So you need a brochure. What do you do first? What kind of information do you provide RT Multimedia? Colors? Size? Quantity? What kind of fonts do you want? While those are all valid questions, there are other considerations beyond the actual design parameters. And sometimes it may require RT Multimedia to ask many questions and even we would like to educate our potential clients about the world of brochures…we sincerely hope you find this information useful.

Determine what type of brochure to create
Brochures take many forms. They can introduce an entire company and its products or services or may focus on a specific product. Companies may have a variety of brochures aimed at different types of customers — prospects, new customers, and repeat customers. Brochures might be sent by mail, left behind after a client meeting, or distributed in other ways.

Brochures usually come into play so you can make a smart buying decision. As someone selling a product or service, knowing what type of brochure you need is critical to turning your potential customers into paying customers.

1. Leave-Behinds
2. Point-of-Sale
3. Response to Inquiries
4. Direct Mail
5. Sales Support Tool
6. Stands Alone

Establish how you will use the brochure
Brochures can be standalone pieces or may be used in conjunction with other print pieces or forms of advertising. Brochures aimed at potential customers and those designed to generate repeat sales from existing customers need to speak to their individual audiences.

Know Your Brochure's Function in the Buying Process
Your product, the market, even your approach to how you want to make the sale are all major factors in how you write your brochure. Determine where your brochure functions in the buying process. Refer to the explanations of types above.

Know Your Audience
You've already determined where your brochure fits into the buying process. Don't forget to target that particular audience. Decide what type of information this audience needs and write your brochure accordingly. You wouldn't want to write a respond to inquiry brochure the same way you'd write a sales support brochure.

Organizing Your Selling Points
Think of your brochure as a book. It tells a story about your product/service. Your brochure should have a beginning, middle and an end. And just like a book, most people will look at the front cover, back cover; maybe even flip through the pages to see if it's worth reading. How you determine the organization of your selling points depends on - Know Your Audience. Once you've determined who's going to read your brochure, then you choose the approach that will best fit these readers.

For example, say you own a car dealership. You might want to write a helpful brochure like, "10 Things to Look for When Buying a Car." Now you can go into detail of what a customer should look for and how your company can help in the buying process. This adds credibility to your company and the fact that you have this type of brochure could make the difference in whether you get the sale or your competitor does. After all, you were the one that wrote a helpful brochure your customer needed and used.

Complete, Accurate and Thorough Information
Before you start hammering away at the content in your brochure, take the time to really think about the information you want to include. Open up most brochures and you'll find lots of words. That's because brochures need to contain as much information as possible to get your potential customer to the next step - the purchase. Someone who is interested in your product or service will read every word of your brochure. However, your prospect will feed their paper shredder if you're not providing them with useful information - or worse - your content is dull.

Designing the brochure
Once you know what kind of brochure you are creating and how it will be used, RT Multimedia can get down to the specifics of format, size, and layout. Also read our helpful information “Creating a Brochure with Impact”.