Mass circulated flyers have long been an effective, relatively low-cost approach to advertising for start-up businesses and businesses with a minimal advertising budget. While there is no definite way to gauge the effectiveness of flyer advertising, business owners have relied on this method of advertising and continue to use the approach. A well-designed advertising flyer can not only save you money on advertising expenses, but can provide effective, widespread advertising for your business or product.
Instructions
1. Sketch ideas on paper. Don't worry about being the perfect artist. Your job is to design the flyer-to decide what you want to say. You're trying to promote an event, business, service or product. Keep that message as the center of attraction of your flyer as you work out design ideas.
2. Choose an appropriate color paper to print your flyer on. While neon colors may stand out, they typically do not inspire someone to read on beyond the initial notice of the bright color. In some instances, neon colors can promote the image of a not-so-professional business.
3. Open a desktop publishing program. Free, easy-to-use desktop publishing programs are available for flyer designs. Go to the program's drop-down font menu and select the preferred font style, color and size. Use a larger size font for headings and a slightly smaller size for the main text. Use a readable font, especially for the main text sections of your flyer. If words are hard to read, the purpose of the text is lost in the design. Simple fonts such as Times New Roman, Comic Sans or Courier work best. Besides the fonts available on your computer, some desktop publishing programs install their own fonts.
4. Hook your audience with a well-written heading then give details in the body of the flyer, including all appropriate contact information. Use a bullet list where you want elements in your text to stand out. For example, a flyer advertising a picnic could use a bullet list for the activities and food items available at the picnic.
5. Insert images by going to the "Insert." If the image you want to use is too small or large, resize it and drag the location you want it to appear on your flyer. Two or three smaller images or one larger image on a flyer is an acceptable rule of thumb.
6. Print your flyer on glossy or matte style paper. For large quantities, it's often wiser to print a single copy and use a copy machine or a professional printer to do the bulk of the work. Large print orders can be hard on home printers.
