Are brochures good for B2B marketing? Absolutely. Despite living in an increasingly digital world, well-designed brochures remain powerful tools for communicating your value proposition, establishing credibility, and supporting sales conversations.

The statistics speak for themselves – 37% of printed catalogues remain in homes for longer than four weeks, and response rates from catalogues have increased by 170% since 2004.

This article covers:

• What is a marketing brochure
• Essential tips for writing effective brochures
• How RMC can help

What is a Marketing Brochure?

A marketing brochure is a printed or digital document that presents information about your company, products, or services in a structured, visually appealing format.

Brochures typically come in the form of multi-fold leaflets or multi-page booklets. They can be standalone pieces or bundled as part of a catalogue of services.

For B2B companies, brochures function as essential sales support tools. Unlike advertisements that focus on immediate action, brochures serve as comprehensive reference materials that prospects can review at their own pace.

They bridge the gap between initial interest and detailed understanding, providing the depth of information that B2B decision-makers require while maintaining professional presentation standards.

The beauty of brochures lies in their versatility. They can be distributed at trade shows, included in proposal packages, sent to prospects, or downloaded from websites. With 56% of people finding printed marketing the most trustworthy of all marketing channels, brochures offer credibility that digital-only communications struggle to match.

Why Brochures are still an important tool in B2B Marketing

In a world of digital and being able to measure every step of the customer journey, it can feel like print material and brochures are rather old hat. However, while it can be difficult to directly measure the impact of a brochure – when viewing their effectiveness in the bigger picture of your marketing mix there can almost always still be a place for them in B2B marketing.

Did you know?

• Direct mail (including brochures) achieves response rates of 9% for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists – significantly higher than digital channels
• 73% of US consumers prefer direct mail for brand communication
• 70% of consumers say direct mail is more personal than digital interactions
• Combining direct mail with other channels increases response rates by 450%

These figures show that well-executed brochures can deliver exceptional results, particularly when integrated with broader marketing campaigns.

Essential Tips for Writing Effective Brochures

Think About the Purpose of Your Brochure

Before putting pen to paper, clearly define what you want your brochure to achieve. The purpose will influence every aspect of your brochure design and content. Are you introducing a new product line? Supporting a sales pitch? Providing detailed specifications for technical buyers?

A product introduction brochure might focus on benefits and competitive advantages, while a technical specification brochure would emphasise detailed features and performance data. Understanding your purpose helps determine the appropriate tone, level of detail, and call-to-action elements.

Have a Clear Audience in Mind

Effective brochures speak directly to their intended audience. B2B buyers have different needs, pain points, and decision-making processes. Consider who will be reading your brochure – are they technical specialists, procurement managers, or business owners?

Technical audiences appreciate detailed specifications and performance metrics, while executive audiences prefer high-level benefits and ROI information. Understanding your audience also influences design choices, from colour schemes and imagery to layout and typography.

Think of the Key Message You Want to Convey

Every effective brochure has one primary message that should be immediately apparent to readers. This key message should appear prominently on the front panel and be reinforced throughout the content. Whether it's "the most reliable solution in the market" or "reducing operational costs by 30%", your central message should be crystal clear.

Make it big. Make it bold. Make it stand out. Supporting messages can provide additional detail, but they should never overshadow or contradict your primary value proposition.

Less is More – Avoid Information Overload

One of the most common mistakes in brochure writing is trying to include everything. Too much information can dilute your key message and overwhelm readers. It's easy to get carried away and cram every available piece of space with facts and figures. This will just cause customers to get lost and miss the information that is vital to a sale.

Be brave. Good marketing is including all the information your customer could need, brilliant marketing is knowing what information to leave out. Focus on the most compelling and relevant information for your target audience.

Think of How the Brochure Will Be Distributed

How your brochure will be distributed should influence its design, format, and content. Will it be available online only, requiring digital-friendly formatting? Will it be mailed to prospects, necessitating envelope-friendly dimensions? Will it be handed out at exhibitions, requiring pocket-sized convenience?

Each distribution method has implications for design choices. Exhibition brochures need eye-catching covers to stand out in busy environments, while direct mail pieces might benefit from personalised covers. Digital brochures can include interactive elements and direct links to additional resources.

Consider that brochures work best as conversion tools when you have a customer who has already expressed interest. They are less useful when provided to customers cold with no prior contact. Use brochures primarily as a follow-up tool – had a great chat with a potential client at a trade show? Send them a brochure as part of your follow-up.

Include a Designer from the Start

Professional design significantly impacts your brochure's effectiveness. You've spent a lot of time working on your business brand, let it shine. Keep your brochures on brand and consistent with other marketing material you provide.

Experienced designers understand how layout, typography, and visual hierarchy guide readers through your content. They can suggest optimal formats, recommend appropriate imagery, and ensure your brochure reflects your brand standards. Involving a designer early in the process allows them to influence content structure for maximum visual impact.

Consider Print Quality Carefully

If producing printed brochures, quality matters significantly in B2B environments where materials reflect on your company's professionalism.

A brochure is like a first impression, the quality in execution and material speaks to clients about your brand.

If you give a lead an unattractive brochure with poor print quality, what will they think about your business? Is the work you’ll do the client also going to be cheap and poorly executed? Meanwhile, what does a beautifully printed piece of material with high quality finish say? That your business takes pride in all their work and will deliver a premium service.

You can also consider whether you need mass-market printing for wide distribution or premium printing for high-value prospects. High-quality printing using heavy GSM paper, special finishes, or even foiling can create impressive pieces that prospects are more likely to keep and reference.

Top tip: One way to deliver a high quality finish for a reduced cost is printing a high-quality main brochure with timeless content, then using cheaper inserts (or even a QR code to your website's product catalogue) for pricing or promotional information that changes regularly. This strategy, similar to the principles discussed in our product sheet guide, allows you to maintain professional presentation while keeping costs manageable for variable content.

Proofread Again and Again

Check, check and check again! Brochures often become the definitive source of information on your product both inside and outside the business, so make sure they are correct.

Nothing undermines credibility faster than spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or factual inaccuracies in professional marketing materials. Common mistakes slip in on numbers, contact details, prices and even product images.

Get fresh eyes on your brochure. Don't be scared to check someone else's work, and always do a final proof-read as errors have a nasty habit of slipping in during the amend phase. The more eyes you have on it, the better chance you have to catch errors.

Top tip: Always leave your page numbers and content page until last. A last-minute change of layout can force you to completely re-design these elements – causing rushed mistakes to slip in. If you reference a page number of chapter in the body text of the brochure it is often wise to leave this highlighted and as a placeholder in draft version to clearly signpost during final checks.

The inside pages of the above brochure have a bold use of sub-heading to break up the information - white space is confidently used to help the reader navigate the page.

Don't Be Scared of White Space

Don't be scared of white space on the page. Brochures need to deliver a key message you want your audience to take away. Filling every bit of space on the page, dilutes your key message and can distract the reader. Therefore, be bold and embrace the effective use of white space to make your content more digestible.

Okay, so white space is good, and no one want to read a wall of text, but we still have to convey a message. So, what are some of the ways we can convey the same amount of information without using sentences paragraphs? Well, you could use:

• Bullet points
• Subheadings
• Bold text
• Different fonts

All these techniques make information easily scannable to a reader.

Top tip: Remember, your brochure should generate interest and prompt further conversation, not always serve as an exhaustive manual (product sheets, product catalogues and technical manuals are a subset of brochures used for a very specific purpose). It’s good marketing to answer your clients’ questions, but think, will missing information stop a client converting? Or, can it wait until after the client has signed up and be presented in a different piece of material.

How the RMC Can Help

At Richmond Marketing Consultancy, we understand the strategic importance of well-crafted marketing materials in B2B success. We work with B2B, manufacturing and professional services companies that need high-quality brochures to help sell their products and services.

Our experienced team can help you develop compelling brochure content that resonates with your target audience and supports your business objectives. From initial concept development and content strategy to working with designers and managing production, we provide comprehensive support for your brochure projects.

We can use our experience to help you create the perfect brochures for your business. Whether you need a single brochure for a specific campaign or a complete suite of marketing collateral, our outsourced marketing services can provide the expertise and capacity you need.