The growth of the internet has transformed how companies attract business. An appealing, informative and accessible website - not so long ago a fun if largely irrelevant addition to conventional marketing and retail - has become an absolute necessity. Banners on pages have become a standard (and highly profitable) form of advertising. The role of the web in reaching out to customers has blossomed into something successful and vital.

Does this mean that conventional communications are done for, a relic of history, a subject of nostalgia with little consequence in the modern world? No, of course not. It does mean, however, that companies have to coordinate the way they promote themselves across multiple media, and take a unified, high-quality and brand-distinctive approaching to attracting customers. And it also means that, where companies utilise conventional media, they must do so in a manner that's both modern and stylish, and also fits in with their online or mobile content. Promotions on paper that seem a step behind will inevitably fail.

Brochures and catalogues are still important for many companies, such as travel agents and fashion retailers; as well as providing a direct link to potential and existing customers who don't instinctively turn to the web for their retail needs, many individuals - even those who are entirely comfortable with shopping online - will happily sit and leaf through printed materials in a way that they'd never consider doing with a computer. Therefore it's clearly important that these materials keep pace with their online equivalents, that they're engaging and visually appealing - and don't look like an afterthought when the main focus has been on the website.

One thing that the customer will surely expect to find are attractive, bright, high-quality images - a glossy, printed page is an especially effective medium when it comes to giving pictures an appealing sheen - so it's important to use a publishing tool that gives you the power and versatility to use the images you need, just as you need to use them. Finding a tool that provides for those needs whilst still being easy enough to use without a great deal of expertise and experience might seem difficult, but fortunately Microsoft Publisher does both.

Publisher makes it easy to place your images onto a page, positioned wherever you need them. But then, you'd probably expect that publishing software would allow you to put items on the page quite freely. Yet Publisher allows you to do much more. However the pictures may look to begin with, the software allows you to be sure that when they come off the printer, they have the most impressive and professional appearance: you can crop, rotate, resize and reshape any image from within the software itself, zoom into images, and even adjust colour and brightness to give them the perfect finish.

Publisher also has tools to automatically align a picture to the existing layout, so the overall appearance of your pages isn't compromised by the addition - everything will be positioned just where it needs to be automatically. And if your image needs a caption, well, Publisher has the solution for that too, with a library of picture caption layouts ready to be applied with just a couple of clicks.

Whatever kind of printed content your company requires, making sure that it's of the very highest standard is vital - and more so today than ever. When customers would like to make their decision from a brochure or catalogue that they can hold in their hands, failing to provide the quality they're looking for and the commitment given to an online service will inevitably result in the customer shopping elsewhere. Microsoft Publisher can give your printed materials just that boost, and it's certainly worth considering a short training course to better understand what it can bring to your business, and how to get the most out of the powerful and versatile tools it provides. In visually oriented markets, the right look can be the difference between success and failure - and it's never been more important to show your company in the best possible light, a light that Publisher shines ever more brightly.