Brochures remain a convenient and efficient way to get your business’s marketing message across. Their unique sticking-around capacity can be put to good use, whether you use them as maps, guides to special offers or events, or informational tools at store level.
But like any marketing material, they require an attention-grabbing design to draw and retain the attention of potential customers. Even the slightest mistake can damage your business’s commercial prospects and brand reputation.
Brochures are an effective offline marketing tool. Aside from being attractive, convenient, and informative, they’re great for brand visualization. From creating a brand-specific design and choosing the right font colours to drafting catchy content, a lot goes into crafting a good brochure.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to make mistakes that can turn yours into just another piece of paper.
To create a flawless and effective business brochure, take note of these common design mistakes.
No matter how well-designed, a lack of proper content can mar your brochure-creating efforts.
Since they don’t give you a big canvas upon which to convey your message, focus on your key messaging.
For instance, to promote your brand, highlight the company name, tagline, logo and business details. To advertise a specific product, combine images with the least number of words possible to keep the consumer’s attention.
Keep your message short and crisp. Focus on your business objectives and services/products in particular. Start with a strong tagline. This will drive traffic to your company/store by arousing customer curiosity. You can make a big impact on readers with few words, provided they are strong and meaningful. Remember to use space to ensure messaging appears clear and legible. A good copywriter can provide you with effective copy.
A brochure that’s all text will likely end up in the recycling bin, but a well-designed brochure uses images to maintain visual interest.
If you want to showcase your product, display its picture to attract readers. Likewise, if you’re promoting a service, include pictures from previous projects to add both visual interest and credibility.
Be sure to use high-resolution stock photos or pay for professional ones to prevent pixelation in the final copy. This can damage your brand image.
Due to the open layout of most brochures, designers often attempt to segregate information through the use of many fonts and font sizes. But the key to creating a branding image lies in consistency. So to maintain consistency in your brochure design, stick to two or three fonts maximum.
If you need to highlight specific areas of text, consider using bold colours instead of different fonts. Too many fonts can confuse readers and make your brochure look overcrowded and unimpressive.
Print marketing is meaningless without a call to action – and brochures are no exception. Ideally, yours will initiate a new customer relationship.
But customers must also know what their next step is. A clear call to action like “Call Us Now” or “Email Us for a Free Quote” is therefore essential.
Remember, your main objective is to drive traffic to your company’s website or promote your brand, products or services. So, be sure to include your website address, email, contact number, and QR codes, if you have them.
A brochure cover overcrowded with text is a turnoff, and prospects will quickly lose interest. No matter how interesting your products or services, cramming every single detail into your brochure will cause more harm than good. Few of us want to read chunks of text, especially when we’re preoccupied.
Readers will often only scan a brochure, and if you don’t use proper alignments of text, they may miss the most important points. Make sure there is sufficient white space and imagery to break up the text, and only the most important details should be included. The cover header, in particular, needs to be catchy enough to make prospective customers pick up the brochure and start reading.
Since your brochure represents your brand and aims to create a good impression on prospective customers, never compromise on quality. Using low-quality images, paper, or print service will definitely show on your brochure.
To that end, always choose premium-quality print materials for your brochures, such as matte, silk or luxury paper. As for images, if you can’t afford a professional photographer, pay for stock photos. No matter how small your budget, never use free clipart.
Colours add drama to your messaging. Consider using those from your brand’s logo to ensure visual continuity. Be sure to contrast light with dark shades for the best outcome.
Even the most minor spelling mistake can leave a poor impression. Before printing your brochure, make sure your content is spelled perfectly. One of the easiest ways to do so is to copy and paste the content to a Word document to highlight any errors.
Business is all about drawing in prospective customers and leaving an impression. It’s not only important to attract new customers but keep their interest with your catchy marketing materials. While there’s no hard and fast rule about creating the perfect business brochure, these tips can help you avoid some common design mistakes. Once you know how to avoid these blunders, you’ll be on your way to creating a winning brochure.