04 Feb 10 Some Effective Brochure Design Tips And Tricks

Have you ever considered that a leaflet can be one of the most important of all your selling materials?

It is a simple piece of paper but the first impact that your leaflet creates is important. If it’s shabby and plain your candidate is left with the same opinion. This will slow down your business growth.

Having a brochure professionally designed and printed is a key to winning in a jam-packed market. Taking the time to make sure that your pamphlet delivers all the key data in a way that is easily figured is something that only a professional can do.

If you are just starting out in business you may be tempted to do your leaflet yourself. When I first started in business I did everything myself – not a good choice. That is why it took me 12 years before I was even comparatively successful. Heed my warning – go professional from day one on your marketing materials. They are an investment and not an expense. Professionally created materials will deliver you customers and the cash flow to follow – the reason why you are in business.

A brochure has to use eye-catching design. It has to be brief in terms of the content and last but not the least, it must be successful in tempting people to make that call of action.

Here are three key design rules to follow when creating a brochure. Use them and you will see your results flow.

1. The cover:

The cover is your sales representative. Booklets are quite passive creatures and you are not often able to ‘walk’ people through your booklet. So you need to energise people to read further. The cover is the beginning point so must be inviting and sharing the KEY values of WHY someone should read further. It should answer the WIFM question – What’s in it for me.

A great design company will show you at least three to four cover designs for your leaflet. Take Apart these designs to examine which energizes you the most. Ask your protagonists their opinion. Does the cover answer the question WIFM? If it doesn’t energise and answer the WIFM question, then skip to another design that works or get it redesigned. Taking the time here to get it right will pay premiums later.

2. The Content:

Once they are past the front page then the content has to become the salesperson. So once again, the pressure is on to be great. Do not opt for cheap incompetent content writers or ask the designer to write the content or worst still do it yourself. Instead make sure that a professional copywriter is doing the work. If your design company does not have a copywriter then hire one yourself.

Ensure that all the important questions that a potential client will have about your product are answered in a way that gets them to call you for more information. Do not go into ‘overkill mode’ and deluge them with too much data at this point in time. Remember the brochure’s job is to stimulate and get people to call you.

3. The call for action:

If your future customer has read the pamphlet then you have done a great job. All you need to do now is give them a compelling reason to contact you NOW.

Having things like a free call 0800 or’00 number clearly shown (in big letters) can make a profound difference. Having an email address is a clear bonus. Make sure these two are clearly placed in large clear type.

Even give your customers a special voucher on the brochure or reference code can help. But above all, make sure that you add a clear call to action. One way to do this is to readdress the KEY value of your service to your prospect in a way that will get them to take action. Remember value is everything. Individuals only buy something that is of value to THEM.

4. The piece that got forgotten:

I did this on purpose and only said there were three points. Well the final point is the one that can get overlooked. It is the ‘dummy’ one. Have you checked that you have these on your pamphlet:

Phone number | Fax number | Email address | Web address | Country of operation | City / area of operation | Company name | And have you proof read for typo and grammar errors?

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Tags: advertising, brochure, brochure design, Business, graphic design, graphics, marketing, marketing materials