3 Basic Questions to Answer before Creating a Brochure
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Brochures are a great marketing tool because they provide additional (sometimes detailed) information about your business, products or services that you don’t have time to explain in person to potential customers.
Brochures are a great marketing tool because they provide additional (sometimes detailed) information about your business, products or services that you don’t have time to explain in person to potential customers. They’re also a great way to give potential customers something to take home, something that will answer their questions long after they’ve left your store. Here are some basic questions to ask before you create your brochure to ensure they are effective.
How does your brochure fit into your marketing mix? Before you even start drafting your brochure text, you need to know how this brochure will fit in with the rest of your marketing materials. Will the brochure support other materials and give detailed information? Will the brochure be the first point of contact with the customer and give an overview of benefits of your product? If you don’t know what you’re going to use your brochure for, you won’t be able to focus your message. Don’t waste your brochure printing budget by creating a brochure that repeats your other marketing materials. What design do you want to use? Brochures can be produced in a range of shapes and sizes. The common size is a standard sheet of paper (8.5” x 11”) that is folded twice to create four panels, known as a bi-fold, or that is folded three times to create six panels, known as a tri-fold. But, you can get brochures custom-made in many different sizes or with pockets for inserts. Your message and how detailed you want to get will help you choose your design. If you don’t have that much text, you’ll want to go with the bi-fold design because you only four panels to fill. If you are creating a detailed follow-up piece, you’ll want to pick the tri-fold so that you have another two panels to fill with information. Your design will also depend on your budget. Bigger brochures, or brochures printed on heavier paper stock will look nice, but they’ll also up your postage costs. What information do you want to include? Here’s the most important question. But a close second is who is your brochure’s audience? Are you creating the brochure to grab new customers’ attention or to introduce a new product to existing customers? If you’re marketing to new customers, you might want to include brief background information on your company. Current customers already know your company, so don’t bore them with knowledge they already have. Knowing your marketing mix ahead of time will also help you to figure out what information to include. If you’re going to be handing out a fact sheet with the brochure, you don’t need to include company facts or statistics on your product in your brochure. If your brochure is all you’ve got though, you might want to mention these facts on one of the back panels. Your front panel, the one people will see first when your brochure is folded, should have at least one benefit-laden headline to draw people in. Start with benefits, and then talk about features later on, if you want. Never start with features – benefits attract readers, not features. Also make sure you use headlines on each page to let the reader know what the panel is about. Again, use a benefit-laden headline to pull people in to read more. You’ll also want to include photos when possible, or charts or illustrations to help get your points across. Keep the reader engaged by using “you” statements. Don’t write in a formal style, but in a relaxed tone, like you’re talking to the reader in person.
""The author is affiliated with a company that offers wholesale catalogs, catalog printing and booklet printing
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