While a business’ brochure may contain a plethora of information about its products or services, sometimes attracting consumers and getting them to actually care about taking a look inside of your brochure or magazine is a challenge in and of itself. But there are a few things you can do to spruce up your brochure’s cover to make sure that your consumers actually do to the meat of the wares that your company offers…
1. Research your market. This is paramount for any aspect of designing, marketing, or branding your product or service! Having insight into your consumer base’s needs and preferences will provide a leg up over your competitors and will give you ideas on how to present products to your primary consumers. Though a lot of this may seem like common sense, when designing a brochure conducting a research or market study will give you an idea of what types of keywords and images most attract your key demographic.
2. Show, don’t tell. The “meat” of your brochure – that is, the descriptions, customer reviews, methods to purchase, etc. – will exist primarily on the inner pages; it’s the cover of your brochure that will need to “hook” your audience, though! Using a few descriptive and alluring headings coupled with dynamic images of the product or service you provide is a surefire way to create hype and customer questions, which will lead to a consumer turning the pages of your brochure to find answers. If you’re selling a new kitchen tool, don’t just show an up-close image of it—that’s boring. Show a spirited picture of a lively family enjoying a meal that your tool has helped create (with the tool laying in the foreground, of course!). Your consumers may subconsciously link feelings of happiness and family with your product and could be swayed to buy it themselves.
3. Give your consumers a plan of action. Sure, the cover of your brochure should firstly prompt people to want to read more! …but it should also convey a plan of action. Using a smart, succinct subheading, refer your consumers to turn to a certain page to get more information on a product or to put in an order for a service. This will give them a reason to open up your brochure and get a glimpse of even more of the commodities you have to offer.
4. Remove the risk. Even if a consumer likes what your product or service has to offer, removing the risk of purchase with a money-back guarantee or a BOGO (buy-one-get-one free) offer, or some variation of the two, is likely to alleviate some of the concerns a new consumer may have regarding what you have to offer.
5. Give a glimpse of the reward. This “reward” doesn’t refer to your business’ service or product, but rather the reward of taking the leap of actually opening up your brochure and checking out your stuff. Include a time-sensitive reason to “act now” on your brochure’s cover that encourages them to take a look inside. This type of value-added material, like a discount code or a coupon, may be the final prompting a curious buyer needs to become a repeat customer of your brand!