If you are planning on getting custom brochures then read this first!

There’s no shortage of tools to market your business and while having all those options might seem like it’s an easy task, the difficulty comes in choosing the right marketing tool – and then using that tool properly.  Brochure design is one of the more popular methods for reaching out to a target audience because they represent material that can be easily digested.  When a prospect sees an brochure they know they can get the information on their terms, often without a lot of hype.

While brochure design is an optimal delivery method for getting your benefits across to prospective customers, it’s easy to fall into some of the most common mistakes that turn your brochure designs into nothing more than unattractive paper.  To create a compelling brochure that really sells your business, products and services try to avoid these common mistakes.

Brochure Design Mistakes #1 – Overcrowding

It’s not uncommon for a designer to try to get as much information as possible into a brochure.  After all you want to make sure the prospect gets sold and no key points are left out.  This happens more often with in-house designers or when business owners attempt brochure design on their own.  Kudos for the initiative but it could wind up costing you.

The brochure is about marketing the benefits of your business.  It should sell the prospect on the idea of working with you and how that relationship will benefit them.  It’s not a place for company history and a lot of images.  Get your basic ideas across and let your call to action pull them deeper into the sales funnel where you can deliver additional information. If you stick to the KISS rule, you will be golden. Keep It Simple Stupid. <– Yes, we just said that.

Brochure Design Mistakes #2 – It’s a Font Party & Everyone is Coming

Due to the open layout of a lot of brochure designs, one of the ways designers attempt to segregate information within a brochure is through the use of variable font sizes and different font types.  The key to branding and marketing is consistency.  You should maintain that consistency within your brochure and stick with two to three fonts maximum.  Other elements can be used to separate and highly specific areas of text if need be.  A variety of fonts can be confusing and difficult to read, making a brochure look overcrowded and busy – even if it’s not.

Brochure Design Mistake #3 – No Head Room

A jumbled cover doesn’t catch the eye, and your prospects will quickly lose interest with excess amount of text.  Instead of stringing content together, use headings and sub headings to break up the content into sections.  Each sub heading can use keywords that make them stand out, effectively catching the eye of the reader and encouraging them to read on.  The cover header is especially important; it needs to be catchy enough to make them pick up the brochure and start reading.

Brochure Design Mistake #4 – White Space is Important

Overcrowding a brochure is a big mistake but so is a gross lack of whitespace.  Whitespace allows the eyes of your reader to relax as they look around your brochure.  With too much color, text or images it can be hard on the eyes and difficult to read.  Keep things simple, far away from ever appearing crowded through the strategic use of white space.  A great way to improve white space is to keep your images and text far away from borders and margins, and leave plenty of room around images and design elements.

Brochure Design Mistake #5 – Don’t Skimp On Quality

Your brochure design markets your business and creates a certain image of you in the mind of your customers.  If you use poor quality images, bad paper or a low-quality print service then it will show on your brochure.  If you can’t afford a professional photographer then pay for stock photos.  No matter what your budget looks like – never use free clipart.

A well thought out brochure design can help sell your business when you’re not present, so it’s important to take the time to populate it with quality content within a unique and creative design.  Otherwise you’re throwing your money away and possibly tarnishing your brand image.