Brochure Writing Advice
About to write copy for a new brochure?
Remember these key points:
1. When preparing your brochure’s
text, always remember that brevity
counts. Create graphic elements and
use text creatively to help the reader
grasp key points by simply glancing
through the piece.
2. Speak directly to the potential
customer, donor or volunteer: “We
help you ....”
3. Use headings and subheadings to
group like ideas and help readers
focus on items that are of greatest
interest to them.
Billboard Tips
Consider these billboard tips:
• Never use a lot of words. Use three
words, five tops.
• Make copy large enough that on a
paper mock-up you can read it from
15 feet away.
• Keep phone numbers, websites and
ticket information off your billboard.
Billboards provide great exposure
but can’t serve the same purpose as
print ads. Your print ad, fliers, direct
mail and other promotional steps can
provide needed details.
Conversation Starters
Do you struggle about what to say at
social functions or when meeting
someone for the first time? Get people
to talk about themselves, and you’ll
soon feel at ease. Try any of these easy
conversation starters:
• “Tell me about your work.”
• “Where did you grow up?”
• “Fill me in about your family.”
• “So what do you enjoy doing when
you’re not working?”
Event Planning Idea
To motivate volunteers, offer results-
driven incentives. For a sports banquet,
for example, a Midwest nonprofit
offered a baseball autographed by the
event’s speaker — a professional
baseball player — to anyone selling 10
or more tickets. The result? Record
attendance.
8 Nonprofit Communications Report © 2019 View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com
Image Storage
Offer Easy Access With Searchable Image Library
Over the past 19 years, Northern Illinois University’s (NIU; DeKalb, IL) image
library has grown to include more than 59,000 photos.
“The purpose of the library is to make the recent photographs taken by our
department searchable by the various colleges and divisions on campus,” explains
Wade Duerkes, photography manager for the Division of Enrollment
Management, Marketing and Communications at NIU. “There are multiple
imagery needs on the campus including websites, print publications and social
media. There is a constant demand to find the latest and greatest photographs.
The image library gives our various campus partners the tools they need to find
the photographs for their project.”
While NIU uses its library internally, your nonprofit could create a similar
library for use by the media.
According to Duerkes, NIU uses Canto, a browser-based software, to organize
and share its images. Members of his division, as well as college communicators,
have direct access to the photos. Others within the university system may use the
public portal to search and request photos. Users can search for images by tags or
through a folder structure that includes categories such as athletics, colleges and
divisions and portraits. Subcategories are used for departments and/or majors
within each college or division. Popular events such as Homecoming also have their
own category and are sorted by year.
The photos within the library are from the past five years, and NIU
photographers have taken them all. Image copyright belongs to the Board of
Trustees of NIU, and the photos cannot be used for political purposes.
Duerkes, says 5 to 20 new assignments or as many as a couple hundred photos
may post each week.
“It takes a lot of planning, work and collaboration from your team to set up an
image library properly,” he says. “That said, it is 100 percent worth it.”
Source: Wade Duerkes, Photography Manager, Division of Enrollment Management,
Marketing and Communications, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. Phone (815) 753-
6669. E-mail: wduerkes@niu.edu. Website: http://images.media.niu.edu
Extend Your Reach
Increase Area-Wide News Coverage
It’s one thing to get local news coverage. It’s another to get coverage that extends
beyond your community.
To reach these markets, think about the many ways in which your organization
extends beyond your town or city. What programs and services do you provide that
touch the lives of people miles away? Whom are you either serving or have served
who lives outside of your community?
Begin to develop a list of ways you impact your entire region, then review
that list periodically to flush out story ideas you may be missing. Depending
on the type of nonprofit you represent, that list of outreach news might
include:
• Articles about scheduled events taking place in surrounding communities.
• Hometown news about those you are serving: students, interns, patients,
members.
• News related to your satellite offices or branch programs.
• New or improved programs that may impact residents throughout your region.
• Employee-related news directed to their hometowns or former places of
residence.
• Articles of historical significance that link your organization and locations
outside of your community.
• Stories about your organization’s multiple connections to a particular
community.
DOI: 10.1002/NPCR