"Brochures are one of the cornerstones of effective advertising, but not all brochures are equally effective.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been in an office and noticed brochure stands that are dust covered and seemingly neglected.  The difference between a space filler and an advertising dynamo is care in design, so don't let your brochures become tired and stale.  Consider some of the following ideas when planning your brochure printing.

- Grab them before they go.  Most people will not open a brochure that doesn't give some real benefit or a compelling reason on the front cover. Keep your company name down at the bottom of the front cover and leave room at the top for your headline.  Additionally, unless your company's logo is integrated into your company name, consider placing it on the back cover.  That way it is still prominent, but isn't detracting from your attention grabber on the cover.

- Image is everything.  Clearly, full color brochures are going to be more visually engaging than black and white or simple, two color brochures.  Your brochure design should project a professional image and should appear modern and savvy to the customer.  Stay away from crowded, overly small text, empty clichés, recycled art and photos, and low quality image resolution. A professional quality brochure design shows you care.

- Focus on what you have to offer.  Don't overwhelm them by trying to fit your entire catalogue into a three panel brochure.  Feature the benefits of a select family of products or services. Include products in your brochure that logically go together.  You've enticed the reader to open and read your brochure, so you don‘t want to lose them on a confused mess of seemingly unrelated items as soon as they open it.

- Keep it simple.  Even if you are selling supercomputers to rocket scientists, overly technical writing is going to be a chore to read.  Display your products and give the basic information without a lot of industry jargon that might go over your customers head.  Chances are, if they are interested enough to want to know the cubic volume of your product they will call you and ask.

- Remember your purpose.  When it comes down to it.  You are printing brochures with one goal in mind.  Enticing people to buy your products or services.  When someone picks up your brochure they aren't looking for a chronological history of your company or personal information about your career in the industry.  They are expecting you to sell them something.   Don't waste space that can be used for product display or sales pitches.

Brochures can be one of the most versatile tools in your proverbial advertising tool belt or they can sit in you office attracting dust bunnies.  There's no excuse to put up with the same tired brochures.  You run a thriving, professional company and your brochures should reflect that.