Nowadays, a good deal of business firms are seen rolling out brochures in order to ensure that their products and services are reaching out to the masses. Moreover, a finely designed brochure is known to assist you in winning half the battle as far as your vigorous marketing efforts are concerned. It wouldn’t be wrong to claim that a large array of constructive benefits are known to be associated with a brochure. All said and done, it is absolutely vital to generate a spot on brochure. Let us first acquaint ourselves with some of the terms that are closely associated with a brochure.
What is Brochure and Definition of Brochure
If you were born after the good times of Print Media, you might not clearly know what is a brochure. To make things clear, we will have a small overview of what is Brochure and how they work. First, we shall have a brochure definition. If you want to pitch the idea of a brochure to some of your clients, this will help you. According to technical terms, a brochure definition can be as follows –
“Brochure is a small Book or Magazine that contains information and pictures of a particular product or service.”
In the earlier times, these were called as Pamphlets, Catalogue, Leaflet etc. Now, in the current standards, ‘Brochure’ has been in use. So, let’s keep this definition apart and try explaining the concept of a brochure.
Basically, it’s a printed form of marketing tool used for promoting products and services. In visually-appealing manners, information is provided about the prospective product/service. For instance, suppose you own a furniture manufacturing company. Then, your company brochure will consist of the products you offer, your company culture, information regarding the service, contact information etc. Apart from text content, Brochures come with graphics, images and several types of illustrations. By reading the brochure, a customer should get a clear idea about product, service or the company being promoted.
Depending on the intended purpose, different types of brochures are used. Brochure ideas and Brochure designs do vary depending on what it is being made for.
Advantages Associated with a Brochure
- Promotional Tool: On a very primary level, a brochure is known to perfectly step into the shoes of a promotional tool. Moreover, in order to be able to withstand the cut-throat competition that is prevalent in the market and so also to be able to distinguish yourself from your rivals, developing a bang on brochure has become a must. With the help of your business brochure, you will be in a position to provide information and create the much sought after awareness among your target audience.
- Optimum Utilization of Resources: Every time when you decide to come up with brochures you print them in a bulk quality. Moreover, this brochure tends to carry all the necessary details regarding your firm as well as your offerings, which is exactly why you can forward the same any and every time when a query arises. If this was done it will help you to make optimum utilization of your physical, human as well as financial resources.
- Helps build faith: All the business firms who tend to have a brochure in place showcase clarity of objectives as well as actions in front of their prospects. A brochure simply represents the fact that the business firm is serious about their operations and is here to stay, which eventually helps build the client’s trust in your firm.
If now, after reading the advantages of a brochure, you or your team are planning to create a brochure, then you should have a look at the steps that need to be followed in order to generate a good brochure:
- Ask the question “Why”?: The moment you decide to come up with a brochure for your business firm ask yourself why would you like to do so. What are the parameters that you desire to put forth with the help of this particular brochure? Unless and until you don’t find answers to these questions don’t move ahead with the designing of your brochure.
- Zero down on your prospects: Once you come to know the purpose behind the generation of your business brochure, figure out which segment of the society is your target audience and at the same time list out the elements that you would like to acquaint them with.
- Derive a financial estimate: As soon as you are sure about the purpose of your brochure as well as the target audience to which the same is directed, churn out the budget that you would like to keep aside for the designing and printing of your brochures.
- Figure out the time limit: Your next step would be to decide on the time frame by which you desire to get the brochure in your hand. Finally, on the basis of the total time that you have in hand, you can allocate your resources to individual tasks.
- Develop content and design for your brochure: This is where your actual performance counts. At this stage, you need to decide the major categories that you would like to cover in your brochure and so also the content that you would like to include under each section. Once this is done, come up with the brochure design. Make use of apt colors, images and also focus on the placement in order to enjoy a fantastic brochure design.
- Proofread your brochure: Before you send your brochure for the printing make sure that you proofread the brochure a good number of times. If possible, get it proofread from some other people as well.
- Time to print the brochure: Last, but not the list get the brochures printed. Make sure that you preview the brochure before you give the print command. In addition to printing great brochures, you should also consider using cardboard brochure holders to stand out even more.
Different Types of Brochures
It’s a fact that colloquial classifications are there. However, in general, we can classify business brochures into five types — Answer the Query, After Sales Pitch, Post Box, Sales Kit and Over the Counter. We shall have a look on these different types to get a clear idea.
- Answer the Query Brochures: Just as the name says, this type of brochures can answer the queries raised by your targeted customers. So, when you get a customer who is interested in your product, you can send the Answer the Query Brochure to him or her. It works as an effective way to drive the customer into the buying process. He/she will find enough information about products, services or the company itself. So, an Answer the Query Brochure should answer almost all the questions your customer may ask. It should show the price, features and what not.
- After Sales Pitch Brochures: As a part of your business, you will have to meet several clients/customers and pitch your sales ideas before proceeding. Along with the verbal marketing that you do, you have to leave something attractive with the customer. The After Sales Pitch brochure is intended for that purpose. In this brochure as well, you have to mention about your products, advantages and other aspects that can draw attention. In short, the After Sales Pitch Brochure should leave a lasting impression on a customer.
- Post Box Brochures: Post Box Brochures aren’t that unique in terms of content. It’s just that these brochures are sent to the customers via post or other methods. It’s a form of mass marketing to attract people into it. In most cases, Post Box Brochure is accompanied by some kind of marketing letters, promotional deals or invitations. This Brochure types give importance to the products being described rather than the company culture or other stuff.
- Over the Counter Brochures: Over the Counter Brochures are kept in different places and you would have seen them around. You may find it in one of shopping mall outlets, advertising spaces or someplace else. These brochures are used to bring attention on a mass basis, giving importance to products, advantages, services, etc. When compared to the other types, Over the Counter Brochures are equipped with eye-catchy headlines, impressive color combinations etc. it does the job of user attention grabbing.
- Sales Kit: In terms of content, Sales Kit Brochure is similar to the After Sales Pitch one. These are brochures are meant to help your customers purchase well. Product details and regarding information are provided in an easily-readable manner. In most cases, these brochures have bigger layouts.
So, these are the major types of brochures you come across. Some vary in terms of design while some depend on upon the purpose-based versatility.
What’s to Include in Your Company Brochure
To build an effective, converting and successful brochure, it should include certain information. Now, let’s list out some of the elements that your Company Brochure should include.
- A Uniform Design Philosophy: As we said, a brochure is a kind of visual marketing tool. It should be able to attract user attention in the first glance itself. So, instead of using colors according to your fancy, the brochure should rely on a particular Design Philosophy. The best example we can take is of the Apple Inc, whose designs and promotions are minimal in terms of design. Likewise, you can find a suitable design technique for your intended products, services or the business identity. This is a must-have factor, because people may get distracted from the brochure otherwise.
- Projection of Unique Selling Point: Every successful product or service comes with a Unique Selling Point. This is what makes your products different from a huge number of competitors. So, keeping the same logic, the brochure should reflect this USP. In short, you have to answer a commonly asked question — why should I purchase your product? This USP needs to be included in the principal part of your brochure so that it receives ample attention.
- Crispy, Concise Information: We have already told you that a business brochure needs to include sufficient information about products or services. It’s to be noted that this information is arranged in a readable and concise manner. In the shortest number of words, you can say what your products are about and why they should purchase. There is no point in blabbering out there about products or services. Alternatively, you should have some effective points to second your purchase Call to Actions.
- A Well-Placed Call to Action: Call to Action is now popular in the Digital Marketing field, where people follow the lead and purchase products. But, we would say brochures started this trend. Even when you provide enough information about the products/service, the brochure is useless until there is a well-placed Call to Action. The Call to Action needs to be placed in the principal areas, receiving unique attention in the first place. It’s up to you to use the certain words in CTA, but those words should make people buy what you propose.
Relevance and Sequence of Information: Content Development for the Brochure is no simple thing. First of all, the content should be relevant to the context. There should be no additional adjectives or unnecessary explanations. In short, you have to write the content from the view point of the customer. At the same time, a proper sequence of information is also needed. Instead of arranging info as per your taste, it should be able to attract the customer into buying your product.
Apart from these five main elements, your business brochure idea should consist of something else too. For instance, it’s good to project your company culture and your story if possible. In the same way, you should be able to create an element of interest in the proposed user community. So, if you follow these methods and include them in list, you would hopefully have an effective business brochure soon.
