Marketing your business on a budget - Brochures!

Marketing your business on a budget – Brochures

Although it can be quite expensive, brochure printing is a representation of your business and the ethos it aims to portray. Where The Trade Buys, who provide outdoor banners throughout the UK, are here to explain how you can provide great quality brochures on a budget. Marketing can be an expensive business, meaning as a start-up or small business, you will need to consider what the best method is for your business. The most difficult thing is learning how to budget when setting up a business.

Brochure Design – How do you want to be represented?

Below, I’ve underlined important factors that you must consider when planning your brochure.

1. Quality Standards

Sometimes people commonly think that you can only achieve high quality results if you pay a lot for them, but this is not the case. There are effective methods to take into account which can result in you achieving the quality you’ve wished for, even following a budget. Quality, even on a budget, you will want your brochures to look professional, so it is important that the quality of the brochure is good. This can be achieved through a number of factors. The size of your brochure and the way it is finished can influence the way it is received, and of course the cost. Whilst it is tempting to cram as much information onto fewer pages to save money, you don’t want to make your brochure look unprofessional.

Every business would use the highest paper stock they can afford in an ideal world but you should consider your audience and the purpose of the brochure before making a decision. This Is because the cost of paper can heavily have an impact on your budget. For an informal brochure, a thinner and cheaper paper stock is the better option – but if you are targeting a high-end corporate conference, you’ll want to invest a bit more money in a better paper stock. When it comes to the finish of your brochure, saddle stitched brochures are a sleek way to present your corporate brochure or catalogue to your audience, as they are generally finished with a gloss or silk lamination. The Scodix finish is available for companies who want to make their publication stand out and generally has a minimal difference to the cost. Case bound can be quite expensive, but is the crème-de-la-crème when it comes to top quality. If you have the budget to pull out all of the stops, then case bound is the option to go for. However, PUR is a high-end binding option that is more affordable than Case bound – this finish is ideal for pitch documents and coffee table brochures.

A simple yet effective tip is ensuring that everything has been thought through in the planning stages of your design. This might be obvious in your thought process when you go to design your brochure, but the accuracy of it can save you a lot of time and money – make it perfect. You don’t want to waste money on unnecessary reprinting because a mistake has slipped through the net. Make sure all design and text have gone through thorough quality checks for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and just general mishaps. Check, check and check again that everything is correct.

2. What information would you ideally include on your brochure?

The key to your brochure, is making sure that you are informative, but not too informative. This is because although you need to get it across to the client what you’re trying to achieve, but too much writing may make the viewer look otherwise. Less is often more! This is quite often the case for the copy you include in your brochure. Keep it simple – you don’t want to confuse the reader with too much information. Text should be clear and concise, including all the need-to-know information. This is good for budgeting, as you will save money on fewer pages. But remember to include your company logo, contact details and, of course, your key message – without these your marketing campaign will be a flop.

Although the design is down to you, an option for you could be to use unique font styles to make everything stand out from the page. The design is down to you – but remember it needs to remain clear to read and fit on the pages correctly.

3. How many copies would be needed?

The more brochures you buy, the less it will cost, therefore it is important to know how many brochures you will need when going in to design them. It is worth checking the price guides before you place an order to consider if a long run, medium run or short run will be the most cost-effective. Quick buy pricing guides allow you to make an informed decision without contacting the printing company directly – cutting out the middle man. Longer runs are generally most suited for handout brochure at events such as trade shows because they are more cost-effective.

4. Digital copies as well as traditional methods

Due to technological advancements, it might be a good idea to make your brochure available digitally by allowing people to download it as a PDF – this has no extra costs, as well as handing out paper versions. This way you can have both printed brochures and e-brochures.