Introduction
Leaflets are a great tool to market businesses of almost all sizes in London. However, the effectiveness of your flyer delivery campaign will largely depend on how good your leaflet actually is.
This means that we should ideally learn how to create a leaflet in a way that will maximise our response rates.
If you want to understand better how to make a leaflet that works, this blog is for you.
Make a plan for your campaign first
Before you start thinking about how to make a leaflet, you want to make sure that you know what kind of campaign you are making it for.
You could be looking to get a wide variety of results from your campaigns. Maybe you’ve opened a new location and you are trying to inform everyone in the local area of this fact.
You might be looking to get as many new clients through the door as possible, even if you have to send out some leaflets with discount codes for people to come redeem.
Alternatively, you might be running a routine drop for an established business, reactivating your local area a few times a year with a mixture of online ads and repeated leaflet drops.
Your flyer needs to be carefully tailored to the goals of your campaign. Try to specify this goal as much as possible. Discuss your campaign with your leaflet distributor and ask for their advice on how a leaflet for your kind of campaign should look.
You also want to consider the location you are going to be targeting with your pamphlet drops and the demographics you are after.
Larger homes in North London get a lot of leaflets through their door every day. Depending on the type of business you are advertising, this might make you consider using an unusual format, thicker paper or even a folded leaflet. Leaflet distribution in London can change based on the exact areas you are targeting.
Knowing exactly what you are looking to get from your campaign and who you are targeting will have a big impact on how your leaflet is created. You can have a look at some examples of different types of leaflet distribution campaigns here.
How to create a leaflet
Now that you know the exact purpose of your campaign, you can start creating your leaflet.
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Find the right images
Modern leaflet design leans heavily on the use of images. A formula that tends to work for the majority of campaigns is to keep one side of the flyer dedicated to an image or an illustration and another side to text.
This way, you get to communicate all the information you want on your text side but you also give your flyer the ability to grab people’s attention via the use of a large image.
You can use a photo or an illustration for this. This can be commissioned by you or purchased from one of the many online stock image sites. A good example of an image you can create a leaflet around, would be an Italian restaurant commissioning a high quality photo of a their best pasta dish.
You want to make sure that the basic message you are trying to get across with your flyer is encompassed in the image you are using. In the above example, the point is to advertise one of the best dishes the restaurant makes.
If you run an estate agent that specialises in selling large homes in the country, you want to use an image of the best version of the properties you deal in. The cleaner and more beautiful, the better.
What you don’t want to do in this instance is to use an image of an estate agent in a suit walking potential clients through a nondescript building.
Spend some time looking for the right image to make your leaflet pop and deliver your message in the cleanest way possible.
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Create your tagline
When it comes to creating a leaflet, you want to make sure to use a tagline that fully encompasses the point of your campaign or that clearly describes what sets you apart from your competition.
This could be as simple as “The best Italian food in West Hampstead” for a restaurant or “Our pupils have the highest university acceptance rates in the UK” for a school flyer.
A tagline like this is most commonly placed on the image side of your flyer and displayed very prominently.
The idea is that the image attracts attention and sets the mood while the tagline is the first bit of information your potential clients read.
You want to spend some time thinking about different options for your tagline when you’re thinking about how to make your leaflet. Run it by multiple people, try different versions and look for the most punchy option that clearly delivers your message. When you are making your leaflets, make sure you don’t rush this step.
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Write the rest of your leaflet
On the text side of your flyer, your aim should be to deliver more information about your business, services or the product you are offering.
Sharing some of your testimonials and/or accreditations is also a good idea. If you want to know more about this step, have a look at our blog that focuses on how to write your leaflet in detail.
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Use a QR code
QR codes are a great tool to expand on what your flyer can do. A QR code is simply a square image which, when scanned by a mobile phone, can take you to a particular page on a website.
This can be a video, your booking system, the homepage of your site or your social media profile of choice. The benefits of this should be obvious.
If you want to know more about how to create a QR code, have a look at this article.
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Work with professionals
If you can, try to find a distribution company that can help you develop plans for your campaigns, guide the design process and assist you with printing and storage.
Having assistance from an experienced distributor through the whole process can make a big difference. It might be challenging to keep the whole process of making a leaflet and a whole campaign on track while running your own business.
When there are multiple images tested, taglines juggled and copy changes made, mistakes can creep in if one’s attention is divided. A good distribution partner can be another set of eyes to make sure everything is moving in the right direction in the flyer creation process.
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Decide on the format and print
The most common format we recommend our clients use is a simple A5, single page leaflet. A5 is a good size for a large image while keeping the leaflet physically resilient. Single page A5 flyers take transport well and don’t get damaged during delivery. They are also very cost effective to produce.
With that said, there are many other formats you can consider, including folded leaflets. If you decide to use one of these, make sure that it’s for a good reason. The fact is that for 95% of campaigns a simple A5 flyer is the best choice.
Printing is the final step in the process of making of your leaflets. If you are already working with an established distribution company, they are likely to be able to get you a very competitive price with a large printing house.
If you decide to make your leaflet print order yourself, you might need to pay a little more.
In either instance, aim to have your flyers delivered directly to your distributor. This will save you time, money and the headache of moving tens of thousands of flyers around London. They are heavier than you think.
