Every company aims to create eye-catching, slick and effectively designed advertisements in order to keep consumer attention long enough to communicate your business message. This may be through leaflet, brochure or poster format, but whatever method you choose; all design aims remain the same – to sell your product!
Here at Direct Letterbox Marketing, we are dedicated to design and are passionate about providing our client’s with high quality and productive print and leaflet distribution services, so we’ve put together a few top tips to consider when creating effective and impactful design.
Know your purpose
Your leaflet should be clear and definitive to its purpose. Set out business goals and marketing strategies to be sure that objectives are being considered throughout the design process. Consider your audience, and target them specifically – tailor the content, style and distribution points in order to appeal to your target market and communicate with them on the appropriate level.
Keep it short, sharp and snappy
A leaflet cannot contain everything you want to say – so be selective in your design and content approach. Chances are your leaflet will be competing with a high number of other leaflets for consumer attention, so if you have a unique secret weapon – use it! The headline will be the first thing an audience sees, so keep it simple and to the point. Break up larger blocks of content with smaller paragraphs and headers, this will divert the eye to more important sectors if being ‘skim read’.
Size and stock
Size within promotional distribution is an extremely important design feature to focus upon. Consider page layout, opening qualities and what will prove more productive and accessible to complement your overall business message. Most leaflets tend to be A5, when folded down from A4 or A3 size. Leaflets of this typical size are often easily stored within distribution racks and are a convenient size for consumers.
Paper quality is extremely important – you want your message to be communicated in a high quality and luxurious manner. Easily ripped or ‘floppy’ leaflets can often be easily destroyed, resulting in messages being hidden or lost. Consider a sturdy, strong and quality paper to promote a quality business concept.
The science of colour
Research has shown that colourful and vivid tonal palettes are 50-70% more likely to retain attention over black and white hues. Colours can speak positively or negatively about a product in a short space of time. Try to choose minimal yet striking colour matches, and do not over-do it. Too many colours can result in a ‘tacky’ or over-thought final product – colours must be crisp, clear and effective – like your message.
Keep it simple
Don’t try to be different or a little wacky just for the sake of it. If you are trying to get your leaflet noticed amongst the competition, there are plenty of other simple techniques to adapt.
Limit your fonts
Limit your fonts to a minimum for an overall neater aesthetic. Try to refrain from adding any other font accents apart from heading, subheading and body content fonts. You do not need to find a unique or unusual font that nobody has ever used before – use a font that is bold, eye-catching and will draw attention in a simplistic and central way. More common fonts are actually more productive due to their recognisable factor and simpler shape. Use serif typeface fonts as they are easier to read and neater when applied alongside larger bodies of text.
Put your audience first
When designing a leaflet or brochure format, keep the end purpose in mind. Consider its primary use and (hopefully) final outcome. Whether you are promoting a product, inviting the audience to an event or promoting a service – design for that person, not for yourself. Ask yourself what the leaflet will say to them; is this the message you wish to communicate? And consider the leaflets lifecycle – is it to be delivered door to door, to be handed out personally or a leave-behind leaflet? Consider every possible outcome.
Make a good first impression
When a client first views your brochure, you need it to be instantly intriguing and interesting at first view. First impressions count for everything, and can leave audience with a lasting impression, whether positive or negative. If your business stands for environmental issues or is working on behalf of a charity, do not produce overly luxurious leaflets and consider bio-degradable materials to promote business values.
Imagery
If you are unable to shoot your own promotional photographs through a photo shoot, avoid using google images or obvious stock photos. Imagery really can speak a thousand words, so never cut corners with image selection.
Here at Direct Letterbox Marketing, we are proud to be one of the leading leaflet distributor specialists in the UK. We offer an extensive range of printing, promotional and distribution services to provide your business with effective, professional and high quality marketing campaigns to suit your personal needs. For further information or advice regarding any of our products please feel free to get in contact with our friendly and creative team on 0800 028 6353.
