Getting a clear message across can be quite difficult without the right promotional tool in hand. While there are many marketing materials to choose from, brochures are known to be one of the most cost-effective options there is.
A good brochure design allows you to promote your business, event, or campaign through an informative and creative content. It’s a versatile medium that’s sure to generate a positive response from prospects with the help of the right guidelines and design techniques.
Listed below are the major elements that every brochure must have:
1. Eye-Catching Headlines: A good headline should focus on what the company can offer to a potential client or customer. It’s important to write a headline that’s worth the attention, like something that people can benefit from, as opposed to a business logo and a company tagline which fails to tackle the problems a prospect might have.
2. Points of Differences: Your competitors all have something to offer, so what makes your company any different? You need to give a client a reason to choose you over the others. It can be a personal branding statement that the public will recognize you for, or a simple challenge that won’t be easy to resist. It’s best to decide on something that’s snappy, clear, and distinct to your business.
3. Basic Information: Once you have captured a person’s attention, you’ll want to feed their curiosity with an informative content. This should discuss the benefits, pricing, and availability of your product or service for prospects to gain a deeper insight of what’s in store for them. This should be made clear without the use of industry-specific terms that only a few people would understand.
4. Testimonials: Using testimonials from satisfied customers and well-known personalities is one way to establish credibility. This will support your claims for people to see how committed you are to providing quality products and services to the public. Adding a few articles and pictures will also be helpful.
5. Call to Action: Now for the most important part of the marketing campaign, you’ll need to encourage prospects to pick up the phone, visit a website, or fill out a form. Apart from a persuasive text, you can also offer a money back guarantee, a free trial period, or an extra discount voucher for customers who avail of your product or service before a specified date.
Unlike advertising flyers and event posters, a brochure gives you the chance to say more about your business. It has enough space to tell your story in a more detailed and coherent manner. And the best part is, they’re pretty easy to make. Follow the steps below and you should be on your way.
1. Gather ideas: To draw attention with your brochure, you’re going to need some content. In addition to your logo design, you need a few images of your products or services as well as a short copy about your business. Get inspired by brochure designs created by your leading competitors to find out what’s ideal for your target market.
2. Choose a format: This usually depends on the amount of information you wish to communicate through the brochure. A tri-fold brochure has three panels that allows you to feature detailed information about your business. This is a common choice for restaurant menus as it can fit texts and images perfectly on its layout. You can try taking a piece of paper, folding it into different formats, and jotting down your draft to visualize the best option for your brochure.
3. Select a template: You can find many professionally designed templates that specially cater your every purpose. Ready-made templates are developed to meet industry and pre-printing requirements for an efficient production process. Don’t worry about the template not meeting your exact preference, as you could always customize its content to satisfy your needs.
4. Lay out your content: Once you have your template, you can begin filling it with your business information, photos, and graphics. Organize these elements on your layout and experiment with various styles and techniques to see what works best for your purpose.
5. Finalize your brochure: When you’re happy with how your brochure looks, you can then move forward to the printing process. Choose a paper stock that suits the style of your brochure as well as the budget set for it. Say for instance, for a menu brochure, you might want to choose a card stock and a glossy finish to keep the material sturdy and vibrant.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of crafting a brochure, let’s find out how you can enhance the layout and look of your brochure with the help of the following tactics:
Knowing the different kinds of brochures and when to deploy them can make a huge difference in your campaign. Whether it’s to sell a product or service or to promote a brand, choosing the right advertising brochure is a crucial decision to make. So, let’s take a closer look at the following brochure types:
Brochures are a cost-effective marketing tool to use, considering how they are simple to produce and easy to distribute. They allow you to introduce new products or services, relay core ideas, explain existing offers, build awareness for a campaign, and so much more. You can even include a few inserts between panels such as business cards, discount coupons, and small flyers. It’s the perfect medium to help you establish your business in a competitive market.
In terms of paper weight, you can choose between two options: paper stock and card stock. Paper stock is lightweight and inexpensive to produce, so you can easily hand them out personally to passersby. Card stock, on the other hand, is thicker and more durable in quality. And because they’re less likely to develop crease lines, you can mail them out to prospects without an envelope. As for the paper finish of your brochure, you need to decide between a glossy and matte finish.
Looking at it from different angles, there isn’t a significant difference between the two. Pamphlets are known to be unbound booklets due to the way they are structured. But for the most part, pamphlets are used to relay information about a single topic. What makes a brochure different from a pamphlet is the way it is printed and folded. This is often used for marketing and sales purposes. Simply put, the difference between pamphlets and brochures would depend on the end use of the medium.