Flyers: How to Create Them and Use Them to Promote Your Business

Recently I had the pleasure of creating advertising flyers for two clients, one a Life and Business Transformation Coach and the other a CPA (Certified Public Accountant).

While each of these professionals offer totally different services, they do have many things in common, as do all people who need/want to promote their services to the marketplace.

• They know what it is they offer - what benefits can be derived from working with them. (In some cases the benefits seem obvious and in others they are more intrinsic in nature).
• They know what it is the marketplace needs/wants.
• They are able to articulate it in a way that a layperson will understand.
• They know what it is they want their target audience to do once they know about the services offered. Again this is not as simple as it may seem. For instance, when doing any type of promotion you need to know what action you want the prospect and/or client to take. Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to give you their contact information? Do you want them to refer others to you? There are a number of things a service professional will want to do and she or he needs to understand the "one thing" they want their prospect to do. Not 2 or 3 or 10 things, but the one thing. Because if you offer someone too many choices, often they do nothing.

Here are two examples of flyers I created. On each of these I have put down what I think are the most important elements in the design and execution of the flyers.

They include:

#1 The name (individual or company) of the advertiser

#2 A tagline or slogan (something descriptive that will pique the interest of the reader and is memorable). Think Nike's "JUST DO IT."

#3 The benefits -What are the benefits of hiring you? In other words, what outcomes can someone expect from working with you?

#4 Social proof (testimonials) - Sometimes you don't need to list a lot of benefits, when you have compelling testimonials to back up your offer. Make sure you use a person's full name (unless you are prohibited from doing so due to compliance issues) and if possible the person's profession and/or location.

#5 The Offer - What are going to give the reader for taking time to look at your ad? Make it compelling and worth his or her time.

#6 Call to action - You have to tell people what you want to do once they read your flyer. Do you want them to call, come by, go to your website, visit a social media page? Make it clear.

#7 Contact Information - I have seen people go to great expense to create a professional flyer only to leave off the most important element - the contact information. If yours is a brick and mortar business, be sure to include your address. Include your phone and website and if you don't mind potential spam (and yes, it will increase) include your email address.

Once you have these elements a flyer can be created that fits your goals and personality. There is no right or wrong way as far as order - in the two examples I pretty much did them in the order above. What I tell clients is to lead with the most compelling information. Oftentimes it is a powerful testimonial. It can also be the offer, or the benefits. The design and layout will help determine the best "order" for your flyer.

Other tips: Be sure you use quality paper and printing. Don't run cheap photocopies. These flyers are a representation of your business and as such should look professionally done. Make sure the person designing the flyer creates them in print quality (not just for the web).

After your flyer has been created, there are a number of things you can do to market your products/services. Here are 12 ways to promote your new flyer to the marketplace:

1. Submit your ad to your local business organizations. You may be able to "trade" ad space for services.

2. Submit your ad to industry newsletters. If you have a full page ad created it is really simple to reduce it to a quarter page size display ad. The only caveat, if your ad is text heavy make sure it is easy to read once it has been reduced.

3. If you do any kind of speaking or public presentations, have your flyer on hand to give to the audience. Make sure the offer is compelling enough that it does not end up in the "round file."
4. Send your flyer to your best clients and offer a "reward" for them passing it on to their circles (in the form of a free service, reduced fee, etc.)

5. If you write articles for magazines or newsletters for free, ask that they also include your ad in exchange for your intellectual information.

6. Distribute your flyers in the right venues. If you are selling accounting services, a chamber of commerce or business organization are ideal.

7. Try door hangers. I know, they are "old school" but I will tell you they can be very effective. Especially since not many companies are doing it any longer. I have a retail florist and this year to promote Valentines I decided to buy door hanger bags (Office Depot has them) and stuff the bags with a flyer and business card. My husband and I drove around in the golf cart and hung them on doors in neighboring communities. Since we already go walking for exercise this was not difficult. What was great is how many people we actually spoke to who didn't even know my shop was in their neighborhood. This may not seem cost-effective and may be too labor-intensive for some, but for me the rewards have far-outweighed the effort.

8. Give extra flyers to business associates and ask them to pass them out to during their day. Offer something for their effort. I did this with our landscaper who has access to gated communities. He gave a flyer to several of his clients during his routine service calls.

9. Offer other professionals the option of 'piggy-backing' on the door hanger idea. I could have easily asked my landscaper to give me a flyer and include in the promotion. He would have gladly paid for the opportunity. Next time, I will.

10. Promote your flyers on social media. While the focus of this article is to use flyers the 'old fashioned' way, it is always good to incorporate the web in your marketing efforts. You can upload the flyer to your website or blog and let people know about it. You can upload the flyer to your Facebook business page, LinkedIn if its appropriate (see how I am using the flyers on LinkedIn Pulse as a example while obviously promoting my clients and my company). You can also share on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. You may be surprised by how many people end up "sharing" your flyer with their own following.

11. Create posters out of your flyers. A good quality flyer can be enlarged and used as a poster. If you frequent an establishment with a bulletin board and it would not "cheapen" your message, by all means, ask if you can hang it there.

12. If you participate in Trade Shows and Business Conferences, use that as an opportunity to distribute your flyers. Be sure you find out if its okay before doing so. Some organizations will do it for you (for a fee) and will even include your flyer in their give-away bags. While I don't think this is the most effective use of flyers, it may work for some business types.

What other ways have you or could you use flyers? Feel free to list them in the comments below.

And if you need a flyer created for your business, send me a message. I have several "packages" including a $99 special that includes designing as well as promoting your flyer to my audience in several venues. Visit my website,www.RedheadMarketingInc.com to learn about my other products and services.