5 Brochure Tips That Will Get Your Brand Above the Fold
Written By: Leslie Taylor | Article Date: May 10, 2023
Brochures are a handy tool for introducing your business to a new market and promoting your event or services to a specific audience. They also help establish an organization's authority and credibility, especially for non-profits and educational institutions. However, your brochure won't achieve these goals if it lacks the necessary information your audience is looking for. Discover five essential things that will help you design an effective brochure.
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1. Speak to your audience.
Before ordering or designing your brochure, you need to define the readers you’ll be talking to throughout your campaign. A broad understanding of your audience will help you come up with a clear message for your brochure's design and content.
If you're not sure where to start, use your current market’s demographic data. This can include details such as age, gender, educational background, income range, and so on. You can assess the design elements that appeal to their lifestyle and interests based on the information you gather, and from there come up with ideas on how your brand should sound like. You can also create a persona to help you visualize your target market and include their hobbies, interests, and pain points in your research. Tie all of these into the content you're including in the brochure and decide if you’re going to draw their attention using descriptive text or image-based storytelling.
2. Focus on a clear central message.
Identify the main takeaway you want your target audience to have after reading your brochure. Do you want them to visit your store, check your website, or sign up for a newsletter? A clear key message will guide you as you write the rest of the copy and create images. It also prevents you from overloading the brochure with too much information and it keeps the reader's focus on what you want to say.
3. Mix up the design with images and text.
The number of images and amount of text you'll use may depend on your target audience, your message, and your brochure's size. After finalizing your content, assess the best layout that will help unfold your main message best. Make sure that the photos, graphics, or illustrations are of high resolution and are specific to your industry. Your copy should also be organized such that the information flows naturally as if you’re telling a story. Structure the sentences in headlines and subheads so your audience can process the information in bite sizes.
4. Define your Call-to-Action.
Your CTA is the reason why you print brochures in the first place — you want the target audience to act in a way that impacts your business. To ensure this happens, display your brochure's CTA in a section that is easy to spot. Once they see this part, how they act should be clear and straightforward. If you're promoting an event, make sure that the date, time, and location are readable and displayed prominently. Include graphics or images that ease the action such as a map of the event venue or a QR leading to your website or social media pages where they can find more information.
5. Figure out your folds.
When you’ve decided on a specific audience, a focused message, and essential brochure elements, you can select the appropriate brochure fold. The right fold will add flair to your brochure as you reveal your campaign to your readers.
Brochure folds are classified into three main types: two-panel, three-panel, and four- panel. Some businesses find that two panels are enough, but you'll need more if your brochure has plenty of details. After you've chosen the number of panels, you can select a fold type to effectively reveal your brochure content. You can use each fold to organize information. For example, the three-panel gatefold has two panels in front that fold inward and act as a cover, which is perfect for presenting bigger images, versus the standard trifold that divides content into three vertical panels. This article on the types of brochure folds and their applications expounds on each to help you make the best choice.