My next project is going to be creating a brochure. For those of you in the business already, could you please post pictures or a link to any brochures you have? I'd really appreciate being able to see the ones that others have done to get a feel for what works and ideas for different layouts.

Thanks in advance!
Angie

Try Vistaprint brochures, they are always running specials to get some free or at a big discount. They are beautiful and you can customize them as you need.

check your local staples or staples.com and pick up in the nearest staples. I used them for my cards and got 1000 for $18.00 on sales with color!!!

I don't have any but I'll check the thread for ideas.

Good luck!

Giving a bump on this thread.

I don't have a wedding brochure yet, but here is my celebration cakes one. I've had a fabulous response - I stuck about 500 through postboxes back in September (still have another 2000 to distribute!) and after the initial flurry of orders, I still get at least one call a week on the back of them- i.e. people have actually hung onto them.

Here is mine I got through VistaPrint...totally FREE! All I paid was shipping which was minimal.

Wow! Great designs Bonnie151 and cakesdivine. Thanks you so much for sharing!!

save

Bonnie151~ is your's double sided, or two separate sheets?

It's double sided. I was just working out tonight that I spent £145 for 5000 brochures, have distributed around 500 back over August-Sept and from that 500 (so about £15 worth) have had nearly £700 worth of orders direct from those leaflets (i.e. not including business that then followed on from a direct customer/repeat customers) and still get calls every week on the back of them. I need to get out there and distribute more!!

Yahoo... I'm not the only one using vistaprint's cakes on my flyers!! LOL... My first order is on it's way! I just did generic stuff with my email and phone number on it-- I am this close } { to sub-leasing a kitchen and want to get the word out quickly!

I just noticed you're from Scotland.

We visited a few years back and have decided we will eventually settle in Stirling ~ when our daughter is a bit older.
I miss Stirling everyday... it just felt like "home".
I've never met such nice people as we did in Scotland.

Bonnie151,
How do you go about getting the postcards in the mail? Do you buy a mailing list from the post office? Not sure if that would be different than in the US.

Anyone else do direct mail with any results?

I placed an order for every stinking free thing I could get-business cards etc... this is what I planned for each-

I decided to use the postcards as coupons or handouts... I don't want the expense of mailing them yet, and I know you can't go stuff boxs... besides it's 5 degrees outside.. who wants to?? So I put a 10% off first order coupon on the postcard with the essential info for my family to hand out to their friends.... kind of an 'insider' coupon.

A rubber stamp that says 'Thanks for your order, please come again' to stamp onto boxes before they get folded

Folded greeting cards with cakes that just say Congratulations on the front, so when I drop off wedding cakes, I can drop off a card for the bride and groom with a anniversary cake coupon

return address labels that say 'Thanks for your order' for when I'm too lazy to stamp it

business card magnets to hand out..

Car door magnet of course, for the car..

Lawn signs for the back window of another car...

Xlg postcards to hand out, same idea as the small ones...

My next order will be more of the same, I think! But the rubber stamps are going to be flavor stamps ie.. vanilla, choc, marble etc... to save time when setting up for a large bake off.

I got these when I thought I would be getting a kitchen. They are also from vista print and I only payed for shipping and picture upload fees

I ordered premium business cards last weekend for roughly 20.00. I wanted to upload my logo, so I decided to do the premium instead of free. It was easy.

Where/when did you see that brochures were free???? I looked and they were pretty expensive-for me. ( think $39.00 ). Is this a luck of the draw type deal? Bad timing?

K2cakes-here is a link. I just googled free brochures and vista print was 1st. See if this doesnt get the 39.00 to nothing.

K2cakes - you have to hit the special's tab or if they email you a special use the link in the email to get that special price. Sometimes if you just log on instead of using a discount link as on google or from a direct email from them you won't see the free price. It was free for 25 brochures. I wait ever so often as they run this special at least once or twice a month and order again the 25 when they are running them for free.

So Bonnie, Cakesdivine, and YeastConnections -- Did you all design your own little pamphlet or did someone else design it for you?

try the link below, on the home page you can go to "free products" and see all they have to offer! After you place your first order - you'll get emails every couple of days to tell you about other free stuff. This week I ordered:

25 brochures
15 postcards
1 pad of Sticky notes
1 Baseball hat
1 Keychain
1 Pen
1 Car Door Magnet
1 Window Cling
1 Yard Sign
1 2009 Calendar

I uploaded two images at 4.99 each and I had a $5 credit from a previous order, with shipping and the image upload my total was around $30 for all that.

www.vistaprint.com/frf?frf=360203235203

I've attached my brochures below. I put a little more detail in mine, because I use them during consultations with brides. That way they can have in had the flavors and pricing and such.

I usually use onvernightprints.com for my orders, but they don't have templates for brochures, so I went with vistaprint.com

What I do is, whenever I'm ordering something online, I Google the store name and "discount code". And search for any active discounts before I submit on my order. Here are just 2 that came up for vistaprint.

http://www.couponmountain.com/VistaPrint-coupons-deals.html

http://www.dealtaker.com/VistaPrint-coupon-code-a390-c.html

Thanks to everyone for this info.

I wrote up all the words I wanted and gave it to my graphic designer friend who put it all together. She's like magic! lol.

I got a quote from a bunch of different companies to print 200, one side was color, the other side b&w on glossy paper, folded a tri-fold.

Kinko's: $2.10 PER brochure'
Staples: $1.90
Office depot: $1.75

Local Company 1: $2.00
Local Company 2: $1.30
Local Company 3: $0.65!!!

Shouldn't be a surprise as to who I went with. I brought in a flash drive, it was all ready 2 hours later. They have my stuff on file now and if I want more I just call and it'll be ready in 2 hours or less.

I used to use vista print for my business cards, but this local company comes out cheaper, the cards are higher quality, and they are ready fast.

I'm not saying everyone should leave vista print, but if you get the slow boat shipping you wait forever, or if you pay speedy shipping they end up kind of pricey comparatively. It was a really good move for my business to switch. AND I really like to support local business, because that's what I am

Thanks for the info. I found the correct link. I accidentally clicked on the link for my business cards, which were the premium ones for 14.99 or something like that.

Thanks again!!

I did design my own at Vista Print (to answer the question) and about the question about why the price changed in one day.....Vista print does that....their sales change ALL the time... so design your brochure and save it and then keep checking for the free special...because it will come back again!

YAY~ my business cards just arrived! HORRAY... thanks Vistaprint (winks at camera while holding card between fingers)

I also ordered brochures (the free ones) last week so hopefully those will come in a few days. And I'm working on postcards... it takes me forever to complete a design.
Who am I supposed to mail these to? I have no clue?

Thanks for starting this post~ very helpful.

Ya I got my first order this week too--- Take your time making these things though... I found two typos on the 100 postcards I got. Did you ever watch that ventriloquist Jeff Dunham with Peanut? He has a skit where Peanut talks about Jeff's name, saying it should be Jefafa because there are two f's.... I have a special Occashashaion... Occassion. on mine. In the past, I would type it into a spell check program before pasting it in Vistaprint... I didn't do it this time. =( That'll teach me.

Otherwise, I'm so happy with everything I already have a second order coming. BUT--- Thanks to whoever did online and local price comparisons, that was a real eye-opener! I'll use these to get going, then when I have my own logo and design ready, I'll do it local. You're right... Locals should support locals!

I also got mine from vista print........I got the rack cards though.......basically because I ordered the "free bus. cards" and got an email for the rack cards and thought, what the heck.......like a brochure only it doesn't open lol and it was FREE!
I've had a ton of luck ordering with them.....so far I have bus. cards, bus. card magnets, postcards (which I plan to use as a "Congratulations on your Anniversary" to all my brides from wedding cake orders.....I started selling cakes a yr. ago so my first wedding cake anniversary is coming in March so I thought that would be a nice touch and I also put a 10% off coupon on the postcard......but I can also wish some of the customer's happy birthdays and such too if I want, makes for good customer service.
Anyhow here is a link to my rack card.....I was just kinda messing around with the photos and stuff that I chose because I didn't really expect them to look that nice in person being that they were free, but I've actually had MORE orders from them than I have from handing out bus. cards. I guess they just make more of a statement having larger photos and stuff on them. They're glossy and really nice looking in person (I wish I would've picked better cakes)