A brochure that is as informative as it is engaging is an integral part of you marketing effort – so great attention should be paid to its design. At Factory Creative, we insist on having additional information when creating a brochure design for our clients – information that people can often overlook. We ask detailed questions so we can better position our clients’ brochures to stand out from their competitors and grab their audiences’ attention.

Before we move on to the 19 Key Essentials that makes a successful brochure design, here are some initial questions our team asked before starting a brochure project:

Who is the target audience of the brochure design and what do they want answered?

It’s important to know what questions your audience wants answered and deliver them succinctly. Through forgetfulness or lack of preparation, sometimes these questions are not conveyed to your brochure design company. And if the designer is not experienced enough to ask, problems will no doubt arise. If you are providing content to your brochure design company, make sure it’s as complete as possible and that it hits the mark. Many times a company wants to talk about everything they do rather than addressing the relevant services and topics that their audience needs to know in order to make an informed decision.

How will the brochure be distributed?

Do you plan on mailing your brochure by placing a first-class stamp on it? Will it be a part of a rack full of other brochures? Are you going to hand it out in person or will you distribute an interactive PDF via email? Knowing how you will distribute the brochure will help your Dallas brochure design company layout the content effectively. If you do plan on mailing it, know that postal regulations will require you to wafer seal the open edges. Rack brochures should be printed on heavier paper stock so they don’t flop forward. Also, a protective aqueous coating can help reduce finger print marks if distributing the brochure by hand.

What brochure design format works best?

Sometimes a simple, two-sided rack card brochure will work for your audience. Other projects might require a multi-page saddle-stitched or perfect-bound brochure. Knowing the audience, having clear goals and a budget with realistic expectations will help determine the appropriate format for your brochure. A detailed discussion with your Dallas brochure design company early on in the process can prove beneficial to time and budget limitations. At Factory Creative, we regularly have conversations with our clients to help ensure we’re on target with budget, design concept, production schedules and date of delivery.

What kind of press will the brochure be printed on?

Knowing how many brochures you need will help determine the most cost effective printing and production method. Your brochure design company should recommend the paper that’s best suited for your project and method of distribution. The reason we mention this is that a slight modification in size or production specifications can result in big cost savings. Factory Creative has been able to make slight adjustments for our clients which have saved them money including increasing quantities to take advantage of a higher grade printing press.

What is the best design option for the brochure cover?

You’ve identified your audience. You’ve decided how you plan to distribute your brochure, as well as its size and which press you will print it on. So now it’s time for the design. The design should be appropriate for your audience and persuade them to take a particular action; but remember to pay extra attention to the cover! The cover is your “storefront window.” It should tease your audience with visual and text elements that make them want to pick up your brochure and read it. Your graphic designer should take into account the items above and create a visually stimulating composition to engage your customers and persuade them to take action.

How Does Your Brochure Design Tie into Your Other Marketing Materials?

A brochure will be one of many types of marketing materials for your brand. The brochure should integrate and feel connected to your other marketing materials. The language, colors, fonts and imagery should be consistent with your other branded materials. Also consider how the distribution of the brochure will take place and what other marketing materials could potentially coexist with it. Think about the paper and printing method used too, as this is commonly overlooked.

19 Key Essentials That Make a Results-Driven Brochure Design

Recently, we looked at 19 key essentials for creating highly-successful brochures. Brochures are a popular marketing tool across many industries, regardless of whether your focus is business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C). One thing all brochures must do is provide the right benefits and information to your customer base or target audience. This means getting your design right so your message is loud and clear. For more information regarding the value of successful printed marketing materials, we invite you to visit Forbes® article “Does Print Still Have a Place?“

1. Start Planning

Before you even think about contacting a top Dallas brochure design company, sit down and think about what it is you want from your brochure. Grab a pen or pencil and rough-out some ideas, and the content direction that you want your brochure to contain. Hold a brainstorming session with co-workers to see what direction you should focus on.

2. Know your audience

Brochures are like any other form of marketing – you will only get out of it what you put in. Don’t design a brochure that you and only you like; remember your customer. Get the input of some customers and find out what they want to know about in relation to your products or services. You need to think about creating a brochure that your target audience will want to read.

3. Make sure the Dallas brochure design company also has branding experience

A brochure can often be an extension of your brand, so be sure to remember your core brand values when designing your brochure. Remember your brand colors and fonts and how these are to be used. This will allow your customers to recognize the brochure, especially if you are at a conference or trade show. It will also enable your target audience to become more familiar with your brand as a whole if all your printed marketing material has a consistent look and feel to it.

It is highly beneficial to consider hiring a brochure design company that also has branding agency experience, like Factory Creative. More importantly, the brochure design company you select should also provide value added services like: Brand Strategy, Website Design, Logo Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography, Digital Marketing and Property Development Branding services; above all if you’re in the commercial, retail or land development sector to support your overall to-go-market strategy.

4. Limit your fonts

Brand guidelines will often dictate how you use fonts within your marketing efforts, but if you have a little more freedom when it comes to designing printed brochures, don’t go overboard with your fonts. It can sometimes be easy to try and use different styles and sizes of fonts to help different areas of your brochure page to stand out. Much like the brand message, try to keep your fonts consistent with your other marketing material and only use 3 sizes – a heading, subheading and general text.

5. Use quality images

When it comes to designing your next brochure, be sure to use high-quality images that reflect positively on your brand and your products or services. Don’t fall into the trap of finding a stock image online, copying it and using it – this may become pixelated and the quality will suffer. Plus, you could find one of your competitors using the same stock photo, which creates confusion.

A seasoned Dallas brochure design company will have the resources to find and create unique images – at reasonable prices – to ensure that quality doesn’t suffer and your company is always well-represented visually.

6. Remember the importance of your cover pages

Think of your cover page as an entrance to your shop or business – you’ll want to encourage customers to come inside. The cover page should make your customers want to turn the page and find out more. Keep the message clear on your cover page and use an image or headline or something like a special offer, act as a hook to make them flick through your brochure. A well-experienced Dallas brochure design company like Factory Creative will be able to assist you in this area.

7. Provide important contact details

A printed brochure is usually created with the purpose of selling a product or service. If you want the reader to take further action, then provide them with the necessary details to find out more. Be sure to include an email address, website, phone number and your location. Let your audience know where they can find you and how they can contact you.

8. Keep it clear and simple

Perhaps the most important of all our design tips when it comes to creating brochures – keep it clear and simple. Make sure your audience can actually read what it is you are trying to tell them. Be aware of the role that space can play in helping images and text stand out, and use colors and text that work together and are easy to read. If your brochure looks nice but you are struggling to read it, how do you think your customer will cope?

9. Guide the reader through the page

When designing your brochure, you need to have every customer in mind. Some customers will be familiar with your brand while others may just have come across you and your offering. Make it as easy as possible for all customers to understand what it is you are offering. Carefully plan your page layout so it guides the end reader through your brochure, and won’t leave them feeling confused.

10. Proofread, proofread, proofread

It’s important that you don’t forget to do this; proofread. Before you even think of going to print with your great new brochure, be sure to go through every page and proof it for any errors. We highly recommend investing in a professional proofreader. Your Dallas brochure design company will have these resources to guide you.

11. Break the brochure design content into readable chunks

We often talk to people who are concerned that their brochure is too ‘cluttered’ or too ‘crowded’. Usually, the problem isn’t too much copy. It is just that the content is poorly arranged. If your prospects are confronted with a sea of solid, unbroken type, there is a risk that they will THINK that it looks hard to read, and will put your brochure aside.

You need to break it up the content into readable chunks. Imagine how daunting it would look if it wasn’t broken into paragraphs with inviting sub-heads and illustrations to make it more appealing. Chances are, you wouldn’t be reading it! These design devices are all used by seasoned Dallas brochure design companies to make content easier on the eye and help pull the reader into your copy writing.

As the graphic designers here in our Factory Creative studio will tell you, typography is a science of its own — and with all the excitement of graphic design software offering so many special effects, it is often overlooked. This is a mistake. Good, clean typesetting will make or break a business brochure!

12. Use captions with images

If you are using images to illustrate a point in your brochure, be sure your graphic designer works with your copywriter to include captions to explain what the images are about. People read captions. Eye-movement tests have shown that they are often the first thing they will read on a page — and can influence their decision (or not) to become engaged in your marketing piece and read the rest of it.

13. Build your case with benefits

When it comes to sales, benefits convince buyers. A skilled business brochure copywriter should understand this. If they aren’t sure how to identify and prioritize the benefits you offer, you need to consider hiring another Dallas brochure design company, like Factory Creative. The company you hire needs to dig deep. Find the benefits you have to offer. Think about what consumers will get as a result of buying from you. Once you have this list, focus your brochure copy writing around each benefit on the list.

14. Use short, punchy sentences

If you have a benefit-rich story to tell, then tell it. But be sure to tell it using short, snappy sentences. Make it easy for people to read. And while you are looking for ways to use short sentences, look for short words as well. Be sure your Dallas brochure design company has well-seasoned copywriters who know how to successfully write for this style.

15. Design your business brochure for one person

Always, always, ALWAYS remember that your business brochure is only being read by one person. Sure, from your perspective it is a tool to reach hundreds or thousands of people. But the individual reader doesn’t care about ‘the market’. They only care about their own space and their own responsibilities. Your business brochure should be on a one-to-one communication.

16. Use the front cover of your brochure as an Ad

The first thing people decide is whether to read your brochure in the first place. This is important. There are plenty of other ways to spend their precious time, and it is very easy for them to put it aside, You can’t assume that they will open your brochure unless you give them a good reason to do so. So, think of your front cover as an ad. Have your copywriter develop a ‘teaser’ message that gives people a reason to open the document up and read more about what you have to offer.

17.  Does the design company really understand your audience?

Sitting on your desk is a brochure from a national organization that offers expertise and solutions for business owners. The cover has a strong burgundy background with black text. It looks like the graphic designer went to great lengths to figure out how to create a brochure that is as difficult to read as possible. More importantly, the headlines and content don’t communicate and strong reasons why the reader should pay attention to the information. The writer and designer really didn’t think about company’s audience.

A strong brochure design company, like Factory Creative, starts by understanding who is going to read your brochure and what your audience needs to know about your company. We design brochures that focus on what your audience wants to buy or know, instead of what you company wants to sell or communicate.

18. Avoid reverse type

Reverse type is white or light colored text on a black or dark background. It may be appropriate in small doses for a large headline or highlight box, but use it sparingly. And don’t use it in body copy – it makes your content significantly harder to to read.

There will always be local brochure design companies that argue the point, saying that it can work. And in some cases, they might be right. But for my money, I’d avoid the risk. Skip it. Find another way to make the point, without putting a barrier in place that’ll could lose a big part of  your hard-won audience.

19. Use testimonials

Marketers are sometimes reluctant to use customer testimonials –  they may believe people don’t read them or believe them, or that it’s hard to get customers to participate.. If this is your view, you should consider changing it. Testimonials are proven to build credibility.

If you’d like to get more information on how a results-driven brochure can advance your marketing goals, contact Factory Creative today.