Leaflets are one of the most popular ways of promoting your business; they are great to boost sales by getting your message out in a hurry.
But leaflets should also be used as a part of an on going marketing plan as they are a cost effective way of disseminating your information.
It has been proven that most customers will only make a purchase after they have seen a company’s marketing message 6 times and by specifically targeting your potential clients and tracking the results you should be able to increase the normal low response rates of leaflets from 1-10% to 25% and above.
Before you go any further you will need to think about how you want to disseminate the information. Are you going to business shows, networking, door dropping, magazine inserts or just handing them out in the street?
Who is your target audience and where are they based? Think about who your ideal client is.
Design and layout used to be the realm of a professional graphic designer but these days there are many pc based design programs such as Word or Publisher. These are great for a basic leaflet design but please be aware that most printers prefer print ready pdf (portable document format) files set for CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and most home PC programs do not have this capability. If you are unsure it is always worth having a chat with your printer as they can help you with this as well as give advice on size and paper weights along with colours and fonts etc, and If you don’t wish to go down the self design route they should be able to put you in touch with a reputable graphic designer in your area.
Make sure if you are taking your own images that you use the highest resolution your camera allows. Be aware that most camera phone images are not of sufficient quality for printing. Always check the resolution of all images used as they must be at least 300dpi for printing (your printer can help you here if you are unsure), just because an image looks good on screen does not mean it will print correctly.
If you are stuck for relevant images you can download royalty free images from websites such as istockphoto.com usually for a small fee.
When designing your leaflet always think AIDA
Attention – does your leaflet grab your audiences attention, open with something that pulls them in not pushes them away such as a question:
“Are you paying to much for…”
“Have you ever…”
“Can you see…”
Interest – now you have their attention you need to sustain it by getting them interested.
What is your USP?
Convey the benefits of using your services, if you don’t know then ask your existing customers why they use you.
Cut out jargon and waffle
Desire – now you have their interest you need to make them desire your services:
Obtain customer testimonials.
Show them how what you have to offer will solve some of their problems and appeal to customers by always using ‘you’ and ‘your’ in your text.
Can you offer a guarantee – money back/lowest price/100% satisfaction/quality etc.
Action – lead your customers towards taking a specific and measurable action:
‘Call now, on ….’
Give a discount if you are contacted before a certain time.
Have a voucher with a deadline etc.
….and make sure you track your results.
By having different special offers or leaflet designs going out to different areas/target audiences you can track your results and concentrate on areas that work and discard those that don’t.
Remember to include all the important information such as phone number, email/website address and always allow plenty of time for checking and editing. Let someone else do the proof reading as it is commonly known that you cannot proof read your own work. Check and double check all contact details, and finally, make sure you have permission to use all images and quotes.
