Every company and organisation out there today has heard that they need to be online and have an e-shop in order to survive and thrive in today’s competitive marketplace. While this may be true, some old fashioned marketing techniques are still just as important if not even more important than having a website and a social media page.
One of the oldest and most effective marketing strategies for a company is also the most simple: handing out leaflets. Leaflets are still an effective form of marketing because:
Leaflets Are Quick to Produce and Fast to Hand Out
Companies which specialise in leaflet printing can have professionally printed high-quality leaflets delivered to your door within days (if not hours in some situations). Many of these companies have templates and other tools online which make drafting the right leaflet to represent your brand a breeze.
Leaflets are also effective because you can hand them out to virtually anyone and share exactly what it is that your business has to offer and how it can benefit them. This is a lot faster than telling a potential customer to visit your website (which they likely will not do) and even faster than giving them a QR code to scan.
Leaflets Are Convenient and Multi-Functional
Another benefit to having leaflets is that they are incredibly convenient and can be used in a number of ways:
- Leaflets can be handed out at trade shows
- Leaflets can be inserted into newspapers
- Leaflets can be delivered by hand to homes and apartments
- Leaflets are small enough to be tucked into pockets, purses and bags
The odds of someone keeping a leaflet about your company can be significantly higher than if you were to hand out a business card with your contact information and website. A leaflet will contain memorable information which will remind the recipient of what your business is about. A business card lacks that information which increases the chances of it being tossed into a waste bin at a later date.
Leaflets Get to the Point
Well written leaflets do not waste a reader’s time with menial and unimportant details. The leaflet that you hand out will provide the potential customer with all of the information he or she needs to determine if your product or service is something which they are interested in purchasing (or at least learning more about).
How to Create a Great Leaflet
How effective your company’s leaflet is will rely heavily on just how well it is written and produced. The first and arguably most important part of having a great leaflet is to partner with a fantastic printing company which is reputable and which has everything you could possibly want to create and print leaflets that will properly represent your brand. The next important factor is:
To Write a Great Headline
If you have been in business or marketing for a while, then you know full well just how important your headline is. It has been estimated that eight out of ten people will read your headline, but only two out of ten people will bother to crack open that leaflet and read the rest.
When writing your headline, you need to immediately capture the attention of the reader. You can do this by:
- Focusing on your biggest benefit to the customer
- Including the name of your product
- Use phrasing which will create anticipation and a desire to learn more
Take your time when planning your headline. Even if it takes you a month to come up with one which you are happy with, this will make all the difference between your leaflet being an effective marketing tool or being binned.
Tell the Audience Why They Should Care
The next important thing to concentrate on after coming up with that attention-grabbing headline is to tell the audience why they should care about you. In your content, you need to answer two important questions:
- What’s in this for me?
- Why pick you over anyone else?
Regardless of any other information which may be included in your leaflet, these are the two questions which your customers will need to have answered before they choose your company. Your potential customers are not interested in what you think and how you feel. The content you write should be all about them.
Explain the Benefits and Skip the Features
Features are important, but it is not the features which are going to sell your products or services. Customers want to know how the product is going to benefit them. Once you have a target market in mind, you can then come up with a list of benefits.
For example, let’s say you manufacture and sell black-out blinds. If your target audience is people who work at night (such as doctors, nurses, and firefighters) then you are selling these people a good night sleep despite needing to sleep during the day. If your target audience is parents with children who are scared by the street light outside their window or moving headlights in the middle of the night, then you’re selling children and parents a peaceful rest when it is dark out.
Focus On Current Events
If you have been cranking out the same leaflets with the same information for years, then it may be time to shake things up. Piggybacking on a topical event is a great way to nab your reader’s attention and to prove your product’s relevance in some way. This will need to be done carefully, as you do not want the link between the event and what you are offering to be so vague that your audience will be left confused.
Prove You Are Credible
If you have any kind of third party validation which is relevant to your business, show it off. This adds to your credibility and can give you a leg up on the competition. Another way to add credibility is to include customer testimonials and reviews.
