Everyone loves cake. But not everyone can make a cake from scratch. That’s why there are recipes you can follow that others have created to help.

The same goes for brochures, case studies and other content.

While most software companies have moved to digital format, having brochures readily available for emailing, downloading or even printing is still important.

Brochures play a key role in your sales and marketing process. From product brochures, company overviews and case studies, they all have a part to play in your sales journey.

They’re ideal for sharing content that prospects can share internally in order to get a grasp on what you offer. As you know, most prospects would rather learn more about your company in the privacy of their own office before jumping on a discovery call.

So, with all the importance of these assets, why is it such a pain to get them updated and rebranded?

The Perfect Storm

The mighty brochure sits within a unique mix of multiple skill sets. There’s the graphic design element, which leans toward a visual layout skill in order to make the brochure look good.

This includes colors, graphics and even images that need to be selected and formatted to tie it all together.

Then, there’s the writing aspect that has to do with the actual words on the page. It’s a completely different skill set that not only has to have the right tone and message, it needs to fit the layout or it just won’t work.

What this leads to are several designers waiting on each other to send files back and forth. In the end, it takes much longer than it should and turns into a revision nightmare.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a proven recipe that can help produce the right results?

Essential Ingredients

Just as you need to pour cake batter into the right size pan, fitting your content into the correct template is just as important. Otherwise, things get messy really quickly.

Choosing a layout means you need to envision how your new brochure or case study will look once it’s done. Thankfully, most templates have stock images and content built in so you can see how each page will look.

It’s important to keep in mind, most templates have images, colors and content that are placeholders. Don’t get stuck on content you see in the template. Simply look at it from arms length to determine if the look, feel and layouts work for you.

Questions to consider:

• Will this layout work for my project?
• Does it have a variety of pages to choose from?
• Once I update the colors and images, will it fit my existing brand?

Content Is The Cake Batter

Once you have your template, the container, that will dictate the amount of content needed. Multiple pages are fine, but you don’t want to have content running off the page like a messy mixing bowl.

Thankfully, the template you choose should have a placeholder of content you can use to get an accurate word count.

When writing your content, keep in mind who the ideal audience will be. This will dictate the tone and details you include within your writing. For example, don’t overly complicate a brochure with technical statistics if the primary audience doesn’t care.

Focus on readability and the benefits, remembering that you should aim for less on bragging and more on how your clients benefit from your help.

Questions to consider:

• Will my content fit into the template I’ve created?
• Does my content focus on the benefits?
• Have I tailored my content to my ideal audience?

The Frosting 

Just like baking a real cake, now we get to the fun part. Images and colors have a huge impact on your new piece of content.

Make sure the colors play well within your existing brand guide. You don’t want your new content to look as if it came from some other company. It all has to fit in.

Same goes for the images you choose. No matter if you use stock photos, custom photography or digital illustrations…it all has to play together.

If you already have great images on your website, using these in your content can tie your brand together. Most stock images come in a series where you have the opportunity to implement a theme from end to end.

Questions to consider:

• Are the colors I’m using fit within my company brand guide?
• Have I used images that help my overall message?
• Does my content look disjointed from my website?