Creating Marketing Flyers That Get the Job Done

Creating Marketing Flyers That Work:

Flyers, or small posters, are a great way to spread the word and market your small business. With modern technology, creating and printing flyers can be an inexpensive way to advertise your small business. Here are some tips from real small business owners who have effectively created flyers to spread the word about their companies.

Best Uses for Flyers:

A flyer isn't really a good replacement for a brochure or company portfolio, but it is a good option to advertise certain business aspects, such as:

1. A sale or promotion.
2. A specific product or product line.
3. An event.
4. A direct-response campaign (with tear-offs at the bottom).

How Many Should I Print?

Printing companies will usually want you to print hundreds. However, many small businesses, especially startups on a budget, want the flexibility to change their flyers or business literature frequently. Consider the cost-effectiveness of getting your own laser color printer to print flyers as you need them, instead of paying someone else to print thousands of flyers can become outdated before you've used them all.

Alternatively, you could use a print on demand service that will cost more per print, but only prints what you need. Vistprint.com is also a great resource for many business startups, as it offers small-quantity flyer, business card, or brochure printing for free (shipping fee required). That way, you can test a flyer's effectiveness before printing thousands of copies.

Graphic Design and Layout 101:

Creating a flyer on your own computer is easier than you think. Even if you're not a graphic designer, you can create an effective flyer for your small business by keeping some basic rules of design in mind:

1. Use no more than two or three different fonts.
2. Avoid thin, crazy fonts.
3. Stick to a color theme that has five or fewer complementary colors.
4. Always include your company logo and contact information, even if it's small and on the bottom of the page.
5. Place a border around the page.
6. Always include a graphic (image) if possible.
7. Keep words/phrases short.
8. Simple is usually better.

What Do You Put on the Flyer?

1. Keep the message and purpose of each flyer to one or two points. 
2. If necessary, create different flyers for different goals. Cramming too much information into an "all-purpose" flyer isn't really effective.
3. If you need to provide a lot of detailed or wordy information, consider a two-sided flyer and put the detailed information on the back.
4. Photos, images, and graphics are always eye-catching.
5. Don't forget your contact information, or dates and a location for your event! (I feel like I can't stress this point enough.)

When creating a flyer, the last thing to consider is to get the content edited by one or more people. Even if you have to pay a freelance writer or editor a few dollars to proofread your flyer, you'll be much happier that you got a second pair of eyes to make sure your potential customers wouldn't read something with errors in it!

 

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What's Next

Next In This Guide
Part 19:
Have a Grand Opening - Don't enter the commercial world quietly—make some noise by hosting a grand opening for your small business, and take advantage of the benefits.

Previous In This guide
Part 17:
Effective Magazine Advertising for Small Businesses - A simple checklist for using magazine advertising to get high-end exposure.

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Street Smart Guide to Small Business Marketing

 

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