Let’s face it, the information contained in professional binders isn’t always exciting for the person receiving it to read. That’s why it’s essential to make it as attractive as possible and to make it easy for users to find exactly what they need.
Even if your company is normally conservative, there’s nothing wrong with adding some color to your 3-ring binder by selecting something other than white for the cover and by dividing the material with different colored pieces of stock paper. This draws the reader’s attention and piques his or her curiosity about what is inside of the binder.
Decide What to Include in the Professional Binder
Before you start assembling a 3-ring binder for your business, you must decide what to put in it. This answer will be different for everyone. However, a good rule of thumb is to avoid including confidential information such as bank statements, credit card numbers, and passwords. If your customer or prospect has a need for any type of confidential information, you can provide it separately in a sealed envelope.
Some of the most common tabs in a company binder include the following:
- Regular and emergency contact telephone numbers
- Prices for specific products and services
- Rules and regulations for your organization
- Descriptions of products and services
- Forms your customer or prospect may need to complete
It isn’t always easy to decide what to include when preparing a manual for your company. Be sure to seek input from superiors and peers whose work is represented in the binder. You may also want to log the activities you or your department perform each day to get a better idea of what information is the most important to include.
Another thing to keep in mind is that an advertising binder should answer who your company is and what need it can fill for the potential customer.
Use Multiple Colors and Keep it Simple
By including paper dividers in different colors, you’re providing the reader with a visual clue that the topic is about to change. The colors should contrast enough so there is no room for confusion.
As you’re considering how to label each section, keep the description as short as possible. Preferably, it should be only one or two words such as “Pricing” or “Our Policies.” To keep things as clear as possible, your index tab dividers should be white with the printing or typing in a bold black. It’s also important to use a strong card stock when creating dividers for each section of the manual.
