Marketing brochures tend to slip under the radar in today’s marketing. Video, online search, and social media all grab the lion’s share of marketing spending.
Yet the humble brochure still has a place in the marketing world and is more common than you might think.
You can find brochures everywhere:
- At your doctor’s office promoting a new procedure.
- In hotels highlighting adventures around a city.
- At trade-show booths prominently displaying companies’ information.
- In your mailbox drawing your attention to everything from luxury real estate to local service businesses.
- Or if you recently ordered something online, the shipping box might have had a brochure inside. Many companies slip a brochure into their packaging to try to get repeat business from their customers.
Marketing brochures benefit B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to customer) marketing strategies. Additionally, a professionally produced brochure gives the look of a high-end, established company that’s worthy of the client’s business.
Adding a physical brochure to your online presence will also diversify and improve your marketing efforts considerably.
What Is a Marketing Brochure?
A marketing brochure has one job: to help businesses market their products and services.
A marketing brochure is a printed messaging material—usually in a trifold, z-fold, or bifold format—designed to promote businesses, products, or services. Marketing brochures are portable, can be distributed at various venues, and are usually relatively short in length (a few hundred words). I’ve seen brochures that are more like sleek magazines, though.
Not all companies can afford to advertise on billboards and TV commercials. But brochures are economical, so companies of all sizes use them—whether it’s the local pizza joint down the street, a small startup, or a Fortune 500 corporation.
A well-made marketing brochure can bring in tons of new business, so the copy on yours should be of the highest quality.
This article will give you six expert tips for writing a marketing brochure that captivates your target audience and increases sales.
In a rush? Get this article as a PDF guide so you won’t miss these tips!
1. Create an Outline
The best way to get great results is to plan for them. Brainstorming and then creating an outline for what you want your brochure to say and look like will save you time and headaches in the long run.
Here is a quick rundown of what should be included in your brochure:
- Front panels have the company name and logo prominently displayed.
- Inner panels contain all your product or service information and the best sales pitch.
- Back or final panels are for your call to action, contact info, and any extra information.
- Use the acronym AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) to plan your brochure.
Having a plan of attack for writing a marketing brochure at the start makes the whole process simpler.
Here is an example of the skillful use of AIDA for a marketing brochure:
2. Define Your Target Audience
An essential task for writing any marketing material, especially brochures, is to define your target audience. You can’t give everyone a brochure, so be selective and craft your message effectively with the right people in mind.
You should define:
- The demographic segmentation of your market you want reading your brochure
- Which marketing metrics you want your readers to drive
Once you know your target audience, you can focus your marketing by writing on their pain points and how you can help them.
Don’t Miss: Why Your Brochure Stinks (And How to Make It Stunning Instead)
3. Focus On Your Readers
Many brochures are created simply to make their company look good.
While company promotion has its part, the central idea of a marketing brochure is to speak to the reader. If you are not speaking to the reader’s pain points and how your company will address them, readers will lose interest quickly.
Ask yourself:
- Why would people want to read this?
- What’s in it for them?
Focusing on solving the readers’ needs instead of promoting your company will get more people interested in buying what you’re selling.
A lot of work goes into creating a compelling marketing brochure. In the end, so much is riding on how your brochure looks, reads, and sells. At Super Copy Editors, our professional proofreaders and editors are experts at ensuring marketing brochures are clear, concise, and error-free. Find out more about our brochure copy editing services.
4. Use Proper Formatting
A properly formatted marketing brochure is essential to the success of your brochure. Suitable formatting makes the brochure more readable. Furthermore, most people don’t read brochures front to back. They like to skim through them and pick out critical information.
Here are some tips for making your brochure skimmable and more readable:
- Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines: State your main points and offerings with headings. These will be what most people read first—and may be the only part they read.
- Be Concise: The headings and descriptions backing them up should be short and to the point—use bullet-point summaries in the descriptions if needed.
- Use Plain Language: Write in a clear and conversational style to reach as broad an audience as possible.
Stay away from complex words and sentences or technical jargon that some readers won’t understand. The text should be professional yet easy to read.
Don’t Miss: How to Write Headlines for Marketing Content That Readers Just Can’t Resist
5. Have a Clear CTA
As crazy as this might sound, many brochures lack a clear CTA (call to action).
What is the point of your marketing brochure if you aren’t going to sell to the reader?
- First, ensure you have a clear purpose in mind throughout the writing of your brochure.
- Take your readers on a journey of what their pain points are.
- Then tell them what they can do to solve their problem with your call to action at the end. Give your readers a reason to keep the brochure.
After your CTA, leave straightforward instructions on how your readers can contact you or take the next steps. After all, at least when your brochure is in print form, they can’t simply click on a link.
Don’t forget! Download “6 Expert Tips for Writing a Marketing Brochure That Converts” to keep it handy and take action on it. Click here to download it now.
6. Proofread Your Brochure
Proofreading and editing is the last and most crucial step of writing a marketing brochure.
I can’t overstate the importance of ensuring your marketing brochure conveys accurate information and is free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Why? Because once your brochure has been printed, there’s no going back without paying a high price.
Picture yourself at a trade show in front of dozens of your peers and hundreds of potential customers—when one of them points out a spelling mistake on the front of your brochure. Proofreading can help you avoid that type of embarrassing situation.
Another thing you don’t want to attempt is to self-proofread the brochure that you and your team just wrote. The reasoning is that it’s very challenging to find all of your own mistakes.
Having a fresh pair of eyes and an outside perspective on your brochure is the best way to ensure error-free writing.
That’s where the professionals at Super Copy Editors come in. We have helped countless marketers make their brochures a success. Let our skilled team proofread and edit your brochure so you can save yourself the headache, cost, and embarrassment of a reprint. We can also offer expert feedback on your marketing materials so that you achieve a great return on your investment. Get your free quote here.
