In a marketing world obsessed with TikToks and Instagram posts, the humble leaflet remains an incredibly powerful tool to have in your marketing arsenal.
In fact, with many of your customers suffering from digital burn-out, the physical touch and feel of a leaflet is a welcome respite, creating a personal connection that simply can’t be replicated through pixels on a screen.
Leaflets have always been an incredibly cost-effective marketing tool for spreading a message far and wide, but with your competitors going all in online, the ROI potential of a well executed print marketing campaign has never been more attractive.
To take advantage of this fantastic opportunity, you need to create a leaflet that is built to convert, with everything from font to front cover format tailored to your aims and your target audience.
At Soapbox, we have been designing impactful brochures, leaflets, and flyers for over a decade, and know exactly what goes into creating an effective leaflet for a local Glasgow business.
Our expert graphic design and printing Glasgow team have put their heads together and compiled an ultimate step-by-step guide to designing a leaflet that delivers the biggest bang for your buck. These design tips have been the foundation of many a successful leaflet campaign over the years, so follow along and join the leaflet revolution today.
What does a ‘perfect’ leaflet look like? (AIDA)
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all leaflet design. There is no standard template that works every time or structure that every leaflet must follow.
What perfect looks like depends entirely on the intent of your leaflet, the industry you are in, and the nature of your potential customers.
However, there is one formula for successful marketing that has been proven to deliver great results time and time again and is a great place to start when looking to make a leaflet that works.
It is called AIDA and was first created by American advertising pioneer Elias St. Elmo Lewis all the way back in 1925.
According to the AIDA Model, a great leaflet or flyer should be built with the following principles in mind at all times:
Attention
A leaflet must grab the attention of your audience at first glance and keep it for as long as possible.
When designing your leaflet’s front cover, a combination of a bold, easy to read headline, bright colours, white space, and quality images are sure to capture the attention.
Interest
Right, you’ve got their attention, now you need to keep it. Get your message across early and often and ensure that the content of the leaflet backs up the promises you made on the front. Think about the language you would use when speaking to a customer and what works when selling a product or service. The same principles apply here.
Desire
You don’t want to just be an option for your customers. You want to be the only option they are interested in. After all, detailed information about your business doesn’t matter if no-one cares.
Both the text and images you use should be carefully selected to make customers actively desire your services.
Action
The final and most important step. Your customers are now fully engaged and ready to convert. Phone calls, product sales, or website visits, whatever you are looking to achieve from your leaflet, there should be a clear call to action encouraging readers to make a move.
4 Essential Details to Include on a Leaflet
Before you get started with the design, you need to decide exactly what content you want to include on your leaflet so you can build around it.
Multiple page leaflets are a great way to communicate key details in an interesting and engaging way, but try to pack too much in and your customers will swiftly lose interest.
Emphasis on the KEY part!
Here is a list of the essentials that you should look to include on every leaflet you produce.
Name and Logo
A must for brand recognition and awareness. Your brand logo (and name if not included in the logo) should be front and centre of your first page.
Images
Images are engaging, eye-catching, and absolutely key to building trust amongst your target market.
Images of yourself, your business premises, or your team adds a tonne of credibility to your leaflet and dramatically increases your chance of getting inquiries.
Great Copy
This is where the magic happens. Leaflets give you plenty of space to say what you want to say.
To avoid losing the attention of readers, focus on one or two key messages in your leaflet copy and break up your text with plenty of images to keep things fresh.
Before you begin writing, sit down and have a think about exactly what you want your leaflet to say.
If you can convey what it is that your company stands for, and why your products or services are so special, you are well on the way to success.
Contact Details
Make contacting you are easy as possible to ensure that customers are able to convert the moment they are ready.
Make sure your contact details and opening times clearly visible and impossible to miss.
5 Step Guide to Designing a Leaflet
1. Pick a Leaflet Format
One of the many great things about leaflets is that there are so many different options to choose from.
Bi-fold, tri-fold, single sheet, or something completely unique, your design will depend entirely on the number of pages you have and the dimensions of each sheet.
The classic tri-fold is the best option for a menu or similar product where you have a large amount of information to include, whilst the larger pages of a bi-fold leaflet are great for larger images and bold fonts.
It all depends on your leaflet needs.
2. Pick a Page Layout
The design choices don’t stop there!
Within each fold-option there is an almost unlimited number of different layout choices available to you. To keep things engaging, try to avoid large blocks of test and break things up with headings, images, bullet points, and other more aesthetically pleasing features.
Take the time to try things out and move things around before settling with a final design.
3. Create your Content
You have two choices when designing a leaflet. Pick a design then craft your content around it, or collate your content and pick a design to match.
Generally the best choice is to work out what you want to say and then work out a design that lets you say it, but its up to you.
If you are designing your own leaflet rather than using a professional graphic designer, picking a leaflet template to create a structure for your content is probably the best way forward.
4. Pick your Paper and Start Printing
Once you have a leaflet design you are happy with, its time to turn it into a reality.
You need to decide what type of paper you want to use and the type of printing that is best suited to your needs. You will then need to source a local Glasgow printer who is able to fulfil your wishes.
5. Start Distributing
Follow these tips and you will have yourself an incredibly powerful marketing tool ready to fire.
Now you need to get it in front of your potential customers!
Trade fairs, door-to-door distribution, direct mail, lamppost or notice board display…
The list of potential distribution routes is endless so sit down and have a think about where your customers are and how you can get your leaflets there as quickly and affordably as possible.
Professional Leaflet Design from Soapbox Digital Media
Carefully follow the steps above and you will be left with an eye-catching leaflet to promote your business with.
As you can see, a LOT of different things goes into designing a leaflet that is built to attract and hold the attention of your customers and convert them into genuine business enquiries.
You could take the time learn all these fundamental design principles yourself, or you could use the services of a local design team who have been building leaflets built to convert interest into enquiries for more than a decade.
At Soapbox, we specialise in creating stunning leaflets and flyers that not only include all of the key design features we talked about above, but are also carefully tailored to your business message and brand.
From typography to well chosen images or logos, our expert graphic design team know all the important factors that go into a great marketing tool, whether its a flyer, leaflet, banner, or business card. When designing your leaflet we will take the time to get to know your business and make your leaflet with your specific business goals in mind.
As a small business owner, it is essential that your marketing materials work first time. You don’t have time to do trial and error and when it comes to designing leaflets that are built to make a lasting impression, no-one does it quite like Soapbox.
Why not pop into our local Glasgow design studio to meet the team, see some of our previous designs in the flesh, and have a chat about what your are looking for from your leaflet? Visit us today at 614 Eglinton Street, Glasgow, G5 9RR or give us a call on 0141 429 1356.
