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By Peter J. Patsula
Strategies for creating an effective printed or online brochure

After the business card and business stationery, the company brochure is the most important piece of printed promotional literature you can develop. Developing a brochure is important for a number of reasons:

1. It helps you consolidate exactly “who” you are and “what” your business does.

2. It acts as an order form, providing identity, contact and sales information.

3. It provides your company with a cheap medium for distributing company information (the information collected from brochures can easily be adapted to a variety of other media including display ads, news releases, and web brochures).

In addition to summarizing your business, the development of a proper brochure helps you conceptualize the benefits of your product or service related to its features.

Brochures MUST sell benefits. Benefits statement and related images
are THE most important part of any brochure (other than buying
information).

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PARTS of a BROCHURE
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A standard brochure is made by folding an 8.5×11 flyer three times. The results are six panels, each with a specific purpose.
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Panel 1——————-
Panel 1 is the cover. This panel usually features your headline and primary visual. It may also include a “callout” like “lowest prices in town” or “customized services for expats” to jump out and catch your reader’s attention.
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Panel 5——————-
Panel 5 is the first panel seen when the brochure is opened. It contains benefit statements, calls to action, and order info.
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Panel 2, 3, 4——————-

Panels 2, 3, and 4 often combine together to form a single graphic or large space like ad, or poster image.
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Panel 2, 3, 5——————-
These panels are the best places for benefit statements.
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Panel 4, 5, 6——————-
These panels are great for adding tech specs and order information.
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Panel 6——————-
Panel 6 is the backside. This panel might be blank, loaded with technical specifications, or focused on providing ordering info. It also might include a map of your office or retail locations.

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STRATEGIES for DESIGNING A BROCHURE
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The following 10 strategies have been generalized to the extent that they can be applied to BOTH printing and online brochure design.

STRATEGY 1

Have a minimum of two photos.

A brochure should have at least one small photo for the first panel, and a larger photo for panels 2, 3 and 4.

For online brochures, photos should load FAST (under 10k) with click on links to larger photos.

STRATEGY 2

All photos should sell benefits.

Remember, to show your product being used in its most beneficial state.

STRATEGY 3

Use a “call to action.”

A “call to action” is usually placed on panels 4, 5, and 6. It asks your reader to do something, like buy a product, call for and appointment, or order online making sure to have your credit card handy. A “call to action” is more important for service businesses where it may not be so apparent what action is needed.

“Calls to action” are more difficult to create effectively on the web. Don’t use pop-up windows. 99.99% of surfers find them extremely irritating. Use the Amazon.com design of placing ordering information on the upper right. That’s where people expect it.

STRATEGY 4

Sell information.

Brochure body copy should tell what is new, different, and attractive about your product service. It should also combine features and benefit statements seamlessly. However, keep in mind that brochures sell mainly with visuals, feature and benefit statements, not with body copy.

Your brochure’s overall effectiveness will also be determined by the attractiveness of your proposition or offer, how good your prices or discounts are, whether you are perceived to be an expert, whether you are perceived to be some one who cares or promotes quality, and how good your guarantee is.

For online brochures, the less copy you can use (to say the same thing as your printed brochure) the better!

NOTE: One way to easily create an online brochure is to use Adobe Acrobat to simply print your Word or PageMaker doc straight to the PDF digital medium. This is a good strategy for product brochures with lots of technical specs, but you will probably have to redesign your brochure to fit on one or two full-size pages.

STRATEGY 5

Add an order coupon.

A clip-out coupon or order form can be placed on panels 4 or 5 along with any ordering information. That way if cut out, panels 1, 2, 3 and 6, still remain intact.

Of course for online brochures, you must have a link to an order form. The more this order form looks like the order forms of reputable and successful online firms, the better.

STRATEGY 6

Emulate the style of your competitors’ successful brochures.

Brochures become much easier to design if you collect as many three-fold designs as you can from other companies and competitors. Create a brochure binder of designs that appeal to you the most.

Likewise if you ever come across an online brochure that “blows you mind,” bookmark it!

STRATEGY 7

Make sure panels blend well.

When you open the first fold of a brochure, panels 2 and 5 should blend well. If possible, have the resulting image and copy combine in a way that makes the reader think, “Wow that’s cool.” This can be accomplished by having copy or benefit statements on the 5th panel and a graphic with a headline on the 2nd panel. Also design panels 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 1 to blend well.

In general, online brochures should be kept to a single page with “quick, easy-to-find links” to benefits, features, technical specifications, photos, and of course, how to order. All these links should be easily visible without scrolling.

STRATEGY 8

Don’t reinvent the wheel.

There is a reason why brochures are designed using standard 8.5” by 11” glossy paper folded three times. They are cheap to mass produce. This design fits easily into envelopes, allows many creative approaches, and can easily be stuffed into a handbag in a hurry.

For online brochures, no wheel has yet been invented. However, larger sites with many products may have created a “usable” format worth investigating. Once again, study successful online brochures of other companies and learn from their design.

STRATEGY 9

Check for unity.

a) All six panels should look and be integrated.
b) Visuals should flow well from panel to panel like a story unfolding.
c) Copy, subheadings and headlines should complement each other.

For online brochures, unity is created by keeping page designs similar in format and feel. Stick to black text on a white background. People get confused if they click to a “star wars like” tech specs page that looks completely different than the subdued pastel colors of your main benefit and features page.

STRATEGY 10

Looks count.

Strive for “quality” rather than “quantity.” The design and production values of your brochure say as much, if not more, about your business’s self-image and competitive position, than what’s written inside. If you produce 10,000 brochures cheaply in and effort to reach as many people as possible, and you only get two calls, you might as well have produced 1,000 beautiful pieces, made a excellent impression and gotten 20 calls. Use your good looks to be one up on the competition.

For online brochures, keep them FAST and Informative. Less emphasis should be placed on graphics which take too long to download and more on speed of access and navigation to the information surfers want. Remember too that web brochures can also include sound and video content. But don’t get carried away. The last thing surfers want is to wait two minutes while your “dang” flash module loads only to see a bunch of arrows and zigzags jumping around that have absolutely positively nothing to do with your product or service.