How to Create An Effective Leaflet
Even in this age of digital media and advertising, with a plethora of options for promoting and marketing your business, the printed leaflet is still a very effective tool in the advertising marketplace. Leaflet printing is ideal for bringing your products and services to market and reinforcing your corporate brand identity. Whereas digital marketing looks modern and ‘slick’, it can also appear transient and impersonal – well-designed leaflets, printed on quality materials, provide a physical and tactile marketing medium with which people can engage and take away for future reference! Here are some aspects and tips for producing effective printed leaflets for your business to employ as part of your corporate marketing strategies:
Establish Your Goal
The first thing you need to consider for your printed leaflet is what you want it to achieve – it is likely you will want your leaflet to inform people of a product or service, and why your product is superior to any competition. Whatever the main aim of your leaflet, use that as the base to start composing the content of your leaflet.
Initial Impact
The first thing you want your leaflet to achieve is to grab attention – garner the people’s interest! As the headline of your leaflet is the first thing people will notice, ensure it stands out and has an initial impact to pique the interest of those who receive it. Your leaflet headline should be bold and hard-hitting – it should immediately engage the recipient and encourage them to read further. For example, offering something for nothing always works, so entice people with a phrase such as “Free Sample” or offer a sale or a limited-time bargain – something that people are likely to react to, and on which they want further information.
Design
The visual design of an effective leaflet should catch the eye of the reader and draw-in potential customers – to do this you need to create a definitive ‘visual hierarchy’. The headline should dominate the leaflet and therefore grab the initial attention, so place it at the top of the leaflet using a large, bold format. Use subheadings in a smaller text underneath the headline to provide more detail about the event, offer, or product that the leaflets are advertising. It is important to ensure that the key elements of your message – and your logo and brand name are large enough to be prominent and stand out.
Simplicity
Make your leaflet easy to read – keep the text concise and simple! Your leaflet should contain enough information to grab the interest of potential customers, but not be too detailed – you want to entice the recipient to further explore your business and its products and services so offer them enough information to interest them, but don’t try to include all the detail. A leaflet offers limited space, so is not feasible to include ALL the information. Don’t ‘overcrowd’ your leaflet content as readers will quickly lose interest in something that is ‘too busy’ and difficult to read! Establish a visual balance for your leaflet with images and text by maintaining space between the different elements and make it an ‘easy read’ by not overcrowding the space – use the ‘white’ space! Your leaflet should contain only the essential information – just enough to tempt the reader into further action and investigation.
Readable Font
When it comes to your leaflet’s typography remember to keep it simple – do not be tempted to use a font that is too ‘fancy’ – people respond to familiarity as that is a ‘comfortable’ read for them. It can be tempting to utilise an overly complex font – but whilst you may think a specific font looks sophisticated, they are not always easy to read and can be hard to decipher. A fussy font can quickly lose the attention of the reader, and therefore the impact of, and interest in, your leaflets’ message! Use no more than two fonts – do not be tempted to mix multiple fonts as this will complicate the text and, again, make it difficult to read – choose the best font to highlight your company name and brand and ensure the text is easy to read.
Optimise Your Message
Focus on one message for your leaflets – the less information your leaflet is trying to convey the easier it will be to get across! Ensure your leaflets concentrate the recipients’ attention on the specific offer or event you are promoting!
Imagery
Use images that will help create an interest and a desire amongst your target audience – but use them sparingly as you don’t want to “overpower” your main message! It is important that you ensure that any images used on your leaflet are of good quality – using blurred or ‘grainy’ images suggest poor quality and that will reflect on people’s opinion of your business, products, and services overall! Source your images carefully and always use quality materials to reproduce the sharpest images and the most professional look to your printed leaflets.
Call to Action
Having captured the initial interest of your potential customer it is important to take them to the next step – tell them clearly what they need to do to get further information or to take advantage of your offer. This ‘call to action’ should clearly inform people as to whether to attend the advertised event, contact your business via social media or online, or visit your corporate premises – ensure there is a clear directive on what your potential customer should do next to build upon the initial interest generated by your leaflet’s message.
Size And Format
Having established your message for your leaflets and decided on the content text and imagery, you need to consider the format and size of your leaflet. Leaflets can be printed in many sizes and formats – half-sheet leaflets are the most common as they are big enough to convey your initial message and are cost-effective to produce. Standard size is slightly larger and provide more space – but choose the format and size that best represents your message and decide which format best suits your business and will be the most relevant to communicate your message to your targeted audience.
Firpress Printers – Workington
If you would like any further information about how to create an effective leaflet, please feel free to contact us. Our team will be happy to help with any enquiries you have.