Printing brochures on-line has become extremely easy and cost-effective yet many businesses still have not adapted to the new technology.  On-line printers are often large commercial printers with a great deal of experience that have opened up a web portal to make ordering easy via the internet.  Their quality, variety, service levels and delivery are better than or at least equal to traditional commercial printers.                                                                                                       

 If you purchase printed products, then it would be worth the “risk” to try your next job with an on-line printer.  Many people have resisted ordering on-line for fear that they will not get either the high quality product they are seeking or worry that there will not be any service.  However, if you use Conquest Graphics to order your print job, they have a full customer service department as well as a graphics department.  Since many on-line printers are larger than the local print shop, they probably can offer you more service than you are getting currently. 

But if you’re new to online purchasing of printed materials, here are five great tips you’ll need to know about when ordering from an on-line printing company:

1) Know what type of files the printer accepts:  Most printers prefer Adobe Acrobat PDF file format as these file types eliminate errors.  If you are not familiar with how to convert your files into these formats, check with the on-line printer for instructions.  Many have links to explain the process of changing a file to the best format for printing.  Here are a few links to help you:

a. How to create a PostScript file for conversion to pdf;
b. How to use Acrobat Distiller settings to create a pdf file;
c. We have available the Adobe PDF print driver.

2) Use a Print Templates to help make your project easier. 

Ninety-nine percent of all brochures will fit into a standard template design and many on-line printers publish templates that will help you layout your project for printing.  The most common size brochure is 8.5 x 11” but there are other sizes available.  If the on-line printer does not provide templates, keep shopping for a printer that does or google “print templates” to get one that you can use.  Templates give you the sizing for the exact print area, spacing for margins, notations of where the piece will fold to help you get the job printed correctly. 

3) You can save money ordering on-line, especially if you order in advance

There are some print jobs that just have to be done quickly and many on-line printers can do a quick turnaround.  But for those projects with ample time, you can really see some cost savings.  Allowing for a bit more time will give you time to check your proofs to prevent any errors.  Plus we can provide more guidance, answer any questions or give special help on any out of the ordinary print projects.

4) On-Line Printing gives you many options for paper stock and sizing.

On-line printers give you several paper choices so you can find the one that makes sense for your project. A good rule to follow is that the higher the likelihood that the final product is going to undergo any wear and tear, the heavier the weight you may need. If you are including photos, a high gloss finish shows them off better.  Always try to use recycled paper to help protect the environment – it is much easier to find recycled paper these days and the costs have really come down.  Also most on-line printers can give you different size options and fold configurations to create the brochure that you desire. 

5) If you need help or special assistance, call or chat with customer service.

Frequent users of on-line printing find that they can get everything they need taken care of by going to their already-established online account and placing their order. Those who are newer or who have special requirements can, of course, call or chat with a customer service department.  Conquest Graphics is one on-line printer that provides a full customer service center and a graphics department to help provide service for all types of projects.  If you have questions, a printer such as Conquest can make your ordering process easier.

Try ordering your print on-line for your next project or try a small order to get a feel for the process.  Ordering brochures on-line is easy at Conquest Graphics and you will not take any risk when you consider all the guarantees that they provide for service. 

A tri-fold brochure to promote or raise awareness of a lawyers services’ is a great way to advertise. However, lawyers must follow more strict guidelines than practically any other profession when it comes to marketing their practice. Here we provide a general overview on using printed tri-fold brochures for your office while providing some cautions on what cannot be included. Advertising prohibitions have been eased but you should check with state regulations before printing brochures.

All sizes of law office use tri-fold brochures to describe their practice to prospective clients. Tri-fold brochures are as common as business cards today. There is no conceivable type of practice that would not benefit from this promotional medium. As all lawyers are communicators, the idea of having a standard communication to the public about the practice is something that must be considered mandatory. (It is also something that you can post online as a part of your website)

And so the question is not whether a law practice should have a professional tri-fold brochure, but ‘What are the key elements it should contain?’ Here are some of the key elements in the successful design of a tri-fold brochure for the promotion of a law practice:

1. The statement of specialty: Whether you are small office or a full-service firm with scores of partners, you probably have areas of expertise. Listing the areas that you specialize in is important for potential clients to understand. For example, if your practice is more focused on corporate law vs. personal injury law, make that clear in the brochure. If your office handles multiple services, list them in a general brochure or break down each aspect into a separate document to provide more detail.

2. Experience of key partners: Some clients are looking for superstars or “rainmakers”, some prefer to have a more simple mediator and some want a large team to handle their legal issue. Whatever your strengths, be sure to highlight the partners in your brochure and to note their key qualifications. Understand what your strengths are and convey to the potential client an idea of what they might expect from you.

3. Philosophy of Practice: Almost any potential client is going to want to know how you will approach their case, at least in general terms. Some lawyers focus their experience arguing cases in court, others on working behind the scenes to gain a settlement. A brochure is a place that you can provide some overview or your outlook you bring to the issues.

No matter which state you practice in, check the laws on what you can say in printed advertisements. Some items that you want to watch out for are:

• Including testimonials or referencing past results (some states do not allow either)
• Do not provide any misleading statements or overstate a lawyers qualifications
• Be careful not to make your ad look like a legal or official document of law
• Watch out when disclosing fees for service – if you include information about fees, then  include all disclaimers.
• Portrayal of judges or of competitive legal firms is generally frowned upon
• When in doubt, check it out or do not include it.

Your overall message should be professional and informational about the type of law firm, qualifications of the partners, and general information on how you handle clients.

Once you have all the information and pictures together, let Conquest Graphics handle the rest for you. We provide templates to help layout the tri-fold brochure and can help you choose the right paper stock for the most professional image. We have handled brochure printing for many law firms so have the experience to produce exactly the piece you want to represent your firm.

The purpose of a tri-fold brochure is to convey information about a product, company, service,  organization, event, design…well, almost anything, and to do so in a certain format which is easy to use. If there is such a thing as a “typical” user of a tri-fold brochure, it could probably be described as someone who: 

• wants to provide essential information in a concise manner wants to use text and illustrations efficiently in get a reader to want to know more wants to provide this information in a form which is highly versatile in the way it can be used.

Of all the various brochure designs available – and Conquest Graphics uses them all – the tri-fold is the most commonly used one.  
 
The tri-fold design is also known as the letter fold. Tri-fold brochure is slightly misleading, as there are actually only two folds, resulting in three panels.
 
These are some of the reasons that make the tri-fold so useful:
 

• A tri-fold brochure can be slipped right into a standard Number Ten envelope. 
• Tri-fold brochures can be put inside a large presentation folder.    
• Tri-fold brochures can be put into boxes and shipped along with other items, such as booklets, letters or products.
• A tri-fold brochure, if designed correctly, can be used in holders on counters, in waiting rooms or in other displays. The key is to make sure that the front graphic is strong and that the header is high enough to peek out above the holder (typically extending up a couple of inches from the bottom).
• A tri-fold brochure can be slipped into a pocket or a purse – fits perfectly there as well.
• A tri-fold brochure can be read panel by panel, or it can be expanded so that the viewer can get a view of an illustration or graph which extends across several panels.
• A tri-fold brochure can be seen as a very inexpensive “platform” which launches the reader into other media sites. By showing your various website addresses and by the use of the increasingly popular QR codes, a reader of the brochure can be sent off in several other directions in search of more detailed information about your product, service, organization, etc.

Clearly this is a very versatile marketing option, but as with all marketing pieces, it is important to know what the use of the tri-fold brochure is, where it is going to be used and the audience to which it is targeted. A well designed brochure is key to being read.

Whether your need for brochures is for a very small project, or the largest of the large, Conquest has the capabilities, the equipment, the software programs, and the experienced staff to handle your job. Contact us today.

If you are designing a brochure and want to make your life easier, then consider using a template.  But be aware that there are two different types of templates available – a creative template and a print template. 

A creative template is a pre-designed layout that usually shows you where to place the photos and text. This type may also give you colors and designs to choose from but may handicap you by limiting the amount of text you can include or lock you into a specific type of font. 

A print template’s main purpose is to provide you with the actual size of the piece and layout the margins, folds, gutters and trim lines.  This gives you more leeway for creativity while giving you the borders in which to work.  On-line print companies, such as Conquest Graphics, print millions of brochures each year so can supply you with many different styles of templates for use on your project.   Just look for the library of available templates before you begin designing your piece.  Here are some tips to consider when working with a print template:

1)  Think about the size of the brochure you want to create before looking for a template.  Take a look at our last blog on choosing the right template for your project. 

2)  Look at the template to see which will be the front panel (or cover), inside pages, and back cover before starting your layout.  Again, it helps to take a copy of your template and actually fold it into the finished size so you can more easily visualize which panel is the cover and how the inside pages look after folding. 

3)  Place the photos, graphics and text within the margin area.  Keep everything you want your potential customer to see within these lines or you will risk getting some important information cut off in the final piece. 

4)  Watch the margin lines near the folds (this is also called the gutter).  If you want to have any photos or copy bridge over the gutter area, be aware that cracking may appear during the folding process.  This happens more often on heavier weight paper stock.   Also, look at tip #1 again to be sure you don’t have a photo that starts on the cover and folds onto the back page.

5)  Consider using a “bleed” when you design your brochure.  A bleed is when the ink extends past the margin area as opposed to a white border that runs outside the margin area.  A bleed can be solid colors or the non-important part of a photo that is trimmed off in the final product.  Look at the trim lines on the template as an estimate of where the brochure will be cut.   Do not put any copy or pictures into the bleed area that you want a customer to notice.

If you have any questions, it is always best to ask the experts.  On-line printers such as Conquest Graphics have a lot of experience printing different styles of brochures.  They can help you decide on the right template may work best for your particular project and answer any questions you may have about printing the brochure. 

To view some print templates, go to http://www.conquestgraphics.com/Help-Center/Brochure-Templates to get an idea of the wide variety available.  

If you are designing a brochure then consider using a print template. A template is a pre-designed layout that allows you to more easily upload the photos and text into a standardized layout that a printer will use to turn it into the finished product. Unless you are an experienced graphics designer that wants to create an unusual piece, a pre-

formatted template can save you time, money and frustration. In fact, even experienced designers often work from templates for common layouts.

An on-line print company, such as Conquest Graphics, will usually maintain a collection of several different templates for various sized brochures with several types of folds. The key is to choose the right layout for your project before you get started on the details.    

So how do you pick the best template for your project? Here are 5 questions to help you decide on the layout:

1. Do you own a restaurant or need to list many products and prices? A take-out menu layout is pretty standard and lists the information in columns like this:

                                   Kung Pao Chicken      $7.95

                                   Hunan Beef                $9.95

                                   Seafood Delight         $8.59

If you need to give your customers two key pieces of info (Item and Price), then this template would be best for you. The usual size is 8.5 x 14” which folds down to 4 to 8 panels for easy distribution. If you have lots of items that you need to list, then this is a good template to use.

2. Do you plan to mail your brochure and want it to fit into a standard (#10) envelope? If so, the tri-fold is good for that purpose. A tri-fold brochure is the most common format used by a wide variety of companies. This is usually a 8.5 x 11” piece of paper that is then folded twice to form 6 panels. This design fits easily into a standard envelope. There are other options to this piece which involve a gatefold layout (a gatefold is as it sounds – two panels open up to reveal the center spread of the brochure). A gatefold uses a larger piece of paper (8.5 x 14”) and gives you more room to communicate your message. There are many different layouts available for this size brochure so you want to look for one that best fits your needs (i.e. more pictures, less text or room for charts and graphs, etc)

3. Are you marketing new homes, a large product or need room to show charts and graphs? If that’s the case, consider a vertical tri-fold template from Conquest Graphics. These sorts of wide-angle designs and configurations work best with a brochure that allows the reader to see panoramic views or to see data spread out over months or years – in either case with captions underneath – all in a highly readable layout.

4. Do you want your brochure to be more elegant, impactful or unusual? A gatefold design can offer a more elegant look than a traditional tri-fold. A Z-fold is a bit different than found on most brochures so it can help you make a bigger impact because it is less common. For any of these type of designs, you can contact your printer (or Conquest Graphics) to learn more about these types of layouts and how you can use them in your next print piece.

5. Do you have your design file in a standard program such as AdobeInDesign, Quark Xpress, Photoshop or Microsoft Publisher? You’re in luck. Conquest Graphic templates are standardized to work with the major software programs. You upload your file into our secure website, and we can take it from there.

It’s easy to see that with decades of experience and with millions of brochures ‘under our belt’, we at Conquest can put together a design that meets any design, size and budget need. Call or contact us today and let’s get started putting a brochure together that will help you.

To view some print templates, go to http://www.conquestgraphics.com/Help-Center/Brochure-Templates to get an idea of the wide variety available.

Designing a brochure for business is easy if you pay attention to some simple rules. The purpose of a business brochure is to give key information to potential customers about what your company does and what services it provides to its current customers. A typical new reader of your business brochure might be someone who hasn’t used the service you provide but who wants to find out more about it.

A well-designed  and printed brochure is a great way to update existing customers as well. Remember that the more your customers understand about the various products and services you provide, the more likely they will keep coming back. Here are five great tips for designing a brochure which will help you educate your customers and make them customers for life!

1.    Focus on one big idea and as few smaller ideas as necessary. No need to sell your entire product line in one brochure. Pick the one product or service that most people are interested in, and work on just that one. Let the potential customer know what else you do and give them plenty of contact information so they can get to your website and find out more.