Copyright 2006 Karen Saunders
A flyer is an inexpensive and highly effective way to grab attention in a very busy marketplace. How do you make your flyer stand out in the crowd? Here are some techniques that professional designers use to make flyers "pop."
1. Write a snappy headline or title.
Make it memorable, unusual or provocative using a few carefully chosen powerful words. Popular titles contain one or more of these words: Easy, The Secrets to, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How to, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven.
2. Use colorful or striking graphics.
One large image will have more impact than many smaller images. A stunning photo or illustration grabs attention, creates a mood, and supports your story. This image is your "focal point" and will draw your readers in. You can purchase inexpensive but quality stock photos on the Internet. Download individual photos or purchase a CD with hundreds of images.
3. Focus on the benefits of your product or service.
Your prospects will ask the question, "What's in it for me?" Write from the their perspective using the words "you" and "your." Avoid using the following words: we, us, I and our. Be sure to keep your text short and to the point. Some of the most powerful words to use are: free, save, love, new, results, and guarantee. Break up long paragraphs with bullet points and place them in a separate box.
4. Use compelling testimonials and case studies.
Nothing strikes a chord like an endorsement from a happy customer, especially if it demonstrates the results they've had with your product or service. Be sure to include the first and last name, company name and location of the person providing the endorsement.
5. Organize your page with boxes, borders and areas of contrasting colors.
You don't need to fill your flyer with wall-to-wall text and graphics. Incorporate some white space to make certain elements stand out and to make the flyer easy to read.
6. Make your points easily identifiable.
Highlight titles and subtitles in bold, but avoid using ALL CAPS because they are more difficult to read.
7. Don't get too complicated.
Make it simple with two typefaces, and align items to a grid. Your page layout program will provide non-printing guidelines. Use the "snap to guidelines" function to align items easily to the grid. Be aware of printing margins. I suggest you create your layout with 1/2" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.
8. Don't forget to proofread.
Have someone else proofread your work. Check your contact information. Dial the phone numbers on the flyer to make sure they are correct, and type in the URL of your website to make sure it is correct, too.
9. If you are on a tight budget, try this.
Select bright-colored or unique paper, and print with black ink. Use shades of grey to provide tones and contrasting background areas.
10. Offer a discount or special limited-time price.
Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of the flyer. Be sure to clearly state the deadlines and limitations of the offer. If it is a mail-in coupon, be sure to include the payment specifications with areas for filling out credit card information, mailing address, etc.
You don't need to re-invent the wheel when creating your flyer. Use these proven techniques and you will see big results in your marketing efforts.
10 Easy Ways to Make Your Flyer Stand Out in the Crowd
Brand Your Exhibition Stand For Maximum Impact
Rita Davenport had been given a free hand to design and manage an exhibition stand for her company. The Marketing Director had briefed her extensively on the overall idea and left her with an open brief to produce something that would attract customers, dealers and the trade press. Rita walked out of the meeting feeling inspired but not quite sure what to do next.
Once you understand clearly what the sponsor needs the stand to achieve, you can go about the business of designing and branding your presence. If your budget will stretch to the cost of a professional exhibition designer, you should commission a good one. Not only does it remove some of the more stressful elements of exhibition organization; gaining agreement to the design, arranging manufacture, checking quality, organizing transportation, assembly and disassembly; it allows you to be objective about making changes. In addition, exhibition designers will provide advice about the best position for your stand in the exhibition hall, traffic flow through the stand, lighting and audio-visual presentations.
If you don't have an extensive enough budget to engage an exhibition designer, get together with a good graphic designer who can produce well designed exhibition panels that will impress and attract attention. You may need to provide a stand system (normally a metal framework that is assembled to hold the exhibition boards) but these are fairly lightweight, easy to assemble and come ready-fitted with a lighting system.
Other considerations for your stand should include furniture to rest your foot-sore customers, pamphlet racks for your product information and storage for the paraphernalia that you don't want to clutter the stand.
Before you finalize the design of the stand, run it by all of the important decision-makers and influencers in the organization to make sure it has their blessing before you commit to expensive printing and photographic work.
Selecting and training your exhibition staff
When potential customers home in on your stand, they don't really want to deal with people who only have a vague understanding of your products and services. They generally want very specific answers to very specific questions and it is in your interests to people the stand with carefully selected competent individuals who can work effectively as a team.
If you choose to use technical staff who have limited sales experience or sales staff with limited technical knowledge, it is vitally important to provide them with an opportunity to pick up new skills and information prior to the exhibition. Allow your own staff to train each other and to share tips and techniques in sales as well as improving technical knowledge on the products or services being exhibited.
Rita was fortunate, her exhibition budget allowed her to commission a talented exhibition designer who project managed the installation for her. The exhibition team was selected from sales, marketing, engineering and administration co-workers. They all benefited from a fun workshop where they compiled a stand data book to educate each other about the company, product and sales information.
Banner Stand Exhibits
Banner Stands are a high impact, inexpensive and attractive medium of advertisement. They are usually found at exhibitions, trade shows, retail stores – just about anywhere the potential customer can be attracted by high wattage graphics.
The attractive thing about banner stands is that they are portable, flexible and easy to set up. There are different kinds of banner stands like retractable or rollup, pole, telescopic and others. The technology that enables the high quality of graphics and photos has added to the beauty of banners.
While organizing banner stands for exhibitions, there are many choices to deliberate on. For a portable trade show, the choice is between a fully customized exhibition and a portable exhibit.
The general opinion is that a portable is much better than a customized banner stand. For one, portable systems cost a fraction of a custom built one. The exhibition center built by portable is ready in a jiffy compared to the custom built systems.
Another advantage is that you can handle and test the system before using. It is flexible and can be used again and again. Also, portable systems are ready to pack and easy to transport.
Choosing the right banner stand may be considered care fully. Banner Stands can be divided into indoor and outdoor. Indoor exhibition banner stands are used for retail exhibitions and trade show conferences, indoor events and sales promotion. This category can be further divided into retractable and pole banner stands. Pole stands are cheap and strong. Roll up or retractable are easy to set up, with safe casing for graphics, and are easily portable.
Outdoor exhibition banner stands are suitable for outside use. They are weather proof, wind resistant and need outdoor resistant graphics.
Exhibition selling and advertising can energize the dullest of products with colorful and attractive banner stands. Banner stands exhibits are crucial for attracting potential customers.