Make a Flyer that Gets You Business

A friend asked me to review her new flyer while we talked on the phone. This wasn’t the scheduled topic of our conversation, but it was a simple request and I really wanted to see what she had developed. She emailed it to me and we sat in awkward silence as we waited for her creation to appear on my screen. Her team spent a lot of time on it she told me. She really thought I would like it.

When I fixed my eyes on the flyer, I saw what I’ve seen so many times before – a great design that was consumed by a copious amount of content. “It’s very comprehensive,” I said. A quick glance told me there were nearly 1,000 words on the page in front of me. This wasn’t a flyer, it was an essay.



This flyer uses bullet points and a fun design to
make for easy reading.

Flyers are a great resource. You can have one written, designed and produced inexpensively in a matter of hours. The problem is a lot of flyers don't get read because the message isn't clear. The business owner wants to tell their customers everything about what they do and answer every possible question. That’s asking a lot of one sheet of paper. A flyer should serve as a written elevator pitch - quickly and easily digested by anyone.

The most successful flyers can be read aloud in about 15 seconds. Here's three tips for making better flyers.

1. Determine the call to action. What do you want people to do? Call for an appointment, come into the store for a special offer. Decide the desired response and lead with that in your text.

2. Make the copy brief and use bullet points. Does it pass the 15 second test?

3. Know your audience. Are you selling to mothers, business professionals, teens? Make sure the design relates to them, and doesn’t detract from your core message.

Bonus tip: Read every flyer that comes your way. How quickly can you determine what the seller wants you to do? Can you find the contact information? Could you explain it to your neighbor after just an initial glance?

An impressive flyer can be found anywhere - even your front porch. My doorbell rang and to my surprise the man standing before me handed me a flyer that was far better than his competition. He used bullet points to describe his landscaping services, included a couple of pictures and made his contact information easy to find. Can you recall the last flyer you received from a landscaper? Before that moment, neither could I.

One might argue that a landscaper has a simple message to deliver, and therefore his flyer was easier to produce. But you should be able to describe your business, no matter how complex, in the same manner to anyone. You may not cut grass, or trim the hedges, but you sell something to a group of people. If you can’t explain what you deliver in quick fashion, nobody else can either.