They say ‘50% of something is better than 100% of nothing’
and when looking at your return on investment for marketing techniques this couldn’t be more applicable.
A poorly designed ‘home-grown’leaflet or flyer can be very cheap to produce and print en masse – which may indeed appeal at first.
Where a professionally designed and printed leaflet may cost up to twice
as much to produce, when the response rate is 0.5% on a DIY A5 flyer but 12% on a professional A5 flyer, for example, the return for your investment easily makes up for of production and more.
That’s why we’re taking the time to give you some very useful tips to help you plan your leaflets or flyers project.
Clear and simple works better – when it comes to leaflet design keeping it simple really is best. A printed leaflet has a limited time within which to grab the viewer’s attention. Too much text or busy imagery can appear convoluted and fussy. Throwing in as much information in a poor layout will only act to confuse the recipient. The key is to focus on getting the core information out through the leaflet; who you are, how you can be contacted, what you generally provide, why you are different and some kind of ‘call to action’ i.e. a promotion, event etc. Think carefully about colours and text sizes. If you have branding colours use them effectively and secondary branding colours minimally for effect. Striking is not necessarily always effective. It’s also tempting to have smaller text in order to fit more on the page, but you shouldn’t be writing a novel on the leaflet – it should be succinct and direct.
Language is important – writing your content is very important indeed. Think about what you want to say but ensure that the language you use is direct and persuasive without being aggressive and harsh. Also, you want to sound professional and knowledgeable without sounding patronising or over complicating where sentences can be kept short and simple. You want small punchy sentences that people will find memorable. Most importantly proof your design. And when you’ve proofed, proof again. There is nothing worse than picking up marketing material riddled with poor grammar and spelling errors – it gives the impression of an unreliable and unprofessional company.
Purpose and audience – when designing your flyers; both the visual design as well as the paper and size, It’s a very good idea to think about the purpose of the leaflet and the audience for which it is intended. Is it an information only leaflet? An event? An instruction leaflet? A menu? Do you need it to have information separated into sections or one seamless set of text. This will help define the layout and folds of a leaflet. Equally, understanding your demographic is important to consider whether it needs to appeal to a particular generation, whether it will predominantly be read by people with English as a second language, or visual impairment. These things do affect the text, images and colours you will use.
Plan your distribution – This is very important for managing your printing budget. Know how you are going to distribute these leaflets. Are you posting through letterboxes, handing out at events, stacking on the counters or shops? Are they expected to be kept by the recipient for a long time or just until an event or promotion takes place? This will help define the numbers you need, but also the robustness of paper quality you print on and the size and manageability of the leaflet.
Have a reliable company at hand – this is truly important, particularly if it’s your first printing project. Having a company that will work to your brief, understand your needs, keep you well informed and produce to your deadlines in a fast and efficient manner is absolutely essential. The success of a leaflet marketing technique does depend often on striking while the iron is hot and getting in quickly to distribute your material, so you don’t want to be waiting around on an unreliable company for weeks on end.
We’re certain that these tips will be a great starting point to get you on the right track for you leaflet or flyer project. When you’ve got this covered you’ll be well on the way to a successful outcome.
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