8 Steps to Better Brochures for Business

Ok, you’ve decided that your small business needs a brochure but where do you start?

If you want to create a brochure for your business that is effective the first step is to decide on what the purpose of the brochure will be.

The purpose of a brochure is the first step because having a clear goal of what you want to do will guide you through the design process and help you to make those decisions about what to include in it.

Common Purpose of a Brochure:

• To help close prospects.
• To promote a specific product.
• Overall company introduction.
• To educate prospects about the options they have.
• Product information/instruction sheet.

Once you have a purpose for your brochure delineated the rest of the design process will be easier for you.

Step 2:  Write down what you want to promote in your brochure. Is it a product or a service?

Step 3: List out the benefits of what you are promoting. For this part of the process, you will need to look at your product or service from the viewpoint of your customer, client, or patient.

• Why would they want to buy the product or service?
• What problem does your product or service solve for them?
• How are you going to make life easier for them?
• What is in it for them to buy from you?

Step 4: The headline.

Your headline should communicate the benefit or solution to a problem in a short and sweet communication.

Your headline is the most important part of your copy because it is the one thing that will draw the attention of the reader.  To use a fishing analogy, your headline is the bait on your marketing hook.

Step 5: Main copy.

Resist the urge to put in too much information, unless it is a product information sheet used after the sale (even this can be brief).

When putting together the main body of the copy the following will help:

• Think in terms of concise points. Today we live in a sound bite, bullet point era.
• Always direct the copy to explain and sell the benefits of owning the product or having the service. It’s ok to have features of a product but always communicate the benefit of that feature. Too many times I see brochures with features and no benefits. NEVER assume the reader will automatically know the benefit of the product or service.
• Include testimonials or reviews.

Step 6: Use appropriate graphics that support your message. Pictures and photos should support your message.  Also, do not put graphics in just for the sake of having graphics. A professional graphic artist can help you find just the right images for you to use.

Step 7:  Call to action. This point is neglected or left out entirely on 80% of brochures. The reason most businesses want a brochure is to sell something but they leave out a call to action.

A call to action is a direct message telling the reader how to respond and why they should respond now.

Step 8: Hire a professional to help your design. Sure you can do it yourself but you probably lack the technical know-how, the professional design programs, the access to graphics, and the time to actually design the brochure.

If you have gone through the above exercise you will be able to communicate to the graphic designer the information to get a great-looking brochure.

We offer graphic design at a low cost if you are having us print your brochures for you. For more information about creating a brochure for your business, please call 727-536-4173.