How to Make a Brochure?

With modern marketing shifting towards digital, some of the traditional methods are not as effective as they used to be.

So, TV commercials, billboards, and leaflets seem to be destined to fall out of grace.

But do they really have to?

Sure, the return on investment for TV spots is nowhere near its level from 40 years ago. And whenever someone hands us a leaflet, we tend to throw it away without even looking. However, with a little adjustment, such as transitioning to an electronic brochure , these traditional methods can find new life and effectiveness.

In this article, we will take a look at how to create a brochure that can be an effective tool for online marketing.

Are brochures and leaflets the same thing?

No. They are not.

But I can understand why many people would think so. They are both informative, paper-printed advertisements. There are several differences between them. One of them is the way they are distributed. How so? Anyone can be handed a leaflet. But a brochure? It’s designed for a specific group of people. Take travel brochure for example. You wouldn’t want to give out specifics of a trip to Egypt to a stranger, right? You would rather give it to someone who is going or considers taking that trip. And that’s what travel brochures are for.

A brochure – when to use it?

The idea of the brochure is to educate someone in a clear and informative way. Think about brochures that you would see waiting for your doctor’s appointment. They are often explaining how to take care of your health better. Or even explain how to recognize if you have a disease that you have never heard of. No sales pitch, no Call-to-Action. Just a piece of information communicated with text and images. Does it mean that a brochure cannot be used in advertising? Absolutely not!

When you create a brochure, you have to think about why you want to spread the message that you are spreading. If it’s because you are eager to sell your product, then it’s important to make a brochure that creates a demand for it. So lets look a the example of a travel brochure. You could point out how beautiful Egypt is when you drive away from all the tourist attractions. And then, your brochure could list all the car rental packages that you are offering.

Why having a brochure is important?

It’s a marketing channel just like everything else. Be it your website or your Facebook group. So what can happen if you make a brochure and post it online? You may find that it attracts traffic from places that were outside your reach. Also, brochures are pretty easy to make. There are already brochure templates on Canva or even MS Office! Using a template is less time-consuming than creating a brochure from scratch. And given the fact that you could be using the same brochure for months, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

Also, no matter what type of business you run, a custom brochure with text and images introducing your brand is always a nice “hello” to your customers.

I want to make a brochure and post it online – now what?

The best way to start is to use one of the brochure templates offered by Canva and MS Office. You can also check ” The Best Brochure Template Websites” . If you have any experience with MS Word, then all you need to do is to create a new document on open a file with a brochure template. With Canva it’s even easier – you only need to select the design that you like and fill in the existing brochure template with your text and images.

That was the easy part.

Now, it’s time to choose the right publication channel. And sure, you can print a few hundred copies and give them away to your customers.

But, what’s the best way to show them online?

Recommended: Publish your brochure online with Publuu

A traditional approach is rather simple – post your content on your blog/website/ social media and let your audience find it. Will it work? Sure. Can it work better? Absolutely.

We worked with magazine publishers before. And they all seem to be saying the same thing: the best thing about flipbooks , is that they “behave” like a real magazines . How so? Well, we added a little animation of a turned page here, then a little animation of a shadow of a flipped page there. And few other little things. The devil is in the details.

Publuu’s brochure example

This is how you turn your brochure into flipbook:

The first thing you need to do is to save your brochure as a PDF file. It’s easy – whether you are using Canva or MS Word there’s a way to save your brochure in a format that will suit you.

Now, register a free Publuu account . Then, Publuu will ask you to upload your first PDF file. Select a PDF file with your brochure.

Wait a few seconds, until Publuu generates a preview of your brochure. Noticed anything different?

Yes, your online brochure can now flip pages just like a real thing! Also, in a Flipbook panel, you can see different features that you can use to share your brochure. For blogs and websites, you can select the “embed” feature. It will integrate your brochure with your page.

An “Email” feature does exactly what you think it would – it sends your brochure via email. How is that different from regular attachment? With Publuu your email attachment keeps all the features of the flipbook – including its sounds and animation. The regular attachment would only be able to show a boring PDF.

One last feature that you should consider is our “link generator”. It generates trackable links to your brochure. This way, you can see how well your brochure is doing and which channel is performing best.

Has your business ever used brochures? How well they did?

You may be also interested in “The Best Brochure Maker”