Flyers are one of the most popular printed pieces out there. In need of a marketing tool? Design some flyers. Want to make some announcements? Print a couple out. Spreading the news about your new product? Create some. Flyers are a great help if you want to draw attention to an event, a service, a product, or even an idea.
The single, unfolded printed sheet that is a flyer contains a message that can be conveyed quickly. Because of its uncomplicated layout, it doesn’t take much time from its audience. A few seconds of attention is enough for the reader to grasp the flyer’s message, which means that it is effective in communicating its intentions and purpose.
Elements of a Good Flyer
When designing a flyer, don’t just think about the information you need to communicate with your audience. Your first concern must be how to attract their attention enough for them to actually want to look at your flyer. Only then can you have the chance to get your message across. Design plays a massive role if you want to reap positive results from your efforts. With that being said, here are some elements you need to incorporate into the design of your next flyer.
One clear and concise goal: Evaluate the purpose of your flyer, and try focusing on that one aspect that you are trying to promote, whether it’s to sell a new product, to invite customers to an event, or to advertise your service. When it comes to designing flyers, there is one ultimate rule: hone in on the most important message at the moment.
A popping headline: This is what your audience will notice first the moment they see your flyer, so make it interesting. If the headline successfully catches the passersby’s attention, they’ll keep reading the whole flyer’s content, which means that you’ve successfully generated an audience.
An overall motivating message: This is your call-to-action line. A call to action is a message that makes the reader want to act. Otherwise, the flyer will be useless to the reader. Call to action can be simple words like “buy now,” “call today,” “contact us,” “come in,” and “enter to win.” The reason why these phrases are so common in announcements is that they let the reader know how to act on what they read.
Your contact information: Never forget to add this to your flyer since this will be the audience’s bridge to contacting you. A phone number and an address are essential to every flyer. What if your announcement or your marketing has successfully piqued somebody’s interest and they want to try out the product you’ve posted about. How will they reach you? You can’t expect people to look for your contact information themselves. Never forget that people nowadays want quick and easy. Regardless of how tempting your flyer’s offers are, if people don’t know how to reach you, they won’t.
Since the design is such a massively important part of a flyer, doing it right is important. So here are a few helpful tips to make sure that you create a flyer that can do the job for you:
Don’t over-clutter your design. This one goes without saying. The most common advice you’ll get about literally everything is to “keep it simple,” and there’s a reason for that. Over-cluttering can bury what’s important about your flyer. Too many pictures? Your audience won’t look at your text since there’s just so many visuals going on. Too much white space? Who’d read that when it looks so boring? Not all the elements in your design are important. A few should be held in prominence while the others should be relegated into a supporting role.
Don’t be too crazy about fonts. A huge part of making a good flyer design is making it consistent, and the best way to achieve that is by limiting your choice of fonts. As a general rule, two or three fonts are enough for a design.
Do think about your target audience. Who are you trying to sell to? What kind of lifestyle do they have? At this point, you should have a rough idea of the buyer persona that your business is targeting. Use elements you know they will appreciate. Use the language that they speak. Although design and graphic elements are important, content is still king. Make use of that.
Use consistent graphics. The colors and the images that you use should reinforce your message and stay consistent with your branding. Notice how Nike’s posters always include the words “Just Do It” along with their logo? It doesn’t matter what their model is doing, this tagline is always present because they are reinforcing their brand that way. It’s a good practice to use the same colors that you use for your logo and other marketing materials for consistency.
Designing Your Own Flyer
Flyers are often the first impression that a client gets of a brand, which is why it is very important to pay attention to their design and content since that initial interaction will outlast every single one that will come after. The flyer must have a professional appearance and keep the attention of customers at the same time. Here are a few steps on how you can achieve that.
Step #1. Plan the concept.
The first step is thinking about what you want to convey since that intention will decide the design or the format that your flyer will take. It’s best to think this one thoroughly before moving forward.
Step #2. Decide on the format.
Now that you know what your flyer’s goal is, it’s time to decide which format is most suitable to cater to that. If the idea is to promote an offer, a one-sided flyer may already be sufficient. If your aim is to deliver more information, you may want to use a two-sided or three-sided flyer. The number of sides you decide to have should depend on the amount of information you want to transmit.
Step #3. Use a provoking design.
When thinking about how to design your flyer, make sure you keep your brand’s identity in mind. This is simply a tool to help your audience know that the flyer they have received is yours. Use your corporative logo, colors, and even typography in your design to create uniformity in all of your marketing attempts.
However, aside from staying loyal to the graphic identity that your company has established, make sure that you also pay attention to creating a design that will create an impact on your audience, enough to make them want to keep reading.
Step #4. Rank the information.
Highlighted titles, words in bold, italic, size of the typography, these are all graphic elements you can play with to rank the information on your flyer and emphasize what is most important. Using this kind of resources will help your flyer look more attractive, while also guiding your audience’s eyes to focus on the more important details.
Step #5. Use graphic resources.
Graphic resources such as photography, illustrations, and even the creative use of colors are a never-ending source of interest for the audience. Use these to your advantage. A flyer with nothing but text is, sadly, rarely read. Very few people have the patience to give more than a glance to a flyer with no images whatsoever. But instead of letting this cripple you, use it to strengthen your message.
Types of Flyers
Marketing flyers are one of the many marketing tools that business use to gain new customers, announce sales or special promotions, and essentially promote their brand. There are a few types of flyers used according to purpose.
Trifold Brochures. This type of marketing flyer has the ability to contain a great deal of information, while still being easy to print. These are also very easy to display on a desk or in a reception area, making them more accessible to its target audience.
Leaflets. These are usually advertisements in the form of a single-fold brochure or a single sheet of paper. Many businesses prefer these as marketing flyers because of their small size and relatively inexpensive cost. They can be placed on doors, on car windshields, in mailings, and many other places to make sure that customers can see them. Some businesses even hire individuals to give them out to people on the streets and other busy areas so that their material can reach as many people as possible.
Digital brochures. In a world riddled with high-technology, it’s not a surprise that people have already found a way to make this marketing tool virtually available. Digital brochures are a popular marketing flyer because of the ease of transmitting information. Instead of printing the flyer, a company can simply design the material and then save it as a digital file that might be emailed or used on a website.
Marketing flyers that hang on door handles. This is another cost-effective tool that businesses choose to market their products or service. A flyer is printed with a hole and space to slide onto door handles of places such as homes, business complexes, or shopping areas. Businesses might choose to use door handle marketing flyers because it puts their information in front of many customers, which puts them closer to their target market than they might have gotten otherwise.
Flyer Sizes
Low cost and high impact—this could very well describe your marketing strategy when you use flyers. The time-tested method allows you to get the word out about your business while exercising your creativity. Catch your target audience’s attention with a flyer that’s effective in both design, size, and style.
Here are the three common flyer sizes:
Half Sheet. This flyer size, which is commonly chosen for the minimal cost required for printing, is 5.5 × 8.5 inches in size.
Standard. The standard flyer size in the industry is 8.5 × 11 inches.
Large Format. A large format flyer is perfect for documents that need to be folded, such as restaurant menus, broadsheet inserts, and oversize leaflets. It’s 11 × 17 inches in size.
Flyer FAQs
How much does it cost to make flyers?
The cost for a one-sided, full-color flyer is .69 cents per flyer. But there are also stores who offer in bulk, which can help you save money.
What are flyers for?
A flyer is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution, and is typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals, or sent through emails. In 2010, flyers ranged from inexpensively photocopied leaflets to expensive, glossy, full-color circulars.
If you are really serious about marketing something, try to discover as many platforms as you can. Online, social media, flyers, these target different audiences but they are equally effective. Make sure you cover every marketing ground by employing all these tools.