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Why Use Brochures To Advertise?
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Brochures
If you have landed here, you may be wondering ‘Why use brochures to advertise?’ There are many advantages and disadvantages of brochures and leaflet printing. Leaflets are useful for promotional campaigns for small businesses, but the uses of brochure advertising are endless.
Sales brochures are effective marketing tools when they specifically target potential customers with a call to action. Read on to discover the top 3 benefits of brochures in marketing and the pros and cons of brochure advertising. We will also look at the best ways to reach your target audience and strengthen brand loyalty.
Marketing brochures are one the most effective and versatile tools that inform customers about products and services. There are many reasons why you should produce brochures as part of your marketing plan. Before we look at distributing them cost-effectively, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of brochures.
3 Advantages Of Marketing Brochures
1: Saves Time For Potential Buyers
Your marketing literature will save time for exhibition visitors at trade shows. Potential customers will appreciate the convenience of picking up your brochure to read on the train home. It will give them the impression that you like to make things efficient for your customers and business partners.
Potential buyers may use brochures to conveniently review and compare products and services. So don’t miss out on this opportunity to target buyers at tradeshows and be included in their buying evaluation process!
The compact shape and size of a brochure means that a lot of information can be received at once. You can introduce the company, corporate values, products and services and their features and benefits. Essentially, it’s a condensed version of your website that enables customers to easily flick through to find information. They help buyers to quickly analyse a lot of information before deciding whether they should part with their money or not. So make sure to include what makes your company different!
2: Easy To Distribute To Reach Your Target Audience
Brochures are easy to distribute and can be addressed to specific people in a direct mailing campaign. They can be used to target potential customers either on your premises or given out during a sales visit.
There are many ways to distribute company brochures at events. Simply displaying brochures on racks at exhibitions and conferences gets your message across to your target audience. Trade shows sometimes allow you to put brochures into the welcome bags for visitors.
Some trade shows will ask exhibitors to create media kits to help journalists write about companies at the exhibition. Therefore, putting brochures in the press office or in a media kit will increase your chance of being picked up by journalists. It's more attention grabbing than digital advertising such as an email that is quickly deleted or ends up in the spam folder. A well-targeted brochure campaign captures the undivided attention of the reader, unlike online adverts which compete with neighbouring ones in a small area.
The tangible way that a brochure is received, gives the recipient a simple way to receive a lot of information. They can keep hold of it to read more thoroughly later on.
3: Strengthen Your Brand And Build Trust
Brochures are one of the best ways to show off your expertise and what makes your business different. Thicker paper stock gives a high-quality appearance and a good first impression of your brand. It might be the first physical interaction that a potential customer will have with your brand, so why not choose a luxury laminate for the cover too?
Brochures are an effective marketing tool for strengthening your brand and building trust. For example, case studies show off your proven experience and reliable credentials. This helps to position your brand as a high-quality firm that is reliable. Quotes from your customers will give the reader the reassurance that they are looking for. Our selection of customisation options lets you choose a brochure design that is bespoke to your brand.
Disadvantages Of Brochures
1: Brochure Printing Expense
When compared to other printed materials, brochures are one of the most expensive. For direct marketing campaigns, brochures are more expensive to post than leaflets. However, brochures make more of an impact. They help you to make a good first impression with potential customers, showing your brand values from the start. They speak volumes about your brand and what you think of your company.
If you target prospective customers with poor-quality materials, they will assume that you don’t think much about your company. Therefore, if you need to cut costs, it is better to target fewer prospects with high-quality materials.
2: Takes Time To Get Right
It takes time to get the content right. If you don’t have a marketing department, gathering content ideas to pass on to an agency takes a while. However, once a brochure is finalised, it is easily updated for ongoing use in the future.
3: Environmental Concerns
There are environmental concerns with printing, especially with litho and offset presses. Unlike other methods, digital printing does not use printing plates or wet ink (which might contain animal products).
The digital printing method uses less energy, produces less waste, and has a smaller carbon footprint than other techniques. Our toner is a dry printing process that does not involve solvents or animal products either.
Select one of our laminates to add the perfect finishing touch to brochure covers without affecting their recyclability. Matt laminate brochures have a modern appearance while gloss laminates make colours more vivid, making your graphics pop. Whereas our soft touch laminate feels like velvet for a luxurious first impression of your company. To make your brochure environmentally friendly opt for recycled paper. For green brands, you could consider kraft flyers.
Brochures That Last Longer
Whichever paper type you choose, we recommend thick paper stock for your brochures to give them a high-quality feel. It also makes them last longer. A targeted campaign aimed at your target audience helps to reduce the amount of unnecessary shipping and brochure printing. This helps to reduce the chance of someone throwing it in the bin. If it feels disposable, it can easily be lost or discarded.
Deforestation Concerns
Environmental concerns about printed materials are not a new thing. Some people believe that paper production destroys tropical rainforests. While it is true that rainforests are being eroded by mankind, it is not the paper industry that is responsible for this. The hardwood trees are not suitable for the paper industry.
Woodpulp used to make paper is continually grown and harvested in a strict and controlled way. According to Dor2dor 90% of the wood pulp used for papermaking comes from Europe, where it is grown in a strictly sustainable and controlled way.
Why Are Brochures Effective?
Brochures Are More Effective Than Digital Ads
Company brochures are a proven method of advertising and a vital tool in marketing. According to a neuroscience study, direct mail is visually processed quicker than digital media. The study found direct mail had 21% less cognitive effort to process compared to digital advertising. They also concluded that printed materials elicit a much higher brand recall and response rate.
Brochures Make A Good Impression
Uses of brochure advertising include acquisition campaigns to gain new customers. This means your brochure will be the first physical interaction with your brand. For a high-quality finish that makes an impact, we recommend a paper weight of no less than 300gsm for the cover with a luxury laminate finish. We also suggest matt 170gsm or higher for inner pages that are text-heavy. The matt paper makes reading easier because it does not reflect the light. For more information about the differences see our blog Gloss Silk or Uncoated Paper.
We offer booklets and brochure printing with saddle stitching and strong staples inserted into the spine to bind the pages together. We also offer wire-bound book printing, which is a great choice if you have lots of pages. However, if you really want to make a good impression, we recommend perfect bound book printing for a high-quality finish.
