If your business targets a local clientele, then distributing flyers is a cost-effective way to both capture and sustain attention. According to research by the Direct Marketing Association, 89% of consumers recall receiving a flyer through their letterbox.

However, if you do go down the flyer distribution route, you should educate yourself on how to use it effectively. Here are several steps to achieving especially powerful results.

Write persuasive copy that sells

Many of the fundamentals of good writing apply just as strongly to print publicity as they do to digital marketing outlets like websites and social media channels. Therefore, you should be careful to detail your USPs across bite-sized – and, consequently, easy-to-digest – chunks of text.

Marketing Donut advises that you also offer money-back guarantees or trial periods aimed at inviting new customers to sample what your business offers.

Include a call to action

Spreading awareness is just one step of the marketing journey; you also want to persuade people to buy from you. That’s where the call to action comes in.

That action could be calling you or visiting your website or premises – so, remember to accordingly include your phone number, your website address or the address of your premises. Your flyer could even include a money-off voucher that is perforated to let the recipient easily detach it.

Be selective with the layout, colours and imagery

The design, shape or colour scheme of your flyer can play a strong role in its ultimate success, as 65% of people are visual learners, smallbusiness.co.uk points out.

The flyer’s layout should put its headlines and CTAs at the forefront, while the flyer’s colours should match your brand colours as closely as possible. You can then throw in some relevant images to help you tell the rest of the advertisement’s story.

Check for errors and inconsistencies

Whereas a mistake that slips through on a website or social media post can be easily rectified with a quick edit, being similarly neglectful with a flyer can require you to print it all out again.

Therefore, before you hit the print button, its pays to make sure the flyer’s text is free of spelling errors, poor grammar and factual inaccuracies – you don’t want to, say, mess up the phone number!

Choose the right printing company – or buy your own printer

As the expense of a printing service can strongly depend on who provides it, it’s worth shopping around. Alternatively, you could buy a printing machine with which you would be able to print out the leaflets yourself. If you are looking for something that would work especially well for flyers, you could peruse the range of slitters, cutters and creasers available online.

Distribute those flyers in the right places

Where are your target customers most likely to be? Those are places where you should prioritise distributing flyers. You could, for example, wait outside a train station to hand them out to commuters who pass through. Wherever do you plan to go, though, make sure you obtain any required permits beforehand.