Designing a Flyer
Designing a flyer is one way to create promotional materials for your new small business.
The first thing you need to do when you are designing a flyer is to decide what you actually want the flyer to do.
Do you want it to generate leads?
Close sales?
Encourage prospects to visit your website?
The content and style of your flyer will vary depending on the purpose of your flyer and your budget.
If you have access to a computer and a word processing program you can easily design your own flyer, but there are a few things to remember.
Two or more colours on your flyer will be expensive whether you print them yourself or get them printed professionally. Graphics are great and add interest to your flyer but it pays to keep it simple and to select graphics that look good in both colour and black and white.
The steps involved in the design are as follows:
- Is the basic idea that you want to get across clear?
- State your idea as briefly as you can in the introduction.
- Explain more fully in the body of the flyer.
- Always include your contact details!
Your layout should be crisp and clean, not cluttered. Do not be tempted to include too much detail, you want your prospects to be intrigued not completely versed on everything you do. Make them curious enough to pick up the phone and you will get the chance to answer any questions they have and provide more detail when they call.
Make it easy for your prospect to take action. Tell them what to do and how to do it!
Finally, before you rush off to the printer it is always a good idea to proof-read your document and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. You might also consider testing your flyer with friends or acquaintances for readability and the "stickiness" of your message.
Double check whether:
- There is a clear offer for your prospect to respond to.
- That you told your prospect how to respond to the offer.
- There an element of urgency or a time limit on the offer, and
- That the offer consistent with your business identity.
If you want to spice up your flyers a bit, find a relevant graphic to add a bit of interest or print on colored or textured paper.
Distributing your Flyers
Once you have finished designing a flyer and you have them printed and beautifully folded, you need to get it out there!
You have a number of low cost options for distribution your flyers. You could try letterbox drops, leaving them on windscreens (personally, I find this annoying), mailing them to the prospects on your mailing list, asking your current customers to give them to friends, acquaintances, colleagues etc, or you could hand them out at a trade show or expo.
