How to Cook Award Winning Brochures

Truly stunning and effective brochures are tough to make. While every business needs this creative, informative, and tangible marketing tool, not every business owner can (or wants to)  take the time to try to conceptualize, design, write, and print an impressive business brochure.

Design agencies specialize in bringing brainstormed ideas to fruition. They are experts at producing engaging, award winning brochures that not only highlight an organization’s particular products and services, but also convey that  company’s integrity and philosophy. Though each brochure differs from the next, professional design agencies include a number of special ingredients to ensure each individual client has a brochure that reflects his/her business.

What are some of the essential ingredients?

An ounce of aesthetic-appeal.

The first impression a brochure makes on a potential reader has the power to attract or detract clients not only to that brochure, but also to that business. Before any wording or content is read, the overall look of the brochure shines through. The whole aesthetic appeal includes the quality of the paper, the print, the graphics, and even the sharpness of the fold. A company that sends out sloppy, unprofessional brochures that look like they are simply copies of copies off a black and white copy machine will instantly lose the attention (and business) of potential clients.  If an auto repair service doesn’t take pride in the literature that it uses to showcase its company, how can a car owner be certain that same (lack of) detail won’t be given to his car?

A cup of compelling content.

No matter how sharp and eye-catching a brochure looks at first glance, if the content is weak and full of mistakes in grammar, spelling, and syntax, the intended message will get lost. A house with meticulously-maintained landscaping won’t keep the buyer’s attention for long if the interior is trashed and in disrepair. While the initial glimpse at a brochure (or house) may attract someone, it is what’s on the inside that keeps their attention and increases their confidence in doing business with the company on the brochure.

A gram of interesting graphics.

Whether it’s original artwork, stock art, a photograph, or simply a company’s logo, all the graphics on a brochure must be crisp and clear. Foggy photos, blurred images, and print that looks like it was copied countless times will neither attract nor keep customers looking for whatever products or services that business offers.

A pinch of quality, appropriate paper.

The weight and fiber of the paper used for a brochure is just as important as every other ingredient. A jaw-dropping brochure soon loses its appeal if the paper it’s printed on is too thin to hold its own weight or too thick to maintain its folds. In addition to weight and texture, the color of the paper also needs to be taken into consideration. The goal is to have an easy-to-read, informative product. While a red, white, and blue brochure may be patriotic, it’s not always easy on the eyes in print.

A pint of reader-friendliness.

Brochures that are busy with too many graphics or sentences that are chopped and continued on a different panel often make the brochure difficult to read. An award winning brochure uses different font sizes for sub-topics and bold print for major categories. It uses font that is not too fancy and not too small. Brochures are created to be read and used as a resource; making them virtually-impossible to decipher defeats the whole purpose.

A quart of contact information.

Equally as important as the other ingredients, an effective brochure needs contact information. A sharp, well-written  brochure won’t be effective if there is no company contact information. Ideally, the brochure will include not only the phone number to the business, but also the website, an email address, and the physical location.

A splash of a call-to-action.

Adding a “call-to-action” ingredient on the brochure helps motivate the reader to contact the company immediately or hang on to the brochure. Offers of 10% off, a free dozen doughnuts, or a buy one/get one free reward is often enough to grab the interest of and secure a new client.  With this ingredient on a brochure, the business owner can easily track how effective his professional brochures are at attracting new customers to his business.