A brochure is an extremely effective marketing tool and, although it can be expensive to produce, the benefits far outweigh the initial outlay.

To gain the maximum benefit from your brochure, you need to make it as dynamic and as interesting as possible so you know it will be read. You need to ensure that everything from your illustrations to your text is appealing and eye-catching.

Before you start work on your brochure, you need to think about who it is you want to read it ie your target market. You want it to be read by people who may want to buy what you are selling or use your services. You must then ensure the content of the brochure will appeal to your target market.

If it is a product you are selling, a photograph of someone using that product is preferable to a photo of just the product. A single photo of a happy user of your product is much more likely to inspire your reader and make him want to buy what you are selling. Appealing visuals will get your product noticed so it is important to choose the content well. Remember, pictures of babies, young children, puppies and kittens all appeal to most people. Think of ways to include them in your cover photograph.

An important point to remember when using photographs is to include a caption which tells your reader who and what is in the photograph. Photos without captions only tell half the story.

Headings are an integral part of your brochure but remember that headings should not just tell the reader what the following paragraph is about but they should be crafted so that the reader will want to read on into the body text.

You could use the technique of offering a solution here such as: 'How to make a fortune without really trying' or asking a question such as: 'What makes Chumpy Puppy dog food better than the rest?' The headings should not be too long.

Failure to capture the reader's attention will mean the prospect will not read your copy. It is worth spending time on getting the headline right and testing it on a few people before printing it in your brochure.

When you have their attention you need to keep it. Your body text should therefore be lively, interesting and compelling enough to make your reader want to buy from you or use your services.

The copy must focus on your customer, stress the benefits of using your product or service, outline what sets your product apart from your competition, prove your case, establish your credibility and build value.

It is important to make the text easy to read and get your message across. Reducing the amount of text is far better than reducing the size of the font to fit all the text in. If the text is too small, your prospects will not read so, if it is too long, rewrite it.

As attention getters, important words can be highlighted in bold or italics but these highlighting tools should be used sparingly. Overuse can be off putting.

Short, sharp sentences are easy to read and easy to remember. Long sentences make the reader quickly lose interest and you run the risk of them stopping before they have read your message.

Bullet points, as with bold type and italics, are good attention getters but overuse of those can also put a reader off.

Close your brochure with a call to action and make sure your mailing address, fax number, telephone numbers, including mobiles, email and web site are all included. It is imperative you make it easy for your potential customers to contact you. The easier it is for them to find you, the more chance you have of them actually making contact.