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Heads up – your brochure design could be the most important part of getting people to actually read your mail. Not sure how to design an effective and eye-catching brochure? Here’s our advice.
Brochure design can be intimidating! You know what you need to say, you know what logo needs to go on it. But getting from that to an attractive, finished artwork can be difficult and frustrating.
Let’s dig into what a brochure is and what makes a good-looking one.
What Exactly Is a Brochure?
A brochure is an informative paper document that can be folded in various ways. That’s quite a generic description, but it describes it quite accurately! It’s a folded document on which you place your offer and business information, that you then send out to prospective clients.
Doing Brochures Right
The key to a great brochure is to find the perfect balance between the space on your page and the information you’re sharing. Too cluttered, and nobody will take the time to read it. Too sparse, and it will look like something’s missing.
If you’ve never designed a brochure before, you might have no clue where to begin. Don’t worry! We’ll share some of our favourite brochure design tips below.
Effective Brochure Design Tips
There’s a lot of elements that go into a great brochure design. But if you follow these step by step, you’ll come out with an attractive, effective brochure that gets responses.
Nail Down Your Offer
This is the most important thing! You need to be able to state your offer clearly and succinctly, so the reader knows exactly what they’ll get when they take you up on it. Try to answer the questions:
- What?
- Why?
- How?
What are you offering? Why do they need it? And how do they get it?
These are the essentials you need to know about your own offer before you even start designing your brochure. This will help you when it comes to creating content down the line.
Define Your Target Audience
Make sure you know who you’re targeting with your brochure. If you’re just sending it out to everyone, it’s hard to tailor the content and design to suit the kind of person you’re trying to speak to.
Be as specific as you can about this. For example:
- Moms-to-be looking for ways to keep their new baby as safe as possible
- Homeowners who need an affordable way to increase the value of their home
- Partiers who like to drink and want to try the latest, newest cocktails
- Adrenaline junkies who are always up for a new challenge
Design For Your Client
It’s easy to design something that you like and go ahead with it. But the key to really reaching people with your brochure design is to put yourself in their shoes. Who’s your target market and what do they like?
For example, if your company targets moms-to-be, chances are they’re going to respond better to softer, pastel colours and pretty fonts. On the other hand, if you’re aiming for adrenaline junkies, bright, bold shades and chunky text would work better.
If your target market is quite wide, then you may want to go with something a little more generic. Make sure it’s easy to read, all the info can be found without difficulty, and it looks sleek and professional.
Create A Catchy Headline
Your headline is possibly the most important part of your content! If it doesn’t catch attention, at least half of the people holding your brochure won’t bother to read further. But if it’s interesting… Then they’ll most likely want to know more, which is what you want.
The key is to find the balance between keeping it short and sweet and creating curiosity. Try these ideas to help you craft amazing headlines:
- Ask an intriguing question: “Is your home poisoning you?”
- Create urgency: “Only 15 left in stock!”
- Play on their emotions: “Your baby could be in danger.”
Each of these catches attention and encourages the reader to move further down the page. It’s also important to follow your headline up with something that relates it to your product. Don’t throw in a catchy clickbait headline that has nothing to do with your offer!
Keep Your Content The the Point
Don’t waffle. Nobody wants to read through a wall of text to get to the point! Tell them what they need to know, in an easy-to-follow way, without adding info that’s not relevant.
This is where you present your offer, highlight the benefits they’ll get from it, add a few testimonials, and of course, your call to action.
Add a Compelling Call To Action
Your CTA can make or break your brochure. A weak CTA will cause you to lose those who are on the fence about taking action. But a strong call to action can be the thing that flips that switch and makes them say YES!
Your CTA doesn’t need to be complicated or clever. But rather than saying “Call us now”, go for something more encouraging. It should link back to the tactic you used in your heading!
- “Get rid of dangerous toxins now!”
- “Don’t wait – make your home safer today.”
- “Protect your loved ones and let us help.”
- “Be the first to get it!”
- “Don’t miss your chance!”
- “Get one of the last 15!”
Use Pictures Carefully
If you’re using a picture as a full background, make sure the opacity is dropped so the text doesn’t get lost. Pictures that are scattered throughout the brochure should be relevant to the topic or offer. Don’t just stick in pics of smiley people!
Print High-Quality
Poor quality printing can ruin a fantastic brochure design. Make sure you get your brochures printed at top quality so every bit of text is clear ad attractive.
Brochure Design Conclusion
Eye-catching, action-driving brochure design isn’t hard if you know the points you need to hit. And if the actual design part is a little too tricky, you can find plenty of templates online to make your own. All you need to do is find a template that you feel your target market would like, and half the work is done for you!
Whether you need help with design, content, or printing, we’ve got your back. Give us a call any time and we’ll help you create the brochure of your target audience’s dreams!