Creating the perfect brochure for your business can be difficult, with a wide range of different factors to consider. From color to copy, working out what to include – and what to exclude – can be a challenging, time-consuming process.

The ideal information and design elements for your brochure can vary based on the type of product or service your selling, your target audience and your overall sales and marketing strategy.

Direct sales can demand an information-rich brochure packed with persuasive and informative copy, while a long sales process (such as those seen in B2B) can often require a different, less direct approach.

In this guide, we’ll share four tips, tactics and techniques to help you work out what information and design elements to include and exclude in your brochure to achieve the maximum response rate.

In B2B, leave out key pricing information to generate more leads

One of the keys to effective B2B sales is to focus on fewer leads and invest more of your sales team’s time into each lead. This makes generating sales leads from your brochure a far greater priority than generating immediate sales.

People are unlikely to buy a $10,000 business service just from a brochure, but the chance of them indicating interest in your service – provided it’s something they’re truly interested in – is quite high.

Because of this, it’s often best to leave key pricing information out of your brochure when you’re selling B2B services or products. With the pricing information absent, prospects will need to contact you to learn more, initiating the sales cycle.

In B2C, make pricing obvious and easy for prospects to understand

When it comes to B2C, the B2B process is flipped on its head – instead of spending a lot of time on each prospect, it’s better to take a “wide” approach to marketing your product or service and make information as accessible as possible.

If you’re marketing a B2C product – particularly an inexpensive product – make sure your brochure includes detailed pricing, purchase and delivery information so your audience can make a decision right then and there.

There are very few impulse buys in B2B, but a great deal of on-the-spot decisions in the world of B2C sales. Offer as much information as possible to drive home the sale and inspire prospects to take immediate action.

Include authoritative colors and elements to build trust in your brand

You’ll rarely find a brochure for an investment firm or major bank with bright pink or orange lettering. This is because color plays a huge role in how we perceive not just value, but reliability and trustworthiness.

If your product or service depends on trust – for example, an investment or a B2B service – it’s vital that you use colors and design elements that encourage trust and respectability in your brochures and other marketing materials.

Colors like dark blue and dark green inspire people to trust your brand, even if used relatively lightly. Likewise, design elements such as serif fonts, which create a more esteemed, prestigious look, add additional credibility to your offer.

Include several different ways to contact your sales team

If your campaign goal is to generate leads, it’s important to give reader a variety of ways to contact your sales team. Not all prospects will want to connect with your team over the phone – some may wish to visit your nearest store, for example.

Include as many contact methods as possible and you’ll maximize your response rate. In a direct mail campaign, for example, you’ll want to include your company’s phone number, mailing address, website and the address of your nearest store.

The more options you give your target audience, the larger your target audience’s ability to respond becomes. By maximizing your audience’s ability to respond, it’s far more likely that your campaign will achieve (or exceed) its objective.