February 13, 2007
How to Create a Custom Brochure for Your Small Business
No one can argue with the fact that high quality brochures are excellent marketing tools. However, the cost of designing and printing a custom brochure can seem prohibitive to the small business on a budget. Fortunately, the rise of inexpensive personal computing and internet access means that even small businesses on the most meager of budgets can still create their own custom brochures without having to spend money having the custom brochure printed at a commercial printing outlet.
In the past, creating custom brochures meant that it was necessary to hire the services of a graphics specialist and a commercial printing operation. Using a commercial printing operation is still a good idea for those who intend to print many thousands of custom brochures, but the costs do not scale to small businesses who are looking to create a few hundred or fewer brochures. Fortunately, personal computers and high quality printers are becoming increasingly affordable, and, with a little bit of training, it is possible to design and print your own custom brochure without having to employ a graphic designer or commercial printing outfit.
Most businesses use the Microsoft Office Suite for their daily office document needs. The flagship word processor of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, has features that make it a great tool for creating a custom brochure. It is quite easy to use Word to format a custom brochure using columns. After it is printed, the custom brochure can be folded, stuffed into an envelope (or placed locally) and will soon start bringing in the dollars.