A brochure (also referred to as a pamphlet) is a type of leaflet.

Brochures are most commonly found at places that tourists frequently visit, such as museums, major shops, and tourist information centres. Brochure racks or stands may suggest visits to amusement parks and other points of interest. Another type of brochure is interpersonal brochures, which are brochures based on other people. Then there are pamphlets that you can find in health clinics and hospitals, that give help and advice to do with your health. The two most common brochure styles are single sheet, and booklet (folded leaflets) forms.

The most common types of single-sheet brochures are the bi-fold (a single sheet printed on both sides and folded into halves) and the tri-fold (the same, but folded into thirds). A bi-fold brochure results in four panels (two panels on each side), while a tri-fold results in six panels (three panels on each side). Other folder arrangements are possible: the accordion or "Z-fold" method, the "C-fold" method, etc. Larger sheets, such as those with detailed maps or expansive photo spreads, are folded into four, five, or six panels.

Booklet brochures are made of multiple sheets most often saddle stitched (stapled on the creased edge) or "perfect bound" like a paperback book, and result in eight panels or more. Brochures are often printed using four color process on thick gloss paper to give an initial impression of quality.

Businesses may turn out small quantities of brochures on a computer printer or on a digital printer, but offset printing turns out higher quantities for less cost. Compared with a flyer or a handbill, a brochure usually uses higher-quality paper, more color, and is folded.

Bi-fold brochure Letter or A4 size

Leaflet Letter or A4 size

Bi-fold brochure A3 size

Folder with flap and inserts

The format and its size have to coincide with the intention of your brochure.

Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales, is the collection of media used to support the sales of a product or service. These sales aids are intended to make the sales effort easier and more effective. The brand of the company usually presents itself by way of its collateral to enhance its brand.

The production of marketing collateral is important in any business' marketing communication plan.

Common examples include:

* Sales brochures and other printed product information
* Visual aids used in sales presentations
* Web content
* Sales scripts
* Demonstration scripts
* Product data sheets
* Product white papers

It differs from advertising in that it is used later in the sales cycle, usually when a prospective purchaser has been identified and sales staff are making contact with them.

Typically these are made to follow the same corporate identity as other corporate publications including:

* Complimentary slips
* Business cards
* Letterhead

The annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, published by Interbrand and Business Week, indicates that the market value of companies often consists largely of brand equity. Research by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands.^{[citation needed]} Taken together, this means that brands seriously impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility.

The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble PLC as a result of a famous memo by Neil H. McElroy.

Principles of brand management

A good brand name should:

• be protected (or at least protectable) under trademark law.
• be easy to pronounce.
• be easy to remember.
• be easy to recognize.
• be easy to translate into all languages in the markets where the brand will be used.
• attract attention.
• suggest product benefits (e.g.: Easy-Off) or suggest usage (note the tradeoff with strong trademark protection.)
• suggest the company or product image.
• distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition.
• be attractive.
• stand out among a group of other brands.

>fighting brand >corporate branding >individual branding >family branding >"

Functions of brand

(For consumers) Identification of source of product, Assignment of responsibility to product maker, Risk reducer, Search cost reducer, Symbolic device, Signal of quality.

(For Manufacture)

Means of identification to simplify handling or tracing, Means of legally protecting unique features, Signal of quality level to satisfied customers, Means of endowing products with unique associations, Source of competitive advantage, Source of financial returns. ("Strategic Brand Management" 3rd edition,Kevin Lane Keller)

Brand architecture

The different brands owned by a company are related to each other via brand architecture. In "product brand architecture", the company supports many different product brands with each having its own name and style of expression while the company itself remains invisible to consumers. Procter & Gamble, considered by many to have created product branding, is a choice example with its many unrelated consumer brands such as Tide, Pampers, Abunda, Ivory and Pantene.

With "endorsed brand architecture", a mother brand is tied to product brands, such as The Courtyard Hotels (product brand name) by Marriott (mother brand name). Endorsed brands benefit from the standing of their mother brand and thus save a company some marketing expense by virtue promoting all the linked brands whenever the mother brand is advertised.

The ths most commonly referred to as "corporate branding". The mother brand is used and all products carry this name and all advertising speaks with the same voice. A good example of this brand architecture is the UK-based conglomerate Virgin. Virgin brands all its businesses with its name.

Techniques

Companies sometimes want to reduce the number of brands that they market. This process is known as "Brand rationalization." Some companies tend to create more brands and product variations within a brand than economies of scale would indicate. Sometimes, they will create a specific service or product brand for each market that they target. In the case of product branding, this may be to gain retail shelf space (and reduce the amount of shelf space allocated to competing brands). A company may decide to rationalize their portfolio of brands from time to time to gain production and marketing efficiency, or to rationalize a brand portfolio as part of corporate restructuring.

A recurring challenge for brand managers is to build a consistent brand while keeping its message fresh and relevant. An older brand identity may be misaligned to a redefined target market, a restated corporate vision statement, revisited mission statement or values of a company. Brand identities may also lose resonance with their target market through demographic evolution. Repositioning a brand (sometimes called rebranding), may cost some brand equity, and can confuse the target market, but ideally, a brand can be repositioned while retaining existing brand equity for leverage.

Brand orientation is a deliberate approach to working with brands, both internally and externally. The most important driving force behind this increased interest in strong brands is the accelerating pace of globalization. This has resulted in an ever-tougher competitive situation on many markets. A product’s superiority is in itself no longer sufficient to guarantee its success. The fast pace of technological development and the increased speed with which imitations turn up on the market have dramatically shortened product lifecycles. The consequence is that product-related competitive advantages soon risk being transformed into competitive prerequisites. For this reason, increasing numbers of companies are looking for other, more enduring, competitive tools – such as brands. Brand Orientation refers to "the degree to which the organization values brands and its practices are oriented towards building brand capabilities” (Bridson & Evans, 2004).

Online brand management

Companies are embracing brand reputation management as a strategic imperative and are increasingly turning to online monitoring in their efforts to prevent their public image from becoming tarnished. Online brand reputation protection can mean monitoring for the misappropriation of a brand trademark by fraudsters intent on confusing consumers for monetary gain. It can also mean monitoring for less malicious, although perhaps equally damaging, infractions, such as the unauthorized use of a brand logo or even for negative brand information (and misinformation) from online consumers that appears in online communities and other social media platforms. The red flag can be something as benign as a blog rant about a bad hotel experience or an electronic gadget that functions below expectations.

See also

• Brand orientation
• Chief brand officer
• Predictive analytics
• Brand community
• Brand engagement
• Brand implementation
• Customer engagement*
• Emory Brand Institute at Emory University
• Integrated Marketing
• Visual brand language
• Visual merchandising