CD Brochures Are Never Out of Date.

The advantage of a marketing brochure is that it tells prospective customers something about your business.

The disadvantage is that it may tell prospective customers something that is outdated.

In the banking business, where such things as loan rates and deposit rules may change frequently, giving out inaccurate information may be not only disastrous, but illegal. Updating a brochure every time an interest rate goes up or down by a fraction of a point is an expensive proposition

Which is where a compact disc comes in.

One advantage of CD over brochures, says Paul Stowell of Business Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, is shelf life.

"We think we have a shelf life of between two and three years," Stowell says of BBN's new CD. "It allows us to position the bank with clients and prospective clients and drive them to our website."

The CD discusses the bank's "competitive rates." When prospects ask for specifics, the CD points them directly to the website rate tables, which are kept current. No need to update the brochure.

The bank produced about 4,000 copies of the CD originally, at a cost of about $1.50 per unit. Rather than mailing it to prospects, the bank sends the CD along on sales calls. The CD offers a "nice overview presentation," says Stowell, and includes dynamic links to the current rates, online. It is, says Stowell, "a very eye-catching tool."

But the CD isn't intended as a standalone device. Stowell says it's intended to be played by sales staff members in the prospect's presence.

The CD was produced by the bank's Hawaii-based interactive advertising agency, StarrTech.