If you would like to develop an effective well designed brochure quickly, follow the following steps:

Decide on what is the objective of the brochure

This decision will enable you to decide various aspects of the copy like the type and amount of information to be included as well as the tone of the copy. The objective will help you establish your budget which will assist you in deciding the number of colour printing, size, paper and the format of the brochure.

Establish how the brochure will be used

This will assist in visualising the format / layout of the brochure as well as the amount of the copy to be used.

Develop the headline and the copy

A good headline is very important for any advertising and promotional material including a brochure. The headline serves the following purposes:

(i)    It gives direction to your copy. The copy has to be in line with the headline.

(ii)   The headline attracts the attention of the reader and motivates him to read the complete brochure. It should be remembered that only a few of your prospective customers who come across your brochure are really eager to read it. It becomes the job of the headline to attract, amuse and/or shock the prospective customer into reading your brochure.

As mentioned earlier, the development of the copy is a very important step in the development of the brochure. The design of the brochure is based on the headline and the copy of the brochure. The layout of the brochure will depend on the volume of the copy. Selection of graphics and pictures which will reinforce your message will also depend on your headline and copy. As mentioned earlier, make sure that the copy is written from the customer’s point of view, not yours.

Development of the copy takes the longest time and rightly so. When you put anything in writing, it has to be not only factually correct but should also project the image of the company correctly. It is because of this reason that practically everybody gets involved in whetting the copy of the brochure.

Once the copy is completed, gear yourself to making it shorter and more descriptive. Mark Twain was supposed to have said, “I’d have written you a shorter letter but I didn’t have the time.”

Develop alternative designs of the cover page

I have seen that practically everybody prepares the design of the complete brochure with all the pages. This not only increases the cost but also increases the time involved in developing a brochure. What if you don’t like any of the two designs presented by your advertising agency? Designing the complete brochure and making color dummies involves a lot of time, effort and money for the advertising agency. That is why you will observe that the advertising agencies are hesitant to give you more design options. They make all their effort to convince you to accept one of the designs that they have submitted to you. This is because they have used quite a bit of their resources on developing the same. More design options will cost more money.

However, there is a way out of this dilemma. I have successfully adopted the method that I am going to suggest. Usually, the design of the cover of the brochure plays a critical role in deciding which brochure design to accept. Also, the design of the inside pages of the brochure depends on the cover design. As such, I suggest that first design options for the brochure cover should be made. Once the cover design is finalized, then the inside pages should be designed. The color and the concept of the inside pages will depend on the color and concept used on the cover. As such, first ask your advertising agency to prepare the cover design options. Out of the various cover design options, select one or two. Suggest modifications, if any, in the cover designs before finalizing the same.

Develop Inside pages

After the cover designs have been selected (maximum of 2), ask your advertising agency to develop the inside pages and to finally develop a dummy to see how the brochure will finally look. Each of the inside pages should re-inforce the concept of the cover. We have gone step by step to finalize all the elements of a brochure design: headline, copy, cover design and inside pages. Now out of the two complete dummies that you have received, you can select one. Of course, subject to some minor changes.

Review

Once you have zeroed in on the brochure design, it is now time to go through every aspect of the brochure with a fine tooth comb. You should review every aspect/element of the brochure as follows:

Copy

l    Review the story and make sure it is logical and in proper sequence.

l    Are all the facts correct? It is better to avoid stating anything in writing that you are not sure of. If you have picked any information from any particular source, make sure that you have  mentioned the same in the brochure.

l    Spell check is very critical.

l    Check the contact information, that is, address, telephone numbers, emails and website addresses. I have come across a number of times when the client does not check the contact information and it turns out that some or all of the telephone numbers are incorrect.

l    If technical information has been given in the brochure, make sure that your technical department has reviewed the same.

l    Make sure that the customer will be able to easily understand the information and relate it to the products in questions.

l        You have not made any claims for which you can be hauled up in a court of law.

Visuals

l    Make sure that the visuals used are not only appropriate but are also used at the right place or page in the brochure.

l    Sometimes different products cannot be easily identified in a composite photograph used in the brochure. Sometime back we had developed a brochure for a client in which we had used a composite picture of the company’s various products. For each product, we had given technical information in the brochure. We realised that the customer may not be able to identify the different products in the composite photograph. As such, we had to name the products in the picture to help in easy identification.

l    Check on the quality of the photograph(s). Be sure to assess the quality of the photograph if the same has been downloaded from the internet.

l    Make sure that the photographs represent the latest model of your product, that is, the picture is not of an earlier model. Also, the colour of the product as shown in the photograph should also be available in case the customer wants to purchase the same. Quite a few times, customers will ask you for the same colour that you have shown in the photograph. If you tell the customer that you are not selling the product in the colour shown in your catalogue, the customer will walk away dissatisfied.

Colour

l    Make sure that if your corporate colour has been used in the brochure, it has the proper CMYK combination.

Logo

l Make sure that the logo used in the brochure is as per your corporate identification programme in terms of the colour, size and proportion.

It would be appropriate to point out here that development of a brochure is not a smooth process. You may not like the copy when it is presented to you for the first time or you may not like the designs. Don’t get disappointed or fire the advertising agency. Coming up with the right concept, copy and design usually requires a number of iterations between the agency and the client. The key here is that both sides should talk to each other. You as the client should guide the agency in terms of what you like or dislike as well as what is correct and what is incorrect. You should give your suggestions and feedback to the agency so that they can make the necessary changes. You have to remember that you know your product, company and the industry better than the advertising agency. Also, the advertising agency should keep an open mind and listen to what the client is saying. As mentioned earlier, we have done some of the best work when the client has given us his suggestions.