It may not be true for books, but brochures are judged by their covers. A brochure is only as effective as its cover is attractive. The front of your brochure has to have enough enticing information to suck the reader in right away. Think of someone standing in front of that giant rack of brochures in a hotel lobby. How is he going to choose a brochure to pick up? By the way the cover looks! The only way your brochure will be picked is if it has a very effective cover. Put some text that tells the reader that your company can offer exactly what he needs. And make sure to include more than just words, too.
Good Organization is Key
A brochure that is nothing but great words about your company will not work. There has to be an attractive visual aspect to it as well. You have to use borders and lines and other techniques to break things up a bit. Try to create contrast in the sections of your brochures: use different colors and different shapes. Use a variety of text box sizes so that all of your information doesn't begin to look the same. And remember to include headings for each section of your brochure. Often, they will be the only things that a customer actually reads.
Pictures are Good
Including pictures and images in your brochure is a good idea, too. In fact, it is almost essential. And you don't want to just throw in some clip art pictures and call it good. Use clear, colorful images that pertain to your business. If you can have actual, live pictures of people using your product, that is great! Just make sure they are taken with a good camera that will produce a good picture. A poor quality picture is worse than no picture at all.
Know Your Customers
Directing your brochures at the wrong people is the very worst thing you can do. Make sure you know what type of people you are targeting when you design your brochures, and every piece of material for that matter. This should help you as you decide what type of enticing information to use on the cover, and what type of color and images to use. This is by far the most important aspect of any brochure. After all, it's all about the customer.
