The Difference between pamphlets and brochures

As a web to print business you may come across some technical questions from customers. There is always a possibility where your customers want something but they don’t know the exact term it is called in the industry. As a web to print service provider you must address these challenges faced by your customers and help them choose the right thing for their purpose. Meanwhile, some of the things are pretty simple to understand such as business cards, cards for occasions such as birthday anniversaries and more, posters, etc., and some of them are equally confusing. Let's discuss Difference Between Pamphlets and Leaflets.

Most of the time your clients would be using the terms interchangeably, as a result, they would choose wrong for their needs and the blame would fall upon you resulting in furious customers posting bad comments in the review section and people making wrong assumptions about your business. To steer clear of this situation we suggest you have a comprehensive definition posted on your web to print storefront from where the customers would be choosing the products and move on the web to print editor for making customizations.

Another good way is to always mention the sizes and orientation. This would make it easier for your customers to understand things easily. Some sample prints where customers can see the products in 360 views are also recommended. Having dedicated product pages is one good approach as you can explain in detail your product and this would improve your customer experience by ten folds. But before you do all this, how much do you know the difference. You may know some of you may know all. But let us revise what the print terminology means, just to get the facts right and provide the right information to your customers. So, let us begin. Today we would be talking about the difference between flyers, pamphlets, booklets, leaflets, and brochures. 

Difference between Flyers, Handbills, pamphlets and leaflets

There is a very slight Between pamphlets and brochures. Let us first talk about the common features. The major commonality between these three is the intent. They are usually used to provide information in a very concise format. They are very handy as they are a single sheet print material. The size may vary from country to country but not much.

In the US, the standard size of a flyer, leaflet, and handbill is 8.5” x 11”. If the size is smaller than this standard size, it falls in the category of handouts.  They are widely used as an affordable method of marketing amongst the localized group of people. They are the single printed sheet that is handed out for promotions. They can be printed easily and are very easy to store. Thus, when the promotions are to be done in a small timeframe, companies usually turn towards using any of the three. 

Difference:

Coming on to the differences, a flyer and leaflet may not differ based on the size. They differ slightly based on the content structure. A flyer is very much focused on a single message, whereas a leaflet is a bit more elaborative. In flyers, you would see texts, but the leaflet would go to lengths and the structure of the content may include images and detailed text explaining things in-depth.

Another thing is the fold. Although both are single sheets – a flyer cannot be folded, it has to be distributed as a single page, but a leaflet can be folded, so the construct of the content should be as such that the fold on the paper the makes right contrast for the readers to understand properly. However, there is no obligation for a fold – you can also distribute a leaflet as a single piece of paper. But it does provide you the liberty. Now the difference between handbills and flyers or leaflets is – as the name suggests they are handed out to the people, meanwhile leaflets and flyers are majorly put in the newspapers or magazines to reach the audience. 

Purpose: 

All three print formats have a singular goal – to provide affordable advertising to the business. You can pitch your customers to use any of these three for: 

• Events

• Openings or inaugurations of stores, restaurants, clubs, etc. 

• Provide facts or information to the customers 

• Generate awareness in form of information 

• As newspaper inserts (except handouts) 

• Mostly for localized advertising

Important Note: 

Most printers make a common mistake in the spelling of flyers. They are confused about whether it is fliers or flyers. To end the confusion once and for all, fliers refer to pilot. So, the right spelling is flyers – meaning advertising material.

Brochures:

Now, things are about to get even more confusing. Remember when we told you leaflets can be folded? You, know what? Brochures are also single-page sheets that can be folded.

So, where is the difference? Let’s start with the definition first. 

Definition:

By definition, brochures are unbounded, multipage print products. They are created for branding purposes. The content provides complete information about the company and its products or services. Brochures can also be made on a single page sheet which is folded into two, three, or more folds depending on the need. 

Difference between brochure and leaflet:

Leaflets are affordable because of the cheap print material. Brochures are rather pricey as they are commonly made using expensive and heavy paper material. You would also see companies using glossy sheets to create brochures. Another difference is the content. Leaflets are more or less promotional and propagate messages. Brochures are purely branding and rather than selling or pitching something to the readers they are informational. Brochures in short are professional. 

Another difference is that of technicality. To create a brochure a web to print company should have some expertise. It is a more time-consuming process to build a brochure as they are needed to be aligned carefully, proofed, and then bulk printed. Since they are expensive they are not usually handed out or distributed. They are commonly given to the people that are usually interested in doing business with your company or taking your products or services. Leaflets are cheap and they are for bulk distributions irrespective of the interest people show in the product or services.

So, understand it by an instance, you would distribute leaflets to promote your products or provide general information about the product to all the audience. Interested people would come down to your center and you would give them a brochure of the company to provide the complete information and finally close the deal. They are labor-intensive and more thoughtfully created. They need to be made precisely as they are expensive to print and one mistake means the whole lot is a waste. So, before you, bulk print takes approval. A good web to print editor like WTPBiz has an in-built approval cycle for bulk orders on expensive products such as brochures and booklets. Choose your web to print editor wisely to meet all your needs. Contact our technical support to know more. 

Purpose:

Brochures are not like flyers, leaflets, or business cards. They have specific purposes they are for branding and informational purposes. Here is what brochures can be used for: 

• For targeted campaigns 

• Usually given to people that are likely to become your potential customers 

• Used as a reference and information source of a business, their goals, purpose, products, services, and solutions 

• Used as a follow-up after promotional campaigns, usually to close the sale. 

Booklets and pamphlets:

This is where it starts to get a lot more confusing. You would find many queries coming your way about flyers or flier pamphlets and you would be asked to provide your services for the same. Or people wanting a booklet would call it a brochure.  You should know the exact requirement of your clients to provide the right solutions. So, let us start with the definition first. 

Definition:

Booklet, as the name suggests, is a book, it is ought to have bounded, multiple sheets. They are usually bounded using staples, saddle stitches, Wire-O, or any other similar method. They are more complicated to design and are very labor-intensive. The most common difference between a booklet and a brochure is brochures as multi-folded, whereas booklet is multi-pages and bounded using various methods. Pamphlets are another versatile method of advertising. So, they can be bound or unbound. They can also be stapled to another product – commonly they are distributed as an insert or are stapled to another product for proper promotion. They can be multi-pages, multi-sheet, or even single sheets of paper. 

Difference:

Since booklet and pamphlets, both are multi-sheet, multi-page, and bounded you might be confused here. As per the proper definition, anything between 5 to 48 pages without the cover pages is a pamphlet. But anything longer than that is a booklet.  (Source: UN Definition) So, a pamphlet can easily be confused for a booklet, but now hopefully you know the difference. Whenever your customer is designing a multi-page pamphlet where pages exceed 48, pitch them to print it as a booklet for an improved experience. Coming on to the purpose: 

• Pamphlets can be brochures, flyers,  or sort of like booklet (when bound and has pages less than 48) 

• Booklets are always bounded they are more durable. They are high-quality paper and require deep technical expertise. 

• Booklets require extra processing time and hence a copy may take more than you are anticipating. 

Booklets are costly and may be used for promotions.

 Purpose:

So, both are used for promotions. Here is how your users can use booklets and pamphlets to meet their needs: 

• Create it to provide in-depth information about products and services

• Use it as a reference 

• Use it as a  manual 

• Use it for the information that has the purpose to serve for a long time. 

Wrapping Up :

Hope now you can make a difference between pamphlets and brochures, flyers, pamphlets, leaflets, booklets, and handouts or fliers vs flyers. In the end, it is all about providing the right information to your customers and understanding their needs. There is a very small difference between most of them and customers can easily be confused. Providing complete information to your users would help them make a better choice as per their needs.

As for the last tip, always provide active customer support to your users. They should be able to reach out to you through, calls, emails, or chat to clarify things. You must have a good approval cycle for bulk orders just to make sure your customer experience is not hindered because of these pesky mistakes. Talking about differences – to find a clear differentiation between things that look very similar is by knowing their function. Mostly, that would help you steer clear of making any mistakes. So, always stay curious about knowing your products in detail, train your customer support well and serve your customers with the right products to ensure customer loyalty.