10 Design Tips To Boost Your Flyer Campaigns

Flyer printing is a simple and cost-effective way to advertise your business. The most effective marketing is simple, affordable, and trustworthy, and flyers are exactly that. A strong flyer design will portray your business in the best light to the right set of potential customers. Flyers work because you can touch them. It engages on a physical level. This helps to create a tangible connection with the consumer. Blending quality printing, impeccable design, and compelling storytelling, effective flyers engage and inspire people to take the next step. Whether you hire a graphic designer, or do it yourself, design is paramount to ensuring a positive return on investment. In this guide, we take you through ten flyer design tips to help you create the perfect flyer.

10 Design Tips To Create The Perfect Flyer

Function Over Form

Your flyer should be functional, easy to read, and clear

Although your flyer needs to be eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing and memorable, we’ll come to the design side later. First and foremost, your flyer must be functional. You’re not Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel; you’re a business trying to sell a product. You need to make sure your marketing is concise, readable, and clear. Ensure that the flyer looks professional, and meets the basic requirements; it should have the correct print resolution and it should show an awareness of current print marketing trends – otherwise it may make your business look amateur. Ensure that the information on your flyer is easy to read and presented without visual clutter. Remember, effective marketing is about effective communication. A flyer-reader has little time and even less attention-span. Keep it concise. Make essential information (e.g. contact details) easily accessible; try using a bold color or enlarging the text. Adopt a conversational tone that will draw people in, and make them keep reading. If you’re selling a specific product, show an image of it. It might seem simple, but people buy with their eyes. Give the reader something visual and your flyer will convert to sales much more effectively.

Know Your Audience

Understanding who is buying makes it easier to sell to them
 As with any effective marketing, you need to know who you’re trying to reach. Who is your target demographic? What are their likes and dislikes, their interests and tastes? How do they speak? What do they relate to? And what’s going to catch their attention? Do your market research first, then construct the ideal flyer with your target reader in mind. When you are figuring out the tone of your text, keep in mind the type of person you hope will be reading it. If you are trying to tap into a new market, the flyer should be catchy and enticing, not overly pushy. If you are consolidating an existing group of customers or clients, try to strike a tone that suggests a sense of friendship, trust, and personal connection. Always use direct pronouns like “you” and “your” rather than generalized words like “we” or “our’ – this will make your flyer speak directly to the reader, and grab their attention, letting them know that they come first. If you’re able to reach your target audience, your flyers will be much more effective.

 

Use Space Effectively

Flyers are small, they should not read like a book
One of the defining features of flyers is that they are small. Flyers are between 1/4 and a full 8.5×11″ sheet. You will always be faced with very limited print space. You’re going to need to think creatively about how to lay out your design, in order to get across your key information. Much like designing posters, flyers need to use space carefully. A great technique to create more space is to gridify – that is to divide the page into a grid, with each square containing a different patch of text, an image or a logo. With a flyer you should aim to be experimental with your use of space. Think along the grid. Dividing your flyer up into perfect squares can look overly rigid and formal. Try using irregular sized sections to really make your content pop off the page. You could have one large square of text, next to an image, with a small square of text underneath. Or, if you’re looking to really shake things up, why not try experimenting with diagonal compositions? There’s really no end to the possibilities of your design, just make sure to use space effectively. Don’t let your flyer get crowded or messy. The ideal design packs in loads of content, but still looks minimal, clean and balanced.

 

Be Eye-Catching

A striking visual image can really grab the attention of your potential customers

 

The more eye-catching your flyer, the more likely it is going to be picked up and read. Whether you’re going for subtlety or boldness, you certainly want to avoid the curse of dullness at all costs. Understated and professional designs can be completely transformed from blah to brilliant with attention to color. Use your business colors to reinforce your brand, and make sure you use a balanced palette. If you’re advertising an event, or a product that’s more attention-seeking, such as a club night, exhibition or festival, you simply can’t afford not to be eye-catching! You want to inject your flyer with the spirit of the product itself. Your flyer should capture, and be an extension of, the experience. The most eye-catching flyers use color effectively; a palette of complementary and bold tones will make your content jump off the page. Try to balance a trio of bold elements – one striking visual image, one attention-grabbing headline (in a legible but bold font) and one colored element (such as a logo). By sticking to this three-element rule, you can avoid overcrowding, and ensure your flyer remains easy on the eye. Most importantly, make sure your design is fun and optimistic. Your main aim is to make a flyer that people will hold on to. They’re far more likely to do this if the design makes them feel good.

 

Be Cool

By using a minimalist design, your flyer will appear more professional

 

Attention-grabbing doesn’t mean noisy, pushy or needy. A flyer can be eye-catching and enticing even if it’s understated. Sometimes a more subtle flyer design can be perfectly-pitched, especially if you’re targeting a more demure, intelligent or corporate consumer. Aim for an aesthetic that is minimal, serene and calm. Remember less is more, and sometimes it’s effective to play hard to get. If you’re advertising a corporate service or a product with a sophisticated image, your flyer should reflect that. An effective marketing strategy can be one that says “We’ve got this great thing going on, you need to come to us in order to get it.” Now imagine that message in flyer form; a flat, understated design style will attract your target consumer with very little effort. Try keeping it simple. Use a black, white and grey palette, and restrict yourself to a careful use of color; one splash of bold color is enough. Teals, mint greens, silvers, mustards, and lilacs are innately engaging and deftly corporate. You don’t want to seem like you’re trying too hard to impress, so remember, be cool.

 

Be Friendly

Adding a picture of your smiling employees or self can make your flyer seem more friendly

 

Being understated shouldn’t be confused with being aloof. You want your flyer to make your company seem charming, friendly and approachable. There are a number of ways of achieving that. First, strike an informal, conversational tone with your text. Second, choose images that make a good impression. Don’t underestimate the power of a smiling human face when it comes to making people feel at ease. Imagine a university prospectus, corporate brochure, or a shampoo ad; they’re full of people smiling. Especially if you’re marketing a service, it’s super important to present the viewer with a friendly face. Imagine how you would greet a client in your office, then put that face on your flyer. When they interact with your company down the line, they will keep the image of that smile in their mind, making them feel at ease. A word of warning would be to avoid using stock images on flyers (unless forced by budgetary constraints). Many stock photos of “smiling business people” actually look soulless, forced, and overly staged. Hiring a professional photographer might be expensive, but it’s worth it to ensure authenticity. Moreover, once you have an image that’s truly yours, you can use it across your marketing channels, on websites and social media, to create a lasting brand image.

 

Font

Your font needs to match your brand. For creating trust, try using more serious fonts

 

How many websites or memes are dedicated to the bashing of Comic Sans? Don’t use it. Or the many others that make your business look like a childcare facility or clown service, unless possibly if you have a childcare facility or are a clown, even then we should talk about a more professional look. Different fonts have personalities of their own, and you need to match your font’s tone to your brand image. It’s usually safe to fall back on a sophisticated font – something like Helvetica or Times New Roman. Make sure you find a font that’s legible and clean. It doesn’t have to be unusual. As a general rule, we’d recommended that you limit the use of different fonts in your flyer design. Two font families is the maximum; one is usually enough. Add too many different fonts and your design will start to look cluttered and confused, losing visual cohesion. Less is more in this regard. If you’re looking for visual variety within your design, look to a different weight or italicize. This is a great way to add emphasis without sacrificing consistency.

 

Use Color to Create Mood

Sometimes less is more. Stand out by using a single color

 

As we’ve mentioned, color plays a vital role in making your flyer appear bolder and more appealing, but did you know it can also affect mood? Color, arguably more so than font choice or images, is the most significant feature in creating the mood and personality of your flyer design. Color psychology is crucial in enticing someone to pick up / hold on to your flyer, so your choice of color can make or break a good design. Color experts Pantone have released their color trends for 2018, which is a great guide when trying to establish your palette. According to Pantone executive Leatrice Eiseman, if you want to look “resourceful”, your best off using blues and oranges; it’s a color combination that “combines warm and cool tones that you can’t avoid looking at”. Yellow is “playful”, pink is “discrete”, and gold is “sophisticated”. If you’re hoping to reach a diverse crowd, go with rosy tones; “this palette reaches out and embraces many different cultures”. Choosing a poorly judged color combination can alienate consumers, but the right palette will help your flyer to convert into sales. If you’re looking for a classic, tried and tested color combination, use pastel colors; they are a natural application of our lifestyles and thought processes. Choose your color carefully, and you’ll be in control of your mood.

 

Connect to Digital

Use QR codes or coupons to connect your flyers to the digital world

 

Print should not be seen as the enemy of digital marketing. In fact, quite the opposite – it’s a strategy to increase sales through digital engagement. The most effective marketing campaigns are those in which your print and digital media are carefully coordinated, such that they reinforce one another, and mutually develop a consistent brand image. Printed flyers are a great way to drive your audience back online, and make them engage with your digital content. When designing your flyer, remember to include Facebook and Twitter links, to promote your social media presence. These pieces allow you to track the effectiveness of your flyer. Connecting your flyer to your digital content is an essential part of your design.

 

Call to Action

Add a call-to-action to convert readers into customers

Perhaps one of the most basic but essential flyer design tips is to remember that you’re not handing out flyers for no reason. You’re handing them out because you want something in return. In order to get something from your customers, you need a ‘call to action’. This can be a command, imperative or directive that influences the reader to not only take the information on board, but to act on it. Remember, a flyer means nothing if it doesn’t inspire your audience to act. Questions, temptations and suggestions are all ways of subtly asking someone to engage. A classic call to action is the phrase ”order now”, or “why not go online?”. You should aim to direct your customer towards a very specific action, and encourage them to act immediately. As such, incentives and discounts are generally helpful in enticing people to engage. Think about using more question marks, and get creative when it comes to slogans and phrases. Be bold, but keep it innocuous. People don’t like being told what to do, so you need to make them want to act – above all, your flyer design should be so enticing that they feel they can’t afford not to.

 

Conclusion

A well-designed flyer is a truly effective way to promote your business. By following our flyer design tips and combining well-made flyers with efficient street teams, on ground marketing campaigns, and a carefully coordinated digital presence, you could reach whole new audiences, as well as consolidating existing ones. Remember that first and foremost, every flyer design needs to prioritize functionality; if it reads clearly, and packs in the content, then you’re off to a good start. After that, design is everything – choose your colors carefully, balance your composition, and keep it minimal. The most successful flyers are the most enticing. The longer the viewer holds it in their hand, the more lasting and meaningful the impression. By creating beautiful designs, and using flyers as part of a considered marketing campaign, the possibilities for promotion are endless.