Brochure

A brochure is a printed piece of collateral material used for public relations, advertising, and marketing purposes. Brochures are considered a communication tool or tactic and a form of direct media, such as fliers, newsletters, and posters, which reaches its audiences through distribution channels other than mass media (i.e., newspapers, magazines, radio, and television). Other terms used to describe brochures are pamphlets, considered a simple version of a brochure, and booklets, which are brochures that are produced in small, book-like formats.

Every organization, whether corporate or nonprofit, needs brochures to convey key messages to particular target audiences. A brochure is a tactic with a specific objective. For example, brochures can educate an employee audience about company policies, inform customers about new products, or encourage members of a community to use a program offered by a nonprofit organization.

Brochures communicate a sizable amount of information to a single reader at a hand-held viewing distance. An orderly sequence of information is presented in stages through panels using a common design thread that visually connects all of the panels and helps entice and sustain the reader's attention.

Brochures are commonly distributed to a target audience interpersonally, in information racks and through the mail in a standard business envelope. In order to be effective, brochures must be strategically sound, which means they need to be targeted toward a particular audience, convey an overall key message, and attempt to achieve a specific objective. Some of the most common objectives in public relations include increasing awareness about a specific organization and educating the target audience about a specific service or product.

Brochures are produced in a variety of styles, shapes, and sizes. A format often used in public relations is a simple two-fold, six-panel, 8½ × 11 brochure. Another popular format is a one-fold, [Page 101]four-panel, 8½ × 11 brochure, which can be expanded by adding multiple pages. Brochures can be folded and bound in many ways. Letter, broadside, map, and accordion folds are commonly used. A common type of binding for booklets is a saddle stitch, which involves a staple through the spine of the publication.

Brochures need to be created with a unifying design throughout the entire publication, which can be conveyed through an appropriate choice of typeface, line rules, screens and tints, clip art, and color schemes. Brochures are commonly printed in one color, spot color (usually black for the type and another color to highlight specific areas in the brochure), and full color, which is the most expensive to produce. Some public relations practitioners begin with a layout and copy for a brochure and then work with a designer and/or printer to develop the final printed piece. Other practitioners create the entire piece themselves, using any number of desktop publishing programs, such as PageMaker, Quarkxpress, and Microsoft Publisher.