Yacht brochure design basics: What's the best number of pages?

Yacht brochures can be as few as a four-pages for a boat that's 60 feet to 80 feet. For superyachts and yachts over 100 feet, brochures can contain as many as 32 pages. What's the right number of pages for a brochure to best promote your yacht?

As a rule, the bigger the boat, the more pages are required. The bigger the boat, the more there is to show: more rooms, more deck areas, more water sports equipment, etc. Basically, the yacht brochure is a way of showing high-quality photos that show off the boat to its best advantage. Descriptive text should be kept to a minimum.

Four major factors determine the right number of pages in a yacht brochure:

1. Quality of the photography.  If you don't have very many high-quality photos, keep the page count to the minimum. Conversely, high quality photography allows more pages.
2. Quantity of of photographs.  Ideally, you should have enough photos to show where people eat, where they sleep, where they relax and what sorts of things they can do on board.
3. The size of the boat.  The larger the boat, the more areas there are to show.
4. Budget.  The printing of yacht brochures is rather pricey due to the fact that print runs tend to be small; usually only a thousand copies. 

The basic yacht brochure layout and page allocation

There need to be enough pages to tell the story. The front cover should set the tone and the back cover should act as a conclusion.  For the body of the brochure, the basic pages should cover:

• Indoors where guests relax and dine
• The cabins or staterooms
• Outdoor spaces where guests relax and eat
• Tenders and other equipment onboard

Following the guidelines above would end up with an 8 to 12 page brochure.

When a larger brochure is required.
If the yacht includes any of the following, one or two additional feature pages would be in order:

• A large master suite or VIP suite
• Exceptional bath suites
• A gym or spa area
• Special tenders or unique water toys

By adding these additional pages you could expand to 16 or 20 pages, or more.

What are yacht brochures, anyway? Printed, full-color yacht brochures have been an integral part of the yacht marketing business for years. Typically they start at four pages for boats under 80 feet and increase in the number of pages by the size of the boat. They continue to be popular even in the internet era. In the U.S., glossy brochures are preferred whereas in Europe a matte finish is more prevalent.

Laser Advertising specializes in yacht brochures and other forms of yacht marketing. If you have a vessel that you would like to advertise for sale or charter, let us know.

See sample charter yacht brochures on our WaterCooler blog.

Post by Tracy Datlen