Brand Dots

Flyers are a popular and effective way to market your company. However, there is a right and wrong way to create and distribute flyers. Over the many years that I worked in the property management industry, after trying countless methods of generating traffic, I found that one of the most successful ways to get prospects in the door was by distributing flyers.

This seems pretty basic and low-tech in today’s society, but it works! Nothing beats pounding the pavement, networking face to face, and getting the word out about your company with a small piece of paper.

I’ve created a list of dos and don’ts to guide you:

Do

• Distribute them in a place that will reach your target market.
• Have them printed professionally to ensure quality.
• Include a special promotion that is advertised on the flyer so you can easily track its effectiveness.
• Be consistent. Use the same theme, colors, and words as the rest of your brand messaging.
• Research your competitors and determine what is working for them.
• Include your phone number and website address.
• Use striking graphics. Use lifestyle photos and realistic images.
• Organize the content with boxes that have contrasting colors.

Don’t

• Include anything that is discriminatory (If advertising housing, fair-housing laws apply. You must advertise all sizes, kinds, and types.)
• Annoy potential clients. Beware of parking lots.  Most people hate getting flyers on their cars so if you must distribute them that way, consider putting a small flyer on the driver-side window, so it’s not as inconvenient and makes a better first impression on the customer.
• Go overboard on the verbiage. Keep the flyer simple. Include the top two to three features/benefits.
• Forget to proofread and double-check to make sure all of the information is accurate before your have them printed.
• Forget to include attention-grabbing headlines.
• Use hokey, cartoon images.

If you’re looking for inspiration and a few tips on how you can get your flyers noticed, check out this link.  UPrinting.com has several really creative designs.  In addition, HP offers some pretty nice templates that you can use if you don’t have a graphic design background and can’t afford to hire someone that does.