How to Make Your Business Brochure a Marketing Asset

Just about every business should have a printed brochure that showcases the quality of its products, people, and capabilities. Small businesses, especially, can benefit from a company brochure that is well-written and designed with the customer in mind.

What are the advantages to having a brochure? For one thing, it saves time. By putting all your important information into one document you can quickly communicate who you are and what you do. It also helps establish credibility with potential customers by portraying a professional image. Finally, a brochure can reinforce your USP — Unique Selling Proposition.

Of course, the bottom line of a brochure — and any marketing document, for that matter — is to generate more business. A brochure alone cannot do the job but it serves an important role in your marketing plan.

I ask clients three key questions before even starting on their brochure:

What do I want to accomplish with the brochure?

How can the brochure show customers how you solve problems?

How can we make the brochure inviting to readers?

The honest answers to these three questions will form the basis for the design and content of your brochure.

With that in mind, here are several tips for creating an effective brochure:

Stick to a strategy. After you determine the purpose of the brochure, everything else that follows should contribute to the goal.

Research. You can never have too much information at your disposal. how much of that information you use will depend on the purpose of the brochure. But it’s better to have too much than too little.

Collect visuals. Photographs, charts and maps can help make a brochure more interesting.

Settle on a tone. Again, the purpose of the brochure will help dictate tone. Generally, you want clear, concise, compelling copy. Keep it conversational, but no too breezy. emphasize benefits over features. Make sure spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct.

Use testimonials. Nothing creates credibility more quickly than a third-party endorsement. It’s okay to ask satisfied customers for a comment or two about the service you provided.

Include a response device. Every brochure should have an easy way for the customer to receive more information. your mailing address, phone number, fax number, website address and email address should be prominent in the brochure. Sometimes, a postage-paid response card can be incorporated into the design.

Distribute widely. Your brochure does no good until someone sees it. Don’t be afraid to order more brochures that you think you are going to need. Include them in every mailing you send out. Keep them in your reception area. Take them to trade shows.

For small businesses, an effective brochure is like a 24-hour sales agent, there to answer questions and offer help to customers when you can’t.

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