Pamphlets are the best way to educate your audience, promote initiatives and events, or provide information on a single subject. Pamphlets have often been created for non-commercial use but recently they have grown to be a great marketing tool as well, both in printed and digital media. So how can you make your custom pamphlet without hiring a design team? Our article offers you the steps to do that without much effort. But first, let’s define what a pamphlet really is.
What is a Pamphlet?
A pamphlet is a short unbound booklet that educates readers or promotes events and services. Pamphlets are traditionally used for informing the audience rather than for direct selling. They are also great for advertising products or local businesses, being a cheap way to spread awareness about a cause, business, or event.
Pamphlets come in two formats: printed and digital. If it’s a printed one, then it usually consists of a single or several sheets of paper with information printed on one or both sides. When a pamphlet is a single sheet, it is often folded into sections to create a bifold or a trifold pamphlet.
And if a pamphlet is digital, it becomes an online document with interactive features, such as a realistic page flip effect, videos, GIFs, pop-up images, and outbound links.
Check out an example of an interactive pamphlet, made with an online pamphlet maker, such as FlippingBook.
Ballard Sustainability Booklet
How to Make a Pamphlet in 6 Easy Steps
#1 Choose the Type of Your Pamphlet
There are several main types of pamphlets you can create.
Educational pamphlet
Educational pamphlets can be of great help to non-profit organizations, non-commercial groups, schools, and universities. Such a pamphlet can increase public awareness, provide concise and valuable information, and reinforce the learning process. It takes a short time to read a pamphlet, thus it acts as a reminder of important points and it aims at changing knowledge and attitude or at teaching a behavioral skill.
Cultural pamphlet
Such pamphlets provide valuable insights and increase awareness about different countries and cultures. Information about geography, population, history, and culture gives context to readers who want to educate themselves about a particular place or group of people.
Product or service information pamphlet
If you want to showcase your product or service to a new audience in an engaging way, you can create a pamphlet. Focus on informative content and use images wherever you can to illustrate your points and make your pamphlet bright and colorful. The main purpose of such a pamphlet is to draw readers’ attention to your brand and encourage them to learn more.
#2 Choose the Format for Your Pamphlet
Pamphlets are one of the traditional formats for printed handouts. And the digital age allows creating pamphlets that are even more powerful and interactive. Here’s what you need to know to choose the format that suits your needs best.
Printed pamphlet
Pamphlets and brochures have similar layouts and numbers of folds, which is why they are often confused with each other. We have a detailed article on our blog about the common types of brochures and how to choose them. So we’ll just number the main printed formats below:
- Bifold pamphlet: best for the printed format. Image-heavy documents, guides, product comparisons, and invitations.
- Trifold pamphlet: best for the printed format. Product launches, guides, introductory brochures, and event advertisements.
- Booklet: best for the printed and the online formats. Product promotions, presentations, reference materials, manuals.
- Flyer: best for the printed format. Event advertisements, business promotions, or recruiting flyers
Online pamphlet
If you want to enhance your pamphlet with interactivity, then going digital is your best choice. Such a pamphlet has absolutely the same format as a bifold pamphlet, the only difference is that you can add as many pages as you want. This is the ideal type of pamphlet to turn into an interactive digital document.
Creating interactive online pamphlets with a smooth page flip effect will bring you numerous fresh opportunities to advocate for your cause, educate your readers, and present your brand. Plus, a digital pamphlet has the following cool benefits:
- Lets you stand out from the crowd when you insert engaging interactive features, such as videos, GIFs, pop-up images, and outbound links. This way, you make your pamphlet concise, impactful, and filled with valuable information.
- Helps you share your content easily via a direct link. Plus, you can embed a pamphlet into your website, and share it on social media or via a QR code.
See for yourself! Here’s how engaging and fresh your online pamphlet can look.
Ballard Sustainability Booklet
#3 Create the Content
Write an enticing headline
A pamphlet headline plays a big part in drawing attention to your content, it can even determine whether someone picks up and reads your pamphlet or tosses it aside.
So make sure your headline is as clear as possible, but not too plain. Don't be afraid to use ‘power’ words like ‘free’, ‘quick’, ‘easy’, ‘results’, ‘exclusive’, ‘proven’, etc. They can lack originality but they are good at enticing readers.
Make your content short and well-structured
Pamphlets are designed to be read in a short amount of time and are usually skimmed. So make your text paragraphs clear and short, no larger than 4-5 brief sentences. And use bullet and numbered lists instead of walls of text. Read your information aloud a few times to catch any overly-complex or confusing phrases.
#4 Add Visuals
Illustrate your pamphlet with compelling visual elements like photos, tables, and charts. As pamphlets are usually skimmed, eye-catching images will help you illustrate your points and allow readers to understand what your pamphlet is about without reading it thoroughly.
If you’re creating an online pamphlet, you have even more amazing opportunities to enhance it by adding GIFs and videos to the pages of your pamphlet. GIFs and videos can say so much more in much less time, so they’re perfect for this format.
#5 Brand Your Pamphlet
Your pamphlet is your representative in the outside world, so don’t forget to brand it to raise your company's awareness and keep consistency across all of your channels. Add your logo on the cover and apply your brand design guidelines for fonts, colors, and style.
Digital brochure and pamphlet makers allow you to add even more branding details to your content: designing your pamphlet with company colors, adding a clickable logo, a favicon, and a custom background.
#6 Add Contact Info
When your copy and design are ready, make sure to add calls to action and contact information to your pamphlet. Also look for details you may have forgotten to include, such as:
- Visitor info: your address, telephone, email, website, accessibility for people with disabilities, hours of operation, seasonal times, admission rates, etc.
- Purchasing info: how to place an order, accepted payment types, guarantees, warranties, refunds, shipping, etc.
- Legal info: copyrights, trademarks, registration marks, disclaimers, etc.
These were the main steps for creating a compelling pamphlet. We hope that our article will help you start making pamphlets to promote your cause and grow your business.
