about how many sheets you’ll realistically use before you’ll want or need to make changes, and consider a smaller print run on a color laser printer. Yes, you’ll pay more per sheet, but often it costs less than printing on press in the long-run, since you eliminate the waste of leftover boxes of obsolete flyers.

Finally, choose a quality, heavyweight paper such as 100# gloss or matte text stock. Photos tend to have more pop when printed on gloss stock, but fingerprints can be a problem if your product sell sheets will be handled by the public.

If you need help with copywriting, graphic design, or the whole package including printing of your product sell sheets, please use my contact page to get in touch with me.

How are you using product sell sheets to introduce your products or services? Do you have any tips to share on this topic?

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