Despite what you might be hearing about online marketing being the future and the amount of people owning and using smartphones ever increasing, remember that online is not the only way. Print certainly isn’t dead! People can’t get enough of printed literature, and a great leaflet, poster or brochure in everyday life (not online!) can really grab attention, create a reaction and get people thinking. While some businesses are moving to the cloud, or giving up on traditional methods of marketing in favour of online alternatives, it is important that we don’t forget to take advantage of the possibilities that are still available from print.

Used for an informal introduction, something to offer or leave with potential clients, to keep you in their minds, remind them that you’re there and you do great work, a brochure can be a real winner. (By the way, Xposure is very good at brochure design!)

If you’ve never had a brochure, or are currently working with an old edition, that you had printed awhile ago, maybe it doesn’t quite reflect your business anymore, now is the time to learn how to create a brochure that is effective, and that you can be truly proud of!

Strategy!

This is of primary importance. You need to think strategically about your brochure, how do you want people to use it? What do you want them to do when they read it? what do you want them to remember? What are your goals? Do you know your target audience? With the answers to these questions in mind, you can begin to create your brochure.

Design!

You need to make sure that the brochure is straight forward and easy to follow. As soon as you add a complicated structure, or weird and wonderful layout designs, you run the risk of scaring off your potential customers. Keep it organised and clear, with a mix of images, graphics, text and statistics. It is also important to use high quality graphics, no blurry images! In the past, clients have come to us with small images or photos that are blurred and poor quality and we have to ensure that we find alternatives, as they can make brochures look half-hearted and unprofessional (definitely not the way you want to look in front of potential clients!).

Colours and fonts are integral to your brochure, and you need to keep yours consistent in all your communication, not just your brochure! Stick to your brand’s font and colour schemes as too many different variations can leave your brochure looking messy and distracting.

Content

Although your brochure is not an email, or article in itself, it needs to have a meaningful, and exciting headline. It should grab the attention of readers and if you consider it to be the first thing your reader sees, make sure it counts and represents your business perfectly! Whilst getting your exciting message across, however, it is essential that you aren’t too wordy. Lots and lots of text on a page can be really intimidating and can make even the most interested audience switch off. Simplify your message and content so that it is clear, concise and easy to understand and grasp.

Just because you know your business like the back of your hand, and you understand all the ins and outs, it doesn’t mean that your clients do. This is why you need to make sure you write in the simplest language you can. The moment you use technical jargon and polysyllabic language that the everyday customer won’t understand, you will lose a large percent of your audience. This said, make sure your information is useful and informative, so that your brochure is worth reading.

Contacts

Have all the useful contact details in your brochure! You could have details of one main individual to contact, or even the information for the member of your team in each area of your business. If you want, you can even have a meet the team section that involves a small interview or a brief paragraph, so that your potential clients can find out who they’ll be working with on which section of their business.

Call to Action!

This is probably the most important part of your brochure, so you need to make sure that it tells the reader what to do next. This could be to call you, to send you an email, or come over and chat at the office. Keep your goals in mind, and tell the reader what to do! (Otherwise they’ll have no idea!).

If you’re still not sure what to do with your brochure, get in touch with us and we’ll help you throughout the process! Have a look at our handywork and brochure design.