How to Design an Effective Brochure for your Business
Source: Unsplash
What is a Brochure?
A Brochure is a folded piece of paper, leaflet or pamphlet, which serves as a marketing tool to spread the word about a product, event or service. Think of it as a promotional document, designed for the purpose of introducing a new line of products, a startup or simply to invite people to an event.
Brochures are casually slipped into newspapers, positioned into racks in markets, or personally handed out.
Purpose and Function of a Brochure
The primary purpose of a brochure is to improve the understanding of a specific product or a service, on which it is premised. However, it also serves many other pivotal functions, such as increasing brand recognition and loyalty.
What makes brochure a formidable tool to reach audiences is its cost-effectiveness and portability.
You can have an army of brochures, ready at their battle stations, to target potential customers, without breaking the bank. Add to that, the suitability of their format to include relevant and to-the-point information and you have yourself a winner!
RELATED: What is Brochure Design?
Types of Promotional Brochures
Before we proceed to the tips and strategies of brochure designing; let’s get familiar with the types of promotional brochures to help you narrow down your sales strategy.
Leave-Behind Brochures
As is evident from the name, these types of brochures are left behind after meeting a potential customer. You’ve already met with him and discussed the perks your services have to offer and other important information. But, as you make an exit, you want to ensure this discussion stay firmly planted in his mind. For this purpose, a leave-behind brochure is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Briefly summarize your sales proposal and clarify complicated details that are hard to remember. You can explain a technical feature of your product in layman terms or elaborate on your pricing.
Respond to Inquiries Brochures
You’ve climbed over the tallest obstacle; stoked your customer’s interest through a catchy social media advertisement or billboard signage. Now that they have your attention; it’s time to further lure them in and tell them more about your services.
This brochure is specifically aimed at those customers who are already into your products. They already have a rudimentary understanding and curiosity of your products and are the perfect candidates to hook in.
Go for the home run by including all your best sales points and jam-packing your brochure with convincing facts to make your service an indispensable and irresistible commodity.
Handout Brochures
Sometimes, you won’t have access to a customer’s email or his Facebook ID. In this case, you will have to approach him through a physical location, like a supermarket. You will have to design a brochure that captivates his attention at first look.
Designing these brochures isn’t a run-of-the-mill ordeal. It requires meticulous attention to detail. It’s like making someone fall in love at first sight.
It might require spending a lot of time and money on reliable paper stock and a reputable creative design company.
You might even need to acquire the services of a copywriter to succinctly lay down the story of your brand. The right words are your only hope to keep the reader’s eyes fixed at your brochure. Make sure the brochure speaks volumes in just a couple of words and is adorned with stunning imagery and compelling facts and figures.
Also, use white space with great care. Pages crowded with design elements will only discourage your customers to read on.
Point of purchase Brochures
This kind of brochure will greet your customers as they walk inside a supermarket, a general store or a trade show.
Its placement is of paramount importance. It is positioned at a convenient, easily observable height and is designed to tempt your readers into knowing more. It doesn’t reveal everything about your business; it’s more of a teaser, an appetizer for better things to come.
You might come across many of these brochures, standing outside a school, waiting for your kids to come out. They will inform you about tuition services, new school openings; free career counseling services, the list goes on. Their main purpose is to make you get in touch with the seller and inquire more about his services.
You really want to leave a lasting impression with these brochures. There’s not going to be enough information on them. So make sure the headline is a winner.
You want this brochure to be seen, to be heard. Only then does it have a chance to convert.
Direct Mail Brochures
Cold prospects or simply the customers who haven’t heard about your product before are targeted through a direct mail brochure. Direct mail brochures are actually really powerful. They make feel the customer valued and help build an intimate and friendly relationship. But they’re also the ones that require a lot of work.
You’re getting in touch with a first time customer. How will you kick-start his interest?
Well, there are a lot of things you can do. You can choose a design that immediately stands out in a clutter of mail.
Also, the choice of the envelope is also another critical thing to consider. It shouldn’t be an average, standard, yellow or white envelope. It should distinguish itself from the rest of the envelopes and raise itself among the common herd.
Sales Support Brochures
This is somewhat of a distant cousin of a leave-behind. The difference is that it actually helps make the client make a decision to buy. Your salesperson uses it to help guide him through his sales proposal. Everything is oversized in this brochure ― images, subheadings, and the pages.
Design it, keeping in mind that the salesperson is going to use it while delivering his sales pitch. It’s going to be his visual aid.
Refrain from making it too complex. It can also function as a leave behind, but that depends on your budget. In the end, all this type of brochure does is to provide ammunition to your salesperson’s sales proposal.
The Most Effective Brochure Designing Tips
A brochure shouldn’t be a heaping mess: it should be straightforwardly simple and effortlessly graphic. Here are some things you should cater to in its design.
Ability to grab attention
Wherever it’s placed, whether in a rack or personally handed out, it should be eye-catching and mind-stirring. To ensure this is the case, pay extra attention to the front panel. Don it with the imagery and words that appeal to your target audience.
Image Credits: Cat Kerr
Design elements
The design elements ― imagery, fonts, and colors ― will determine the overall attractiveness of your brochure. Choosing the right design elements that shed an honest light on your brand is of utmost importance. Pick wisely and after rigorous due-diligence!
Image Credits: Artur Bartnik
Clarity
Your target audience needs to be crystal clear about each and every detail. For instance, if you’re promoting a product through your brochure, ask yourself the following questions.
- Who is the business behind the product?
- What are the features of the product?
- When is the product going to be launched?
- Where can your customers get their hands on it?
- Why should they be intrigued to buy it?
- How can they promptly act to purchase it? (place pre-orders)
Image Credits: Artur Bartnik
Conciseness
Don’t complicate or bore the reader with overly long sentences and unnecessary details. Keep it short and simple.
Image Credits: Mira Magdy
Maintaining interest
While most brochures succeed at initially grabbing interest, they fail at sustaining it. Appeal to your target audience’s needs and emotions throughout the brochure to keep them interested.
Image Credits: Richard Son
Long term Effectiveness
Give your readers a reason to hold on to your brochure instead of dumping it in the trash. Add important, relevant and key details. For example, if you’re introducing a line of new, cutting-edge drones, include brief instructions on how to operate them. This will make the reader think twice before throwing your brochure away.
Image Credits: Rudolph
Friendly Language
You’re not writing an essay. Technical and overly complex words aren’t going to help your cause. If a word that doesn’t appeal to a broader audience comes in your mind, automatically discard it. mommabe.com The only way you can clearly represent your company’s information is through plain, informal and casual language.
Image Credits: Priya
Call-to-Action
Never ever live in the misconception that your audience will be compelled to act after reading your well-designed brochure. That’s just wishful thinking.
Without a call-to-action, even if they like what you have to offer, they won’t get in touch with you. Include a limited time offer or a free gift, something that will entice and incentivize them. This temptation will drastically increase your chances of conversion.
Organization
Make navigation easy. Liberally use headings, sub-headings, bullet points and numbering to break down and organize content. Otherwise, it’s going to assume the appearance of a muddled-up stew.
Copyright Infringement
This one goes without saying. Sometimes, we break the copyright laws subconsciously. Any imagery you use; make sure it’s royalty-free, and if it’s not, seek the owner’s permission. Don’t step into the pitfall of copyright infringement at any cost!
Image Credits: Aldo Ponce
Fact-Checking
Everything on your brochure will be under strict scrutiny. Fact-check it several times and ensure it is stripped-free off erroneous or misleading information. If you’re unsure, of even single digit, consult a professional who can review your brochure.
Size
The last thing of note is the size. Its selection will mainly depend on two factors:
- The length of your copy
- Your budget.
Ask yourself:
How many folds in your brochure are going to be enough? Two, four or eight?
Remember: lengthening your brochure is ill-advised. People don’t entertain the idea of tedious information spread out on a bundle of pages. Also, more folds mean increased cost. Most people choose brochures to save costs. If it’s not doing that for them; it simple defeats their entire purpose.
RELATED: How Much Does it Cost to Have a Brochure Designed?
Printing
You can use both matte and glossy papers to print brochures, depending upon the type of business you’re in. For instance, a law firm will likely choose a matte paper to portray a professional and solemn image of their brand. A creative design company, on the other hand, will opt for a glossy paper to give off the impression of creative fluidity and fun.
Most brochures are printed on cover stock, but you can change things up. If you’re into designing a custom invitation, a sturdy, textured paper will be the better option, as it provides extra exposure to your brand.
Layout and Images
A well-rounded brochure has all the essential information, while still featuring tons of empty space. Empty space helps the card seem spacious and inviting, rather than overwhelming or stuffed.
Here’s how you should put the panels of the brochure to good use.
- Include your business logo and contact info, both on the front panel and the inside panels.
- Use the back panel to accommodate your company’s history.
- Mention the problems your product solve, its applications and benefits, in the inside panel.
- Also, add stunning and pertinent imagery inside the brochure to supplement the specifications of your services or products.
- You can add illustrations or self-shot photographs of your company grounds and people.
- Testimonials will also go in the inside and add an air of credibility to your services.
Brochure Rack Test
Will your brochure garner attention in a stuffed rack? Will it have that x-factor, that flair that invites readers to pick it up and go through the hassle of reading it? This is the brochure rack test and needs to be done before rolling out bundles of brochures to a specific location.
To ensure your brochure passes this test, use alluring colors, fonts and images. You can make your brochure geometrically different to help it stand out. Or you can use cut out images to remove backgrounds. These slight modifications may cost you a little extra but are more likely to pay dividends.
Final Check
Spelling and grammatical mistakes provide a fatal blow to the business the brochure is trying to represent. They make it appear unreliable, unprofessional and lackadaisical. Make sure that every word is used in the right context, and grammatical errors are non-existent. Don’t just depend on grammar correction services like Grammarly; hire a human editor as well.
Next up, is checking your company’s logo, address, social media details and how to use its services. Make sure they’re all prominent and error-free.
Conclusion
In the end, if you want to create a brochure that wows audiences, it will require a lot of hard work on your part. But sometimes, hard work just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, you need the services of an experienced creative design company like Print Peppermint to get you across the line and into the realms of guaranteed sales. Get in touch with us today to have all your design needs met.
