Do you make use of print handouts in order to disseminate information about your company? Are you perhaps confused about what kind of handout to use in order to market your business effectively to the general public? Perhaps it’s time for you to get properly acquainted with the various types of handouts your company can employ, depending of course on your marketing purposes, your budget and the capabilities of your print solution. The three types of handouts we’ll be focusing on in this article are:

• Flyers or leaflets
• Brochures
• Booklets

Flyers or leaflets

Flyers, otherwise known as leaflets, are used for marketing on a relatively small scale. The information they display has to be concise and get straight to the point, while their visuals have to be as eye-catching as possible. Flyers need to grab the attention of people immediately. While it is best to use flyers for event promotion, they can be used for other purposes. You can use them as fact sheets at conferences or trade shows or to advertise sales, products or a new business. They can also be conveniently inserted into newspapers and magazines, or handed out to citizens in strategic areas.

Brochures

Brochures offer you the chance to be a bit more thorough when it comes to explaining and promoting aspects of your brand or product. You can fit a great deal more information on them, and they can be used as follow-up promotional material that might assist you in closing a sale; educational content that helps to inform potential clients and customers about your services; or simple reference material for your customers. Like flyers, brochures can come in handy at trade shows, expos and product or service activations.

In addition to this, brochures allow you to be a lot more creative when it comes to presentation. You have the opportunity to add far more enticing visuals, and you even have various choices when it comes to how your brochures can be folded. These include the standard half-fold or bifold brochure and more complex variations such as the gate fold, with two side panels that open like a gate, and the Z-fold, with three panels that fold one on top of the other. Your choice depends on how much you have to say about your brand and how you want to lay it out.

READ MORE: The importance of colour in print

Booklets

Booklets are your best bet if you really want to go in-depth about your brand. The booklet can be used as a manual to educate the reader on how a product or service works, as a thorough catalogue of a brand’s products and services, or as reference material. The great thing about booklets is that they have more longevity than flyers or brochures, as consumers of your brand can keep returning to them if and when the need arises.

When it comes to creating handouts that promote your brand, your choice depends on the context of your project. If you want to invite consumers to an event, then a flyer will come in handy, but if you want them to be thoroughly educated on how your service works, then it’s probably best to pick a booklet. Just make sure your office printing solution is dependable enough to take on the task of printing those handouts. After all, you want to turn out high quality advertising for your company, and a well-designed brochure, leaflet or booklet can help.