What information should your brochure contain to be successful? Read any marketing book or article about brochure design and it will tell you to know your target audience and design your piece with that audience in mind.

Before you select photographs and open your word processing or desktop publishing program, first review your competitors’ brochures and then take time to create two lists.

The first list will contain information your target audience wants to learn about your product or service. The second list will contain information you want your target audience to learn about your product or service.

Your prospective customer may think they know what they want, but no one knows your product the way you do. Use your brochure to answer all of their questions, and they may end up doing business with your competitor. Why? Perhaps because your competitor told the customer something they did not know to ask.

Use your brochure to capture your audience’s attention and give them some of the information they are looking for from your first list. But, focus your brochure on key items from the second list to leave them with the impression you want them to have of your products or services.

The average person walks away remembering only two or three main points from any ad, sign, or brochure. Because your brochure has a long life, your reader can return later to find for some bit of information. They will most likely remember one of the key points as a trigger to re-read a particular section. If minor points are logically nested under major points, they can easily find the information they want.

Using your two lists, create an outline of your brochure content. Select three major points from the second list. Nest minor points from both lists within major points to strengthen or support a major point.

Now you are ready to write your first draft, look at your budget to decide the format of your brochure and how many colors it will have, decide on appropriate photographs or artwork, edit your text, and finally design your brochure!

Everyone has a story to tell. My objective is to help others tell their stories by combining visual clues and words to form cohesive designs.

I have always dreamed of becoming a story teller. I invented some great stories when I was a kid until the nuns told me I shouldn’t tell lies! As I have grown, I have discovered that people have great true stories to tell about themselves.

Do you think that only celebrities and famous personalities have fascinating stories to tell? Do you think that their lives make more interesting reading than yours? If you think about it, some of the most loved movies and books are stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Their stories capture our interest because we can relate to them in some way . . . we share some feeling or historical perspective. That sharing causes people to react in some way.

No one wants to do business with a complete stranger. Tell your story! Now, you may think that your life’s story is not interesting enough to put into print. While you may have no desire to print your memoirs or a complete autobiography, offering others a glimpse of your personal story can provide an undecided potential customer a reason to buy your service or product.

To read some interesting stories online, visit www.swuf.com or www.wilmascorner.com.

To publish your story online or in a brochure, contact Site Schemes.