Flyers, mailers, and brochures are affordable and selective means of getting information to a selected audience. They offer you more flexibility in budgeting and greater selectivity in choosing prospects than other kinds of advertising.
As letterboxes are becoming more and more overcrowded with advertising material, you must make sure that yours has a “point of difference”.
Plan your material carefully, paying particular attention to:
- Appearance
- Headline
- Message
- Layout.
To generate an effective flyer, mailer, or brochure, start with straightforward, no-nonsense copy. Be specific and accurate. A clever, catchy phrase can help the customer remember your business, but a clumsy slogan will quickly deter them from doing business with you.
Layout is critical. Knowing that the reader’s eye follows the page from top to bottom, left to right, you can plan to catch the reader’s attention with pictures, charts, graphs or any number of visual “grabbers”. Subtle placement of subheads and captions can highlight the best features and benefits of your product or service.
If you can’t afford to hire a professional copywriter, be prepared for a few rewrites. The pamphlet you finished at midnight may not look quite so good the next morning.
Creating flyers
Flyers can be an inexpensive and highly effective way to advertise. They are especially useful for announcing your grand opening, for periodic reminders of the merchandise or services you offer and for advertising special sales.
Plan your material carefully with attention to layout, message, appeal, headlines, and appearance.
A good printer can advise you on the quality of paper to use, overall appearance, size, cost and similar factors, but you should not depend on your printer to help with the sales message or the advertising copy.
Since you might use flyers partly because they are inexpensive, you need to make sure that they are distributed efficiently. Select reliable distributors and pay adequately for their work. Distributors who guarantee effective circulation operate in many cities. Look under Advertising – Direct Mail Services, or Mail Contractors in your Yellow Pages.
Creating brochures
As a method of explaining the services you offer, a brochure conveys professionalism.
A brochure can give the impression of a serious, established, high-quality business – even if you just opened up yesterday, with your university degree in one hand and a $5,000 cheque (your graduation present) in the other.
Your company brochure does not have to be a four-colour job, if you want to keep expenses down. Instead, use light-coloured card stock.
This makes it an ideal companion for your direct-mail marketing efforts as well as an excellent handout.
Use the brochure to describe your services or products in an engaging yet no-nonsense fashion. If you know that you write well and persuasively, then write the brochure yourself.
If you have any doubt about your ability to do a top-notch job, trust the writing and the design to professionals.
Create a mockup of your brochure before having it printed, and show it to colleagues and potential customers to obtain their feedback. This might cost a little more money initially, but will save you more in the long run.
Be careful about the typeface, which should be easy to read and no smaller than 10-point.
It should take not much more than a minute for someone to scan your brochure; however, those 60-odd seconds should be packed with memorable information.
