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"How To Create Brochures That
Get Action"
What is the
purpose of your brochure? Is your brochure an advertisement? Is it a
detailed product description-marketing piece? Or to put it another way,
what kind of customers will be getting your brochure?
The first type of brochure
design is created to attract a new customer's attention. Just like an
advertisement, it screams for attention, and plays on the emotions of
the customer. It has a big headline, strong visuals, and a distinct call
to action.
This brochure
design works to build interest, and to create desire
for your products or services. It instructs customers to follow through
by returning a coupon, or calling, or coming in.
The second type of brochure
design is created to follow through with customers who want more detailed
information. These customers have contacted you with questions. Often
they want to know everything about a product or service. The second brochure
design is created to give them what they want.
Certainly a brochure can both
get attention and give detailed information, but you may not want to do
this.
What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want new customers to
come into your store? Then create interest and excitement with an
advertisement type brochure designed to bring them in.
Or are your customers looking for information? Then you
want to create
a brochure packed with information specifically for them.
It is better to create two
different brochures to accomplish these two different goals.
Detailed product information will not entice a new customer to call. A
lightweight sales brochure will not satisfy a demand for more
information. Define your objective clearly, and use your brochure design
to
accomplish your goal.
This rule should be
followed each time you want to target a different type of audience. If
they are important, then you want to tailor your message, and your
brochure design, especially for them.
Think about this: If you are
sending the wrong brochure, you are just wasting your money, and
you are not impressing your customers.
Brochure
Design
Content Guidelines
The content of your brochure
will change depending on the objectives you set, but there are some
general guidelines you will want to follow with your brochure design.
Professional advertising means
creating marketing materials that achieve the highest possible return on
investment. The following guidelines are given with this intention. They are
honest. And that’s exactly what you want from your marketing people -
honesty. If your company president writes a less than perfect brochure,
somebody has to tell him or her. Contact a marketing professional
for further assistance.
1.
Who is the brochure for? THE CUSTOMER. What does the brochure do? IT
SELLS. Make sure your brochure sells. It should be carefully,
professionally written. Copywriters and marketing professionals get paid
for a reason. A brochure is not a decoration for your company. It is a
marketing investment that brings you business. Make sure it sells.
2. Does the brochure design on
the front cover get the readers attention with an emotional appeal, a
provocative question, or a benefit statement?
Approximately 80% of
people will not open a brochure that doesn’t give a prime
benefit or a compelling reason on the front cover. That means your
company’s name probably belongs down at the bottom of the front cover, not on top. And
your logo may need to go on the back cover, not the front.
Brochure design is very, very important.
3.
Follow the rules of good
sales copywriting. Yes, you want to introduce your company and your
products. But you definitely want to grab the reader with benefits-benefits-benefits, and don’t let go. Know your
reader's desires, and
demonstrate how you fill those needs. Benefits trigger emotions, and
emotions will win out over logical
persuasion every time.
4. Lead with the benefits
- don’t bury them. Feature key benefits in headlines, subheads, and
captions. You must entice the reader simply to get them to read
your brochure. And then you must motivate them to take action.
5. Feature
or Benefit? Your new widget that saves the client an hour is a FEATURE.
An extra hour to spend with your kids is a BENEFIT. List all of the
features, and ask yourself, “what does the client get?” Now you have
the benefits.
6.
A company's brochure design should project a first class image. Are the graphics
compelling? Is your writing active and enthusiastic? Is it pleasurable
to look at? Stay away from crowded text, clichés, clip art, and low
quality production. Professional quality brochure design makes you look
professional.
7. Technical
writing is hard to read, even for technical people. Think about it. What
would you rather read – a technical document, or a lighter, but
comprehensive document? Always write like your talking to a good
customer or a friend.
8. Interconnect
your marketing materials. Offer your newsletter or web page information
in your brochure, and vice-versa. Reference your other published
materials or any recognition you have received.
9. Don’t
be subtle. Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do, and tell
them to do it now. This is not being pushy, and it will not be perceived
this way. People just forget if they don’t act right away. And you
don’t want them to forget.
This is good, effective brochure design.
10. Try
to eliminate as many decisions as possible. Always assume the customer
will eventually buy the product or service. Don't use words like
"if" and "maybe".
11. Please
read our section on copywriting, and seriously consider having a
professional write your brochure, or at least review your work. Try this exercise: Count up how many
times you used the words “I”, “we”, or “our company” in your
document. Now strike them all and replace them with “you” or
“your”. People care about how you can make their lives better, not
about how great your company is. This is effective brochure design.
12. Don’t
ask open-ended questions. Only ask questions that will get “yes,
that’s me” for an answer. Always assume that the reader will contact
you and buy your products or services.
13. Ultimately,
it’s your words that sell. Pictures are great, but words sell. Again,
your brochure is not a decoration for your company. Don’t let a
designer make it one. And don’t let anybody make it a literary
masterpiece. Read the direct mail pieces that the credit card companies
mail to you – these are well written sales copy.
14. Don’t
be embarrassed by sales copy. Customers know that they are reading a
promotional brochure. They are consenting to read, and desire to read,
sales information. That’s why they are voluntarily reading your
brochure.
15. One
more very important note here. Your brochure will probably not close the
sale for you. Your brochure will introduce and position your company. It
will prepare the way for your salespeople. But you must close the sale.
Make sure to follow up the brochure with a customer contact within a
week.
16. Please
review the checklist at the end of this chapter to make sure you don’t
forget any necessary information in your brochure design. And please be honest about how good
your brochure is – your customers will be.
Brochure
Design
The
Basic Layout
For this overview, we will
discuss the basic 3-fold brochure design with six panels.
The front page (panel 1) is
used to grab attention and get the reader to want to open the brochure
and see what's inside. Remember, if the reader doesn't look inside, your
brochure design has failed.
So use a benefit headline, or a picture that is
worth a thousand words, plus a benefit headline. If your front panel
just shows your company name and logo, you will get disappointing
results. With good brochure design,
the front panel is
an advertisement.
When the brochure is opened,
the reader sees the center spread - panels 2,3, and 4. You want to take full advantage of
all of this space by spreading across all three panels. Strict adherence to
columns can be a mistake. It will look cluttered, boxy, and hard to read.
Your inside headline can cross
over the three panels. Photos and illustrations can stretch. Copy blocks
or boxes can go across the panels. You have a full-page, full-color,
full-impact advertisement. Use it.
The most common mistake
companies make is trying to cram in too much text. Be careful with your
brochure design. You
shouldn’t fill in all that white space, and you don’t have to list
every bit of information. You want your brochure design to be inviting and easy
to read. Use short sentences, short paragraphs, and clear visuals.
The center spread should cover
everything from the introduction to the first call for action. Benefits-benefits-benefits, excellent graphics, and a call to action.
That's good brochure design. Read up on copywriting and design, hire a
top graphic artist, and have a marketing professional review the work. It’s worth
it.
Panel 5 in your brochure design
is a good place for
testimonials. Make sure to give the person's name, and preferably their
contact information. Before and after pictures also work great, or
present third-party endorsements or statistics. Frequently Asked
Questions could also go here. And you should include a call to action
[call now].
Panel 6 should emphasize your
call to action. Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do, tell
them how to do it, and tell
them to do it right now. Make it as easy as possible to contact you.
That's effective brochure design.
Brochure
Design
Guidelines & Strategies
Here
are some ideas for getting better results with your brochure design.
1. Create accurate models and
mock-ups for your brochure. Cut and fold your brochure to size. Use the
same type of paper that you will ultimately print on, and review your
work.
If there are any special cuts or folds at all, review them
thoroughly with your printer. If you are using a fulfillment house for a
mass mailing, submit all of your samples to them, and get written
confirmation that they can handle the mailing with their machines. Good
brochure design includes making it work with the printer or fulfillment
house. And double check mailing guidelines with the post office.
2. All of the rules for good
sales copywriting apply. This may be hard to hear, but if you are an
accountant, or an engineer, or a doctor, or anything other than a sales
copywriter, then you are not a sales copywriter. At the very least get a second opinion on your work. And harder
still, listen to the criticism.
A good suggestion
is to have a good
client or an employee write the copy. You will be surprised at the
difference and the result.
That's how you get more effective brochure design.
3. Most
readers at first will only read headlines, subheads, and captions.
These must give the benefits and the motivation so that your readers will
want to read the rest of the copy.
4. Use
high quality photographs of your products, of pretty people, or preferably of
pretty people enjoying the benefits of using your products. Pictures are really
worth a thousand words in brochure design.
An amazing variety of
photographs are available for
you to use. At Professional Advertising, we
can access tens-of-millions of high quality photos for you. There is a
perfect one out there for your company. Find it, and buy it. If you find
the right one, you are half way to a highly effective brochure
design.
If
you hire a professional photographer, check to make sure that the
photographer specializes in shooting your type of image [products,
people, buildings, etc.] There is a huge difference between a specialist
and a general photographer. Get the specialist.
5. Your
brochure copy will be read out of order. Each page or panel should
contain benefits and sales copy.
This is good brochure design.
6. Break
your headline so that you have to open the panel in order to read it.
Umm, think this is silly? Open any magazine or newspaper in your house.
They always break stories in the middle of an idea so that you are
encouraged to
turn to the next page and keep reading.
7. If
your brochure is part of a package of marketing materials, make sure
that your contact information is on each and every document. Make sure all
contact information is on the brochure. People pass these things along,
so make sure your phone number goes along too.
8. Collect
brochures from other companies, [especially your competitors.] What do
you like and why?
Why does their brochure design work?
9. Remember
that colors represent different things in different industries. Be
careful with your choice of colors. A good designer should make specific
suggestions.
Read The
Elements of Advertising Design
for more information.
10. A
box adds impact on a page. You could include Frequently Asked Questions,
or testimonials, within a box for more effective brochure design.
11. Use
white space in your brochure design. Crowded copy is hard to read. Your
photos will lose impact, and the
ad will appear out of balance if you don't use enough white space in
your brochure design.
12. For
the average person, a conservative brochure design is boring. Create a brochure
that is easy to read and interesting to look at. A busy brochure
design will often work better than a well-balanced brochure design,
because it keeps the reader involved.
13. Stick
to two typefaces, and strictly limit your use of bold, capitalization,
underline, etc. By emphasizing everything, you emphasize nothing. Keep
your font layout simple in your brochure design.
14. Try
not to use more than five or six lines in each paragraph.
15. Try
not to use more than two or three sentences per paragraph.
16. Leave a space between
paragraphs, and do not indent them.
17. Just
like an advertisement, your brochure design must work to get and hold
attention. Strong visuals, and a center of attention on the page will
help to accomplish this.
18. Design
is a big field, and these are just some suggestions. We hope you are
empowered enough to know if your designer is not doing a good job. We
hope that if you are creating your own brochure, our guidelines are
helpful. For additional assistance with brochure design, copy writing, or
marketing, please contact Professional
Advertising.
Brochure Design Checklist
-
Does
your brochure sell? When in doubt, err on the side of selling.
-
Are
the key benefits listed up front? Don’t bury the benefits.
-
Does
it tell the reader what action to take? Call, write, subscribe?
-
Is
it as easy as possible for the reader to take action? 800#? Map with
directions?
-
Name,
address, map, hours of operation, phone numbers, fax number, E-mail
address, web address, logo?
-
Does
the headline entice the reader? Does it state a major benefit, ask a
provocative question, or create curiosity?
-
Do
your subheadings and captions give the critical information and
create motivation?
-
Is
the text in easy-to-read, short paragraphs or bulleted format?
-
Is
it interesting to look at? Does it have strong graphic imagery? [Pictures of people and products are
best].
-
Do
you use the entire inside spread for visual impact? Do you leave
enough white space?
-
Do
you have testimonials? FAQ’s? Before and After photo’s?
-
Do
you ask for their business? You must ask!
This is required in good brochure design.
Brochure
Design
Other Things to
Include & Other Kinds of Brochures
Again, we start with “what is
your brochure for”? A sales brochure is different from an
organizational brochure – but both are selling something, and both
should be written to sell.
Here are some additional items to consider
including in your brochure:
-
Pictures
of your business and/or your employees. This may work when stability
is a key issue for the client.
-
Your Mission Statement.
-
The
benefactors of the organization's work.
-
Previous
clients.
-
The
company history.
-
Biographies
from the owners or key members of the company or organization.
-
A
statement from the president.
-
Any
awards or press coverage you have received.
-
Annual
report information – key numbers, new contracts, deals,
opportunities, etc.
-
Famous
quotes.
-
Third
party endorsements or testimonials. [These really help to make your
brochure design more effective.]
-
Instructions.
Clear, simple, diagramed instructions. Please have complete
strangers follow your instructions while you silently watch or
videotape them.
-
National
branded products, names, and logos. Associate your company with the
winners.
-
Helpful
hints or suggestions.
-
Anything
FREE. If you want to motivate your readers, read the Yellow
Page Advertising chapter on this web page. There you will
learn a lot about how to motivate a reader.
-
Give
a guarantee. Nothing is more reassuring than a 100% guarantee.
-
List
associations you belong to. List groups that you coordinate with.
Brochure
Design
Ask
For Help
As always, we strongly
recommend that you hire a professional graphic designer, and ask a
marketing professional to help plan and review the work. In a single hour, a
professional could help you to double the effectiveness of your
marketing materials. Really. It’s a cheap investment for a brochure that you
are going to reprint endlessly, and show the whole world. Please contact
Professional Advertising for
additional assistance.
Professional
Advertising
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