Whether you are a new business or a well established company you should never underestimate how powerful a flyer is as a marketing tool. Simple and effective, they are a brilliant way of letting your customers know about a sale, event or merely that you exist.
However, getting a flyer campaign right is not as easy as it may seem. So starting from the headline we’ll give you a top to tail run down telling you everything you need to know about flyer design.
Creative concept
Before you design your flyer you need to consider your ‘creative concept’, that is, how your flyers mix in with the rest of your marketing campaign, such as posters and other advertising. Once you have a strong creative concept it should be easy to make your marketing tools flow and fit together.
Headlines
You need a headline; this is a non-negotiable part of flyer design. The three key pieces of information you give must be what/who you are, where the business or event is happening, and when it is happening if something is available for a limited time. This information doesn’t need to all be in the headline but it must be clearly stated on your flyer.
Less is more
You don’t want to overload your audience with information so keep it minimal. Make sure you only use a maximum of two fonts, a more unusual font is suitable for headlines but a more traditional and basic font should be used for the main body of text. Just remember, quality not quantity.
Bullet point fever
As we said above, you don’t want to pack your flyer with too much information. However, you also want to avoid ‘bullet point fever’. Short paragraphs under clear headlines scan better than a whole page of bullet points so keep them to a minimum or avoid using them at all.
Grab their attention
Even though you’re focusing on the words you also need one or two images to grab the attention of your target audience. One of these could be your company logo so people are in no doubt of who is providing the service or event. The other image should be related to your business or occasion; if you don’t have your own images then looking somewhere like iStockphoto (http://www.istockphoto.com/) will give you high quality images at a reasonable price that avoid the dreaded clip art curse.
Printing
If you’re using a commercial printing service you need to consider the file layout and account for bleed and trim. However most printers will provide you with templates to help you do this; ideally you need graphic software such as Photoshop to get a really professional finish.
For those of you printing in the office or at home remember to keep it simple, a white border around the edge gives a clean, traditional ‘flyer’ look. White space is definitely not your enemy; it makes your flyer easily readable and adds to the simple feel your flyer should have.
VAT free?
The official VAT document states that if a flyer is printed on stock thicker than 170 gsm, is a mix of text and pictures, is small enough to be held in your hand, and is designed to be read and then discarded then it can still be deemed a leaflet and is VAT free.
However items that are designed to be kept are not deemed as a leaflet and therefore may be subject to VAT. These items are things such as: something to obtain admission, and or discount on goods/services, a reference material, or an item for completion and return.
Unfortunately the document isn’t particularly clear so it is worth checking it yourself once you’ve designed your flyer to see which category it falls under.
So there you have it, a back to basics guide to getting your flyer campaign right. Once you have designed and created your flyer make sure you proof read and run a test print to check your fonts, images and borders look good and convey the right message.
Not your bag?
Don’t worry. We can’t all be creative geniuses! If your attempt at a flyer looks a little amateurish, let our designers get their hands on it. There will be no faffing about. Within no time we’ll have your flyer looking professional and ready to grab the attention of your audience. Have a look at our website to check out our pricing – we think you’ll be pleased!
