Circulating brochures has always been an effective marketing tactic for any business. They can be circulated by hand or by post to customers, or can just be kept on cash counters of retail outlets. The need to have brochures printed has resulted in the rise of a sector of the printing services business, which specially caters to brochures. There have been many radical transformations in brochure printing in recent decades and the internet along with digital technologies is ushering many of them.

Before computers were used for the purpose, brochure printing involved a number of elaborate and laborious tasks like numerous rounds of test printing, changing settings, obtaining film negatives, and using plate-making machines. Even design options were limited, with the printers doing the majority of the design tasks and only the most basic input provided by the client.

These days, the client himself can do the entire designing on a computer, and the brochures can be created in a much shorter timeframe than they could be some just a few years ago. With technology progressing rapidly, immediate printing of a large number of brochures and their quick delivery within a day's time has become a reality.

It is important to remember that brochure printing entails not just the impression of ink on paper, but design, content and layout too. With the introduction of digital technology, printing companies have started to provide a clutch of benefits to the clients in this area, like high quality colour printing, multiple options in complex formats and designs, and smart packages on content-building.

Amongst the many advanced alternatives provided by printing services firms, digital brochures and full-colour brochures are the most popular. Such brochures are suitable for circulation for medium or extended time spans. Dazzling and catchy but brief brochures are best for limited circulation in large quantities, which are printed through a restricted print run. Off-set printing, which is a comparatively older method, is still the preferred choice for these brochures as although it requires a longer time to prepare the brochures, a huge number of copies can be printed at one go.

Nowadays brochure printing firms also offer supplementary services besides ensuring superior quality of prints for their clients. Direct mailing, distribution and design are some of these additional services.

The internet has initiated a client-centric approach of brochure printing, with clients now placing bulk orders with companies online and choosing colours, designs and layouts for their brochure by working on their own computers. Hence, brochure printing has witnessed radical alterations in recent times, and the prospects of future change seem to be endless.