5 min read

18 | 09 | 2025

How To Get The Most Out of A Printed Corporate Brochure

Print marketing is experiencing a revival, with a 2022 study from Quadient finding that 2 in 3 consumers are more likely to open a letter than an email, with a further 39% saying that letters feel more personalised to them and their needs than receiving a bulk email message.

When approached with some strategic thinking, high quality printed marketing materials will make your business stand out. As part of our design and print services, we’ve produced countless corporate brochures for some well known brands across Cumbria and beyond, including Pioneer, Cranstons, and Higham Hall. We’ve created this guide to show you just how much thought needs to go into a printed brochure, if it’s going to be used as an impactful marketing tool. Here’s how to get it right.

1. Define your purpose, target audience & call to action

Before you brief designers or get ahead with product photography, it’s important to set some clear goals - just as you would with any type of marketing campaign. List your reasoning for even wanting the brochure - are you introducing a new brand? Are you just highlighting your services as part of a lead generation push? Or are you looking to drive traffic to your business for a seasonal campaign? All of these are valid drivers for wanting a brochure, and they all warrant taking a specific design and planning approach.

You’ll also want to think specifically about your target audience - who do you want to find value in the brochure, and what kind of characteristics define them? When we’re exploring brochures with our clients, we take an in-depth look at the audience demographics of their target audience, and it informs some of the decisions that we make in terms of the overall design.

You also need to establish what your desired call to action will be - it could be visiting your website, calling for a quote, or booking an in-person meeting. This will also be a key factor in design decisions.

2. Choosing the right format & flow

The style that you choose for your brochure will quite literally shape how your message will unfold, so it’s helpful to understand how some of the different styles work.

Stapled brochure printing

With a stapled brochure, there are two pages folded along the spine, secured using saddle-stitches. It’s one of the simplest formats that you can choose, and it works really well for lots of different industries. It can be customised in plenty of ways, and you’ll tend to have a huge choice of paper qualities.

Perfect bound brochures

A perfect bound brochure has a flat spine secured with a strong adhesive, with a smooth edge and a sleek overall appearance. They’re the best option if you’re looking for a professional finish, often used for magazines, reports, and whitepapers. To give our customers the most out of this style, we offer uncoated paper, gloss paper, or silk paper.

Wiro bound brochures

If you need a long-lasting, durable solution, a wiro bound brochure could be ideal. With a wiro bound brochure, you benefit from flat lay opening and easy page turning, plus the entire document is bound together using sturdy wiro.

Square brochures

Square brochures are great for projects that involve a mixture of high-resolution photos and text, such as catalogues, guides, and event programmes, A square brochure is a more modern option, and you can often choose between several different finishes - we offer matt, uncoated or glossy paper, making your images and text look crisp.

We’d recommend creating a flat plan to visualise the content you’re planning on including, as this will help you to choose the right format for your purpose - and this is something we do with our clients.

3. Design with readability & engagement in mind

The aim of your brochure isn’t to cram in as much information as possible, as this will actually make it harder for readers to engage with your content. Instead, the content that you include should be purposeful and well-thought out. Unless you’re creating a brochure with a format that warrants dense, in-depth paragraphs such as a whitepaper, keep your content brief and concise, using bullet points, short paragraphs, and clear headings .

It is also worthwhile considering the fonts that you’ll use carefully: opt for no more than 2–3 complementary fonts, for headers, subheadings, and body, while respecting brand standards.

4. Prioritise print-ready technical setup

One of the most important aspects (but often overlooked) of corporate brochure printing is how printer-friendly the design itself is. You’ll need to avoid unwanted outcomes like visible crop marks, smudging or drying issues, and pixelated images - all of which will hinder the impact of the final brochure. If this type of thing sounds confusing to you, this is exactly what we’re here to help with!

5. Choose the right paper stock & finishes

The feel of your brochure speaks volumes, and it’s these kinds of considerations that your customers will pick up on. For example, paper stock (the weight, finish, and texture of the paper you’re printing on) can vary; satin paper will create a smooth, elegant finish, whereas gloss can make visuals pop, and uncoated is best for creating a natural feel. There’s also ways that you can experiment with this, for example you might want to use a heavier cover stock, paired with lighter inner pages for a hands-on contrast. Beyond this, finishes like spot UV, matte or soft-touch lamination, hot foiling, or embossing will all add a multi-sensory layer to engage readers.

6. Consider creative touches to make your brochure unique

To make a lasting impression, there are a few creative additions that you might want to consider in your final design.

Unique shapes or die-cuts - rounded corners or window cut-outs can showcase specific visuals and create intrigue
Black or special inks: A dark background with foil or fluorescent accents can create an eye-catching contrast.
Break-out inserts: A smaller brochure tucked inside a larger one creates a “take-me-away” effect.

7. Bridge the print & digital worlds

While we’re talking about a printed asset, there are still ways to bring a digital appeal to your corporate brochure. Adding scannable QR codes will link your print content with your online presence, especially if you consider creating a specific landing page on your website that has a clear connection to the brochure. In this way, you can coordinate with your digital campaigns; the physical brochure acts as the hook, driving readers to digital platforms for more engagement/conversions.

Digital and print marketing can work in tandem, supporting customers at various stages of the purchase or conversion process. For example, a targeted social media campaign could be devised to generate sign ups, with consequent brochures being posted out to customers. Here, both channels are catering to both discovery stage (social media) and commercial (those who sign up to receive a brochure) customers.

Turn a printed brochure into an impactful marketing asset with Reeds

On the whole, direct mail investments are up, and corporate printed brochures are part of this approach. Findings from JICMAIL established that around 40% of website visits that were triggered by mail resulted in a conversion - so your well-thought out, high-quality formatted brochure could be making an extremely significant impact once it lands in letterboxes.

Want to see the impact that a well throughout out, carefully designed printed corporate brochure can have for your business? We can help you to achieve exactly this, so contact us to get started. In the meantime, find out more about how we can help you with your digital and print marketing, from SEO and website design, to exterior signage, posters and more.

Get in touch for your brochure needs