Developing an effective & attractive company brochure

What has been your own experience when you've asked other businesses for more information about their services or products? Some of course can come up with a well-designed, informative brochure; but many either have nothing at all or some poorly written and designed leaflet that you throw in the bin immediately. In this case the result is you don't have the information you need, but you do have a poor image of the business in question. Which situation is your business in?

Developing an effective and attractive brochure doesn't have to be an expensive and time-consuming exercise. With the following tips you will be able to create a brochure that you can be proud of, that presents your business attractively, and will win new customers.

Don't rewrite your old brochure!

This really is the number one rule - don't start with your existing company brochure in front of you. There's no point rewriting an ineffective brochure. So sit down with a neutral person and explain your business to them. Ask them to imagine they are a customer, and get them to ask questions about your business. Record the exercise and produce a transcript. Then take a look at the key points you have raised in describing your business, and look at the sort of questions that have been asked. You can now map this against what is in your existing brochure and either rework your old brochure, (if it sends the right message), or throw it out and start from scratch.

Write it to sell for you

There are several key questions you need to ask yourself in order to develop a brochure that includes the right selling messages:

What is the purpose of the brochure - what do I actually want people to do as a result of receiving it and reading it?
Who is my target audience - i.e., which people are going to receive, read and act on my brochure?
What are the Unique Core Differentiators of my business, and does the brochure emphasise them?
What do the brochures of my competitors look like and say?

Design for appeal

There are a few things you have to keep in mind when designing your brochure:

Don't overdo the cover. Try to keep the cover simple, with a clean, clear concept that gives a good impression of the material in the brochure. Avoid clichÚs such as "we are 100% committed to service", or "we meet your needs". There is room in your brochure for lines like that - just not on the cover!
Use call out boxes for more impact. You can use a box to break up a page and highlight important information, such as Frequently Asked Questions, special offers, or testimonials.
Don't straightjacket your message. Use spreads and run your text and graphics across two pages. This gives you a nice big area to work with. And again, don't be afraid of a bit of white space.
Use sub-headlines. Sub-headlines can break up the copy and give an indication of the contents of the text below, which is handy when the reader wants to get an idea of what's on offer from a quick scan.

Always include a call to action

Many brochures don't tell the reader what to do! If you want people to call your sales team, fill out a coupon, return a postage paid business reply card, or go to your website, you should tell them what to do and motivate them to do it by providing an offer of some sort based on doing it.

Give it the professional look

If your budget allows for it, you may want to get some advice and input from external sources or even get a designer and copywriter to do the work for you. When talking to a designer, remember to be specific about what you would like them to do. Discuss the look and feel of the brochure and show them samples of brochures you like. Be clear about your budget and ask the designer to explain to you exactly what you will get for your investment.

For more information contact your RAN ONE business professionals at
Academy of Business Excellence Limited