How to Write a Brochure

Today’s marketing plans are “web-centric.” Plans are written with a company’s website as the central media, where companies communicate benefits and information. Before the dominance of the internet, a company’s printed brochure often served as that central point of information. It conveyed brand, specifications, locations, features, benefits, and corporate stability—an 8 ½ x 11” website you can put in your pocket or pin on a corkboard. Today, printed or posted brochures can strengthen the marketing effectiveness of an organization’s website by following best practices and guidelines. Brochures are a convenient mechanism that encourages prospects to take the next step in the buying process.

Value of Brochures

An “overview” brochure offers the most bang for your buck with printed marketing materials. Most companies cannot put every product in a single brochure. But a convenient, tri-fold brochure can direct the prospect to a specific website where they can learn more. It’s permanent, convenient, and easy to put in someone’s hand at a trade show, cold call, or networking event.

Digital marketing is easy to create. There is nothing wrong with this marketing method, but new enterprises often start with digital and stay there. Companies that use printed brochures send the message to prospects they are an established business. They demonstrate an investment in the business beyond a webpage and email.

What is Included in a Brochure?

Think of a printed brochure as a business card on steroids. It provides company and contact information for potential clients, but also includes photos, art, and branding. The brochure may feature a testimonial from a satisfied customer or logos of well-known brands who bought your product or service. Most importantly, brochures include feature/benefit and selling statements. The reader is asking, “what’s in it for me?” The well-tested maxim, “sell, don’t tell” absolutely applies to brochure content.

What to Avoid

The best advice is to follow the K.I.S.S. principle. Do not make the design complicated or text-heavy. A simple design is easier to understand. Include only graphical and textual information that directly refers to what you are selling. Standard graphic design practices are in play here. It is a brochure, not a data sheet.

Use your photos and art if they were professionally created, not stock art. Don’t cram everything about the product into the limited space available. White space has power. Do not make the point size smaller to accommodate more words. If you cannot fit what you want to say, you are saying too much. The purpose is to compel the reader to act, not to educate them fully. Do not be overly creative with design elements. Use a standard, easy-to-read font, rather than something “arty.” Do not use colors because you like them or they are trendy. Look at your competitor’s brochures. What colors do they use? What is common for your industry? It’s good to stand out, but avoid looking like you don’t fit in the industry.

Clear Call to Action

Near the end, tell the reader exactly what you would like them to do and why. It could be making a call, visiting a showroom, or viewing a website. Avoid a generic action like “visit www.mycompany.com for more information.” Give the reader a payoff. What will they get for clicking or scanning the QR code? It could be a white paper, a promotional item, or a sample. Be creative, but the payoff must have actual value and the next step crystal clear.

The whole purpose of writing, designing, and printing the brochure is to generate activity. It comes down to a compelling call to action. Use emotion and urgency. If I act on your offer, how will I be better (or improve my standing with my boss or spouse)? Why do I have to do it today? What happens if I don’t do it?

Importance of Concise Copy

Before writing anything, decide on the purpose of the brochure. Is it a “general” or corporate brochure that provides an overview, or is it for a specific product? A tri-fold brochure has space for about 350-450 words. Keep words, sentences, and paragraphs short. Consider having a professional writer edit the copy. Someone “away” from your products and company will find fluff that has crept into your descriptions.

Leave specifics out. For a brochure, readers do not need to know the minutiae at this point in the sales process. They just need to know the benefit they will receive from clicking on your website or visiting your showroom.

Printed, Digital, or Both?

Once created, TMDMS can print your brochure and make it available as a digital download. A brochure is not the same as a webpage. Visitors download brochures because they are concise, colorful, and easily printed and taken to a meeting. Your digital versions can include live links, so when emailed as an attachment, customers can access a webpage.

Commercially printed brochures are perfect handouts at trade shows, meetings, and cold calls. They are tangible and convey permanence. Printing on thick, bulky card stock is unnecessary. The place for a high-profile multi-page corporate portfolio on glossy, heavy stock is an in-person meeting or proposal. That comes later in the sales process. Brochures are invitations to learn more. They are transportable, foldable, and fit nicely in a purse or pocket.