Typically, we print brochures which contain product and service information about our businesses. We might hand them out at events, take them to meetings or even send them in the post to customers and clients in order to spread brand awareness, stir up new interest, and offer discounts and alluring offers.

But most printed brochures become out of date after a certain period of time, rendering them obsolete – and they’re not the most environmentally friendly solution. Add to this the world’s changing consumption habits as the scales tip towards increasingly digital experiences, and a printed brochure is no longer the most efficient solution for getting the word out about your brand.

Instead, there’s a growing demand for digital brochures.

Digitalising your brochures is a natural evolution that will help you keep up with changing consumption habits, as the world becomes more reliant on technology and virtual experiences.

Take a look for yourself at how to meet consumer expectations at the touch of a button, and read on to explore the benefits which have clients approaching us to create their digital brochures, today.

Always accurate, always relevant

Information in a brochure can become quickly outdated – particularly if you’re part of a brand that prides itself on meeting the highest standards of quality, adapting to changing markets or staying one step ahead of regulations. If new industry standards come into play, or the government launches a new initiative that’s in line with your values, print brochures lack the agility you need to spread the word.

One of the main benefits of producing a brochure digitally rather than in print is the ability to be able to edit, amend and add to your content long after it’s been released.

Whether you’re launching a new product, reacting to market changes, new consumer habits or real-world events, you can edit your content in real-time, ensuring you’re always disseminating the latest and most accurate information.

And if your content is always up to date, it’s always relevant to your customers’ lives.

There’s no longer a need to think of a brochure as a standalone or one-off piece of content.

Instead, it becomes a dynamic document that can be built up over time and be integrated with your other digital offerings.

Your ongoing lead-generation tool

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When it comes to your marketing, a digital brochure opens up opportunities by providing data that you just can’t get from paper.

You can gather information on who is looking at your digital documents, where they come in and drop off, and even calculate which pages are most popular. Not only this, you can track where the traffic visiting your brochure is coming from – whether it’s directly from your website, from an email campaign you’ve sent, or an internet search engine – giving you invaluable information about your audience.

This data can be used to optimise your marketing efforts. If you can see that people drop off from your brochure at a certain page, it may be worth redesigning it or rearranging your content. If most people visit via your email campaigns, but you’re only sending them once a month, you can make an informed decision to send them more frequently.

Perhaps most beneficial of all, your brochure can also become a powerful marketing and lead-generation tool in itself. 

By placing calls to action (CTAs) throughout, you can direct your readers to take action: whether it’s clicking through to more information on your website, to campaign landing pages or driving them to contact you.

Take a look at the ‘last word’ in our digital brochure, for an example.

It’s even possible to embed forms within your document, so you can collect customer data while encouraging them to sign up to future brand engagement opportunities, such as webinars, newsletters and brochures.

Grow your audience organically

Take advantage of the power of social media and reach an even wider audience with a digital brochure.

With some clever promotion, you can encourage people inside and outside of your business to share your document. Sharing it via a URL link –rather than in a download – can be especially useful in an age where people are sceptical of downloading unknown content.

You can even embed share buttons in your brochure, so then people who read it and find its content useful are able to share it to their own followers, growing your potential audience much wider than you could achieve with a printed version.

Engagement and interaction

Accessibility is a key concern and is become much more standardised across web-based content. Digital brochures have the benefit of offering ‘zoom’ features, and even translation options where needed. And when it comes to accessibility, instead of making several print brochures in different formats, you can adjust contrast ratios, font sizes and offer speech-reader friendly content too.

Engagement is much more versatile with digital brochures, too. In fact, you can grab your readers’ attention in a number of ways.

Embedding video in your document can help bring information to life, and add personality which makes your content even more memorable. You can add animated infographics, transitions and interactive elements to maintain curiosity throughout the user journey, and maximise the impact of every page.

Plus, you can even design brochures which are entirely responsive, with an optimised appearance for every device it’s displayed on.

Linking the dots

Have you ever received a physical letter, business card or leaflet with multiple URLs or complicated email addresses written on them? With a digital experience, there’s much less room for user error – and a much larger chance of people visiting the content you’re asking them to.

In fact, using live URL links makes brochures easier to navigate in more ways than one. You can cross-reference pages, chapters and sections within your brochure, wherever they’re relevant, or link externally to additional information – whether on your website, or creating a mailto: link, making it easier than ever for your readers to get in touch. You can explore all these examples in our digital brochure.

Savings for the environment – and on your costs

By removing the need for printing and delivery, you can save considerably on your production costs.

Not only can you remove the additional costs of paper, production, print and distribution, you can skip out on the stress that comes with potential errors, print deadlines and handling reprints – not to mention you’ll have a much, much lower environmental impact.

All you need to do with a digital brochure is provide the link.

Save money and improve your impact in one move

Digital brochures have many features and benefits that make them a great alternative or addition to the traditional print brochure. If you haven’t already, just take a look at our newest digital brochure for an example of how interactive, memorable and engaging they can be.

Ready to open up new possibilities for marketing and audience reach? Or want to speak to us about the role a brochure could play in your promotional and marketing strategies?

Talk to us today at [email protected].

About Proctor + Stevenson

Game-changing strategy, creative and technology that means more impact for your marketing. And more power to your business.