Leaflet design: tips to create the most efficient pamphlets.
By: Lia Contesso
Submitted: 2011-10-05 08:52:29 | Word Count: 550
There is a great amount of promotional material that arrives to the houses of many Italians every day in the form of promotional leaflets, commercial letters or informative flyers. The direct marketing techniques in which leafleting is based advocate this methodology is a really good way to target specific regions and demographic groups but insist that for a company's leaflets to be efficient, their design must differentiate itself from the other elements that arrive through door to door distribution.
In particular, they focus the attention on the fact that the population has grown so used to receiving commercial communications at home that a real war for the receiver's attention has begun in which every single item fights for the attention and to be among the few flyers the person is going to dedicate a couple of minutes to. It is therefore essential to elaborate the correct distribution strategy and to create advertising material that will stand out among the rest.
[ advertisement ]
First, one has to consider the size and shape of the leaflet. Depending on the chosen distribution method, the adequate proportions of the flyer will change. If for example the leaflets are to be distributed on the streets it is better that they are small so that people can put them in their pockets or purses and don't have to necessarily throw them away at the next corner. If the items are to be delivered at houses sizes can be bigger.
The next step is that of defining the graphic elements of the leaflet, that are going to be the most important element in capturing the receiver's attention. Bright, vibrant colours, geometric simple shapes and non conventional pictures are the way to go. It is important to determine the audience to which the leaflet is going to be delivered. If you are targeting young people outside of a college campus or if your target group is senior citizens. The age of the receiver is also a key factor in settling for a typeface size, although a good rule of thumb is to make it legible for all people.
On the content side, it is better to set a limit on the amount of text you are going to include. The vast majority of people are going to dedicate one quick look to deciding if the leaflet is worth their time or not, so it is better to choose two or three convincing key sentences that refer to an immediate benefit or advantage. In general, direct advertising works best when the ad encourages the receiver to do a certain action like going to a certain shop to exchange a coupon, or buying a certain product to get a free sample of another one.
In addition it is important to include the company's contact information and the place where the receiver can exchange the coupon or execute the action proposed on the leaflet. The use of different contact numbers or promotional codes is also a way to measure the results of the campaign and to test which designs and messages have yielded the best performances.
