Entrepreneurs: Smartly designed brochures can be critical to the success and growth of any entrepreneur/company.

[Arvo Lennart Vercamer]

Can't I just write a little something, add some graphics, print it, distribute it - and then call it a day? Yes you can - but there is a better, more effective strategy you may wish to consider.

Please take the professional approach. The bottom line of any published brochure is to get the reader to take the actions you want them to take - purchase a product/service, become a member, visit your store, take an action with you, not the competition, etc. If a brochure is designed from the outset with that goal in mind, it will be a much more successful sales and marketing tool for any entrepreneur/company. The best place to start is by conducting a good business and marketing intelligence effort. What types of brochures/prospecti are the competitors using? Have you collected some samples? How often have you seen a competitor do something "cool" in/with their brochures - and you have said to yourself, "...this is a really neat idea. I can apply a similar concept in my own brochures....".

To assemble an effective brochure, the following steps may provide some guidance/help:

1.) Do not start your brochure design effort by focusing on the color or size of your brochure. That is one of the last things you want to work on.

2A.) The first item that needs to be addressed is the purpose of the brochure. Why should a reader of your brochure select to buy from you? What (specific) actions do you wish the reader to take? What problems might the readers be facing - and how do you solve their challenges? Develop your content materials that address these intricacies.

2B.) In concert to the above point, a well-designed brochure will also have a target audience in mind. Different types of (prospective) clients have different challenges to face. For example, an engineer might be interested in the technical specifications of your product/service - so a brochure loaded with figures, diagrams and specifications might be an ideal solution for that type of an audience. A sales specialist however, may not fully appreciate (understand) all of the techno-babble the engineers crave for, they just want to know if your product/service can get them to be more productive, increase their sales potentials.

3.) What will your customers do with the brochure? Is the brochure intended to introduce a new product/service - to inform? Is it to provide technical information? Is it intended to result in a sale? Perhaps a combinations of the previous points? In this step, one needs to focus on what actions the brochure reader should take. The content and design of the brochure should support that objective.

4.) The "text", or in journalism jargon, the "copy", of the brochure really needs to be well thought out. The sentences need to be bold in content, yet be easy to read - the fewest words saying the mostest. The headline must also be attention grabbing. Avoid writing cliches in your copy such as, but not limited to, ....has over 1-2-3-4-5-N... years of experience....is the latest technology....supported by a highly trained staff..... - instead. focus your attention on the benefits your product/service can provide.

5.) We are now ready to focus or attention on the size of the brochure. The bottom line here is that the size of the brochure needs to match the message. If the message is small, the brochure should also be small in size. If the message is big, and there are multiple actions you wish the brochure reader to take - a larger brochure size may be appropriate.

6.) The last major item - what will the brochure look like? This is where one considers items such as:

- Colors to be used
- Company logos
- Font types (Ariel, Helvetica, Times New Roman, etc.; always 10pt or larger; never more than three different font types).
- Paper stock (newsprint, coated papers, card stock, etc.)
- Reversed texts (for example, white text against a black background - doable, but it can be hard on the eyes).
- "White spaces" - how and when to use this to have the greatest effect.

The more business and marketing intelligence efforts that are completed up front, the better the chances one will have in obtaining a successful end result - in this case, an effective brochure.