Excellent Tips for Creating Effective Brochures

These days, with so much communication and selling taking place on company websites and through social networking, a brochure may seem outmoded. However, these promotional documents still pack a significant punch. As takeaways from presentations, seminars and conferences, brochures remind potential customers of your services and products even when they’re nowhere near a computer.

Use the tips below to make your brochure an effective tool for promoting your business.

Know Your Audience

A basic principle of constructing an effective brochure is properly targeting the audience that you wish to reach. Look beyond basic demographic categories such as gender or age. For instance, a company that produces crochet supplies and a beauty salon may each appeal primarily to a female audience. However, their brochures should target different segments of the female population.

In some instances, you’ll need to do research to determine who your target audience should be. If your business is healthy and revenues are strong, you may be content with focusing your brochure and other marketing efforts toward your present customers and people like them. However, if you are seeking to grow your business, you may need to reach beyond your traditional audience in order to increase your customer base. Your brochure should reflect that fact.

Include Color and Spacing

More than anything, brochures are visual. Since your content is vital, the text of your brochure should communicate what your business can do for your customers or clients succinctly and persuasively. However, even the best copy will go unread if your brochure is not visually appealing. Include photographs of your product if you sell tangible goods. Consider a photo of yourself with a client (with his or her permission) if you provide a service rather than sell goods.

Don’t overcrowd your brochure with busy elements. What you may view as empty space is actually breathing room for your copy and graphics. You don’t have to go overboard and have entire blank pages or two-inch high type, but your copy, graphics and open space should coordinate with one another to result in a coherent package that delivers its message efficiently.

Proofread and Update

It should go without saying that your brochure copy should be error free. Read over it twice, then twice more. Put your brochure draft in a drawer overnight, and then read over it again. You’re not just checking for typos and misspelled words, but also for copy that doesn’t highlight your business to its best advantage, as well as for photos and graphics that are off center, fuzzy or fail to add visual appeal.

After you’ve gone over your brochure with a fine tooth comb, let a trusted friend or associate look at it. A fellow professional can provide an objective opinion with the perspective of a fellow businessperson. However, the opinion of someone who has no connection to your business or company can also be valuable. He or she can serve as a proxy for a potential customer. If your brochure doesn’t make a positive impression on your friend or neighbor, perhaps you should reconsider either the design of your brochure, its content, or both.

For Further Reading

• Brochure Design Tips
• Ten Secrets How to Create Money Making Brochure Designs
• Ten Useful Tips for Creating an Effective Brochure Design
• 3 Unbeatable Business Brochure Marketing Tactics

Tagged as: brochure, brochures

About Justin Epley

Guest post was contributed by Justin Epley on behalf of Engelbert-Strauss.co.uk. Justin is a freelance business writer. His articles appear on various business blogs.

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