Brochures, by nature, are best served hot. That is, they sell better by using emotion than persuasion (which is the province of newsletters and social media). Therefore, once you have answered the all-important "What is it?" question (all of the examples below are from theater companies), you need a good answer to "Why should I care?" if you want your prospective patrons to engage with your season brochure. What is in it for them? Put yourself in their shoes. Except for a select group of live performance freaks and your cast's friends and family, why are the rest of your potential ticket buyers going to prefer what you offer over movies, video games, cable TV, and so on. Hint: it's not because of your group's anniversary or because your production is a world premiere.

Continued in the August 15 edition of Arty Face.