10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure

17 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment

by Becky in Design, Marketing, Print, Products, Services Tags: branding, brochures, Color, Design

Marketing Tip #8

Every product, service or idea you sell needs a brochure or rack card. Through the years we’ve probably printed several million brochures, and while that doesn’t automatically make us an expert, it sure doesn’t hurt. We came up with a list of things to not do…

1. Being concerned with the looks, but forgetting the sales objective.
2. Giving the printer poor artwork but expecting excellent results.
3. Forgetting to emphasize the unique selling proposition of your business.
4. Omitting (or hiding) prices if they are critical to the reader’s decision-making.
5. Printing too many brochures with details that date too quickly.
6. Giving insufficient thought to how the brochure should best be distributed.
7. Using text on the brochure that is too small to read easily.
8. Including poor-quality or inappropriate illustrations.
9. Allowing a fussy or complex design to distract from the key selling message.
10. Forgetting to monitor the response (as with any other type of advertising).

Deciding on Your Purpose
To be successful, a brochure needs to be produced with a precise objective and a target reader in mind. Brochures fall into two broad categories — those that introduce a new product or service to a likely customer and those that turn an already interested customer into a buyer. What is it that you want to accomplish?

Choosing the Right Color, Photos & Graphics
Use color, such as full color photographs and eye catching graphics to focus attention on your main selling features and to improve the perception of quality. Two colors are better than one, and full-color printing is better yet. Color gets noticed. Use high quality photos, rather than a bad photo of a particular family member. Be
choosy and realistic on the subject matter.

Choosing Paper & Design
Using a glossy paper will often make your full color brochure look more vibrant and professional. If you plan on mailing your brochure, we can recommend a paper that will stand up to the potential damage done during the mailing process and to fit their strict specifications for bulk mailing. We have a huge selection of recycled papers in all price ranges with fun textures that really help put the “feel” of what your selling together. Avoid the temptation to try to jam too much information into a small space. In
good brochure design, less is more. Don’t overlook the value of white space to bring a clean look to your design and to help accentuate key selli