Creating Brochures That Speak for You

Many times, when potential clients look at your brochure, they do not know you very well. This is their first impression of your company and your products or services. They are looking for information on how you can help them. Therefore, your business brochures should speak for you.

Most people will not read every word of your brochure. You need to get the benefits of your product in the most-read areas of the brochure: headlines, subheads and captions. Think about what you want the client to take away after reading your brochure. Put these ideas or calls to action in these spotlight areas.

Make sure your calls to action are concrete and clear – do not be shy! Invite the client to attend a seminar, visit your Web site or call to place an order. Of course, you cannot rely on your brochure to sell your product for you; it is really an informative invite to find out more information. A key phrase you might use is “To find out more…” with your call to action. You want your brochure to draw the client in so that you can sell your product soon after they see the brochure.

The feel of the brochure is also important. This refers to how the brochures actually feel to the hand, not the emotional feel! Be sure to do some trial run brochure printing — print drafts on the actual paper you are planning to use for all of them, and try a few different thicknesses and qualities.

If you are going to fold your brochure, these drafts will help you see if the brochure will stay folded, or if you can see through the first layer to what is inside. This will help you to decide on the thickness and quality of the paper. It will also show you what the ink quality and the color scheme would look like on this kind of paper. Believe it or not, in brochure printing, you can pick from many, many shades of white paper.

Another way a brochure can speak for you is to point the readers to another marketing material — for instance, to your Web site or a newsletter. You could include a free offer to one or more editions of a newsletter that has more detailed information on your product or your industry.

To create winning business brochures, you need to appeal to potentially two types of customers — those that want to scrutinize every word and those that are more visual and will gather your message from your graphics. You need to have professional, yet easy-to-read copy, partnered with graphics that are in pleasing colors that also inform.

In addition, the last and most important part of brochure printing — get those brochures out to the public! Fan out a display of them at your receptionist’s desk, or take them with you to trade shows. Some businesses will allow you to leave brochures at their cash registers, and if your product or service closely aligns one of these businesses, you will target the customers that are most likely to need your product.