A well-crafted information memorandum has the power to secure project financing, attract investors, and close large-scale deals. It serves as a storefront for properties and investment opportunities, shaping the first impression potential investors get and providing them with key details for thorough evaluation.
That’s why it is so important to make sure the document is carefully designed and appealing. The more engaging it is, the easier it will be for investors to see the potential profitability of the opportunity in question.
In this article, we’ll share tips on creating an effective information memorandum and turning it into a powerful document, capable of catching the attention of the right people. And we’ll also provide an actionable IM template to get you started.
What Is an Information Memorandum?
An information memorandum (IM), often referred to as an offering memorandum, is a formal, comprehensive document with an overview of a business or investment opportunity for potential investors or buyers.
It is used across a wide range of industries, including real estate, venture capital, project finance, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and others.
Information Memorandum vs. Pitch Deck
What’s the difference between an information memorandum and a pitch deck if both provide an overview of a project? Though they do serve similar purposes:
- Information memoranda can be up to 100 pages long, while a typical pitch deck contains only 10-20 pages.
- IMs provide all the crucial information about a project for due diligence, whereas a pitch deck is a high-level summary designed to get people interested.
- An information memorandum is a formal document, and a pitch deck is a flexible visual presentation, suitable for a wider number of purposes.
Key Elements of an Information Memorandum
A typical information memorandum has a standard structure and a set number of sections.
⭐Executive Summary: This section presents an overview of the opportunity and the purpose of the investment or sale. It’s usually short, catchy, and includes a list of highlights to give investors a strong first impression.
⭐Project/Property Overview: Here, a reader can find all the project or opportunity details, including factual information, history, mission, key personnel, or partners involved. It is aimed at giving the audience a clear picture of the project scale and potential.
⭐Market Analysis: This part of the document demonstrates how the project holds up against the competitive landscape, industry trends, and target market.
⭐Financial Information: Financial statements (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow), historical performance, projections, and forecasts—everything that helps investors or buyers make an informed decision.
⭐Legal & Regulatory Information: Licenses, permits, and other legal requirements that prove the project is safe to invest in.
⭐Risks & Mitigation: If there are known risks to the investment, this part explains how they can be managed and minimized.
⭐Transaction Details: This section openly states a price or investment amount and outlines the transaction structure, such as equity/debt or ownership percentage.
How to Make Your Information Memorandum Stand Out
We discussed what an information memorandum is and what it typically contains. Now let’s see what you can do to turn it into an effective communication tool that gets your message across.
🎨Add visual appeal
Graphics and visuals play a vital role in attracting your audience and keeping it engaged with the content of the document. However, it is equally important not to overclutter your information memorandum and keep the text readable and easy to follow.
- Go for bulleted lists, highlights, and icons to support your information—it helps break text down into easy-to-read sections.
- When preparing a digital information memorandum, consider using bigger fonts, as many people will open your document on their phone or tablet.
- Use high-quality graphics to emphasize the exclusivity of your offer—it’s all about the professional look and attention to detail.
📍Improve navigation
Information memoranda are complex, comprehensive documents. You can make them easier to use and understand by introducing a good structure and improving navigation.
For example, you can add bookmarks to your PDF to turn it into a table of contents or place internal links to different document sections on a dedicated page.
💡Some digital document tools, such as FlippingBook, also let you add a clickable table of contents next to your information memorandum, so that people can easily switch between the parts of the document while reading.
📹Engage with interactivity
You may engage your audience even deeper by enriching your information memorandum with interactive elements, such as videos and GIFs. Here are a few examples:
- A video greeting from a CEO, project lead, or founder can help establish personal contact and build trust.
- A drone shot of the property is a great way to give a better overview of the marketed area.
- Animating investment highlights, market size, or competitive advantages draws your investors’ attention to the key points, making sure they see all the information you want to convey.
🔒Protect your document
Document protection is a must when it comes to sharing confidential information memoranda online. While the PDF format comes with simple password protection, many digital document tools offer additional security features. FlippingBook, for example, lets you protect your information memoranda and other sensitive documents via email authentication and limit sharing on top of password protection.
This way, you can be sure that only authorized readers can access your document.
💡You can also track your memos with FlippingBook–and get valuable insights into the way your potential investors interact with your document. See how many views your document gets, which pages interest your readers most, and which links get clicks.
FlippingBook is a digital document platform that lets you share your information memorandum as an interactive flipbook via a link. It’s a professional and safe way to share documents online.
💙Apply your branding
Strong branding itself is a statement: it makes your document instantly recognizable and shows your care and attention to detail. When publishing your information memorandum with FlippingBook, you can reinforce your branding by
- Adding a clickable logo and a custom image to the document background
- Branding your document link—this boosts click-throughs to your digital IM as it’s easy to identify the source at first glance.
- Adding a custom favicon—this way, your IM will look like part of your website.
Information Memorandum Template
Designing a document from scratch is time-consuming and complex, especially if you don’t have advanced design skills or are just starting. Take a look at this professional and free information memorandum template—you may take inspiration from it or borrow it as is to create an impressive information memorandum easily.
Customize the template in Canva and make it your own
You can design it in Canva, and add interactive elements and an extra layer of protection with FlippingBook. Thanks to our seamless Canva integration, you can send your Canva design to FlippingBook with one click and get your document ready in no time.
Information and Offering Memorandum FAQ
1. What’s the difference between an information memorandum and an offering memorandum?
An information memorandum is mostly a marketing and disclosure document for potential investors, used in private deals, like real estate projects or business sales. Whereas, an offering memorandum is more formal and often includes detailed legal disclosures and risk factors. It is typically used for selling securities or investment products.
However, in real estate, that line often blurs, and any marketing-driven, detailed overview can be labeled as “an offering memorandum”.
2. How long should an information memorandum be?
Some IMs can be up to 100 pages long, but we recommend staying within 15-30 pages. This is an optimal length for making your IM informative, yet engaging. Keep in mind that the longer your document is, the more visuals you need to support your message.
3. Is an information memorandum legally binding?
No, an IM is not a legally binding document. It should be professional and accurate to help investors understand the project's potential, but it’s not a contract.
4. Can anyone see an IM?
Typically, information memoranda are confidential documents and even require a non-disclosure agreement before they can be shared. That’s why it is important to protect the document by password or via email authorization.
5. Should you personalize your IM for different investors?
Yes, if you have resources, go for it. Tailored content, including cover letters, summary pages, or deal highlights, can make a big difference in attracting your investors’ attention and securing the funding you need.
Final Thoughts
An information or offering memorandum is more than just a formal document—it’s a powerful tool that can engage and persuade. While creating one may not be easy, with the right knowledge and tools, you will undoubtedly succeed.
We hope this guide will help you turn your memorandum into a well-structured, well-designed document your audience will enjoy using—and that will bring you closer to your goals.
