Printing brochures is a useful marketing tool, but there are several mistakes you will want to avoid to maximize your brochure’s success. Your brochure needs information about the products and how to get it, but making your brochure attractive to look at is still the best way to make sales. If your brochure is boring or confusing, people will not buy from it. Give people a reason to look at your brochure, and people will be more likely to make a purchase.

1. Formatting Mistakes.
There are plenty of downloadable brochure templates on the internet and included in software packages, but make sure you are using the right one. To print your brochure the way you want it, a printer has to be given files with the right dimensions.

2. Not using color.

Printing brochures in color costs more, but a color brochure catches the eye more readily than a black and white brochure. If no one picks up your brochure, you won’t make any sales. You should do whatever you can to make sure the brochure catches the attention of customers, even if it costs a bit more. It doesn’t have to be full color; even one color with black can be enough to make your brochure stand out.

3. Less is more when using text.

Brochures need text, but they don’t need as much text as a novel. Your customer wants to know exactly what it is you are offering, why they need it, and how they can obtain it. Too much text is not helpful in most brochures. You can use lists or short, to the point statements to communicate your message to customers, and this is more effective than long paragraphs.

4. Use photos.

For the same reason that color catches the attention of customers, photos are also helpful in making people pick up your brochure instead of ignoring it or throwing it away. As with the text, less is more. Don’t use too many tiny photos or illustrations, use large, clear, eye catching photos, especially on the front cover. Most people look at the images in a brochure first, so make sure to give them a reason to look. Catching the customer’s attention is the most important thing. If you can’t gain their interest, they won’t read your brochure.

5. Use large, easy to read fonts.
It’s not just your customers with poor eyesight that appreciate large fonts; it’s everyone else, too. Fancy typefaces should not be overused because they can be hard to read. You want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to understand your message from across the room, and the way to do that is simple typefaces. It’s also a good idea to limit the number of fonts. In most cases, 2 or 3 fonts are plenty: one for large headlines and another for lists and paragraphs inside the brochure. Be consistent in the fonts you use and the sizes of your typefaces.