Creating Flyers for your Business

Creating a flyer can be a great way to advertise and get the word out about your business. Handing out flyers can be especially effective for local businesses. You can make sure your business flyers reach your target market by going to the places where your target market are most likely to be. You can hand out flyers to passerbys on the local streets and place them on car windshields.

Determining a budget

When creating a flyer for your business you first have to determine your budget. How much can you spend on flyers? You can decide to purchase professional more expensive flyers or print flyers out on regular computer paper. Professional flyers are more appealing but you have to determine if its worth the extra cost. Your Industry should also be taken in consideration. For example night clubs usually hand out the professional flyers.

Should you hire a graphic designer?

When you are creating a flyer you can decide to hire a graphic designer to create an appealing flyer template for your business. Even if you are printing out the flyers yourself on regular computer paper you can use the professional template over and over again. A great place to find a graphic designer is getafreelancer.com. However if you are on a tight budget and can’t afford a graphic designer you can search for an image related to your business on google images and place that on your flyer along with your business name and contact information. (Its a good idea to ask the website where the image came from if its ok for you to use their image). If you are purchasing the professional flyers, the company may have their own templates for you to choose from.

Professional Flyers Price Comparison

Below is a price comparison for 250 flyers. Some include thier own templates (flyer designs) and some don’t. However all of these websites have then option of uploading your own flyer design.

.	Color Front side only	Color Front & Back	Shipping & Handling	Templates Available?	Type of Paper
	$52.50- 4.50in x 5.60in $77.50- 5.5in x 8.5in $147.50- 8.5in x 11in	same	$29.95 3-5 Business days $73.95 2 Days (If you buy more quantity the shipping will increase)	Hundreds of choices. There are designs for specific industries or general.	Basic: High Gloss, 100lb Cover Weight Paper
	$44.99- 5.47in x 4.21in $59.99- 8.50in x 5.47in $100.99- 8.50in x 10.98in $44.99- 3.74in x 8.27in	$59.98- 5.47in x 4.21in $82.48- 8.50in x 5.47in $115.98- 8.50in x 10.98in $47.98- 3.74in x 8.27in	$34.12-three Business Days $20.93-seven Days $14.55-fourteen Days $9.73-twentyone Days	many templates to choose from	Paper Stock: 100 lb. text with aqueous coating
	$35.50-4.25×5.5 $62.00-4.25×11 $62.00-5.5×8.5 $103.00-11×8.5 $149.50-14×8.5 $114.50-9×12 $220.00-11×17 $290.50-25.37×11 $432.00-33.75×11	$52.50-4.25×5.5 $95.50-4.25×11 $95.50-5.5×8.5 $162.00- 11×8.5 $239.50- 14×8.5 $182.00-9×12 $354.50-11×17 $470.00-25.37×11 $700.00-33.75×11	Free- 5days $16.50- 3days $122.00-same day	they do not have templates to choose from, you have to use your own design	100# text, gloss text Aqueous Coating (more choices at extra cost)
	$112.50-8.5×11 $140.00-8.5×14 $215.00-11×17	$162.50-8.5×11 $205.00-8.5×14 $315.00-11×17	Free overnight shipping included (you will get your order the following weekday) but if you live in Alaska or Hawaii there is a charge of $15.	They have templates to choose from related to specific industries such as real estate, beauty ect.	Regular Bond Paper (more options available at extra cost)

When creating an advertising campaign strategy it is often more effective to test various forms of advertising. For example instead of investing your entire marketing budget in one advertising method, divide your budget into various advertising methods. You can then ask customers how they found out about your small business and determine which advertising methods were more effective for your business. You can also try an advertising strategy one month and another the next month to see which advertising strategy works best, but keep in consideration that your products and services may naturally sell more during certain months. For example December is a popular month for gift shopping so you may experience a higher volume of sales during this month.

Keep your marketing strategy in mind when creating an advertising campaign strategy. When analyzing advertising methods question if it will be appealing to your target market. For example if your small business provides an up-scale expensive service targeting wealthy individuals, telemarketing may not be the best way to attract your target market. Also make sure you can afford the advertising method. For example TV commercials are usually too expensive for small businesses.

Advertising Methods

• Banners
• Billboards
• Business Cards
• Brochures
• Car Magnets
• Catalogs
• Displays
• Door hanger
• Flyers
• Letter Heads
• Magazine
• Mobile Ads
• Newspaper Ads
• Post Cards
• Radio/TV
• Trade Shows
• Telemarketing
• Yellow pages
• Website Development

If your business offers products or services for a particular season or time of year you should concentrate on advertising those products or services during that period of time. For example if your small business sells summer gear, you wouldn’t want to advertise this product in the winter. Instead wait for the summer and pre-summer months when summer gear is in high demand. Use your marketing budget to advertise products or services that are in high demand for that season.

By developing a small business marketing plan you will gain a better understanding of your potential customers and brainstorm effective strategies to market to those customers. This knowledge will help you greatly with your marketing efforts. A good marketing strategy can make the difference between a successful small business and a business failure. Lenders and investors know the importance of a well thought out marketing plan so it will be highly evaluated. When developing your marketing plan be sure to conduct market research and provide facts and statistics that support your ideas.

Your Small Business Marketing Plan should include:

Business Overview- What are your products or services? Who is your Target Market? Why is your product or service unique? What is your pricing strategy?

Business Evaluation- Perform a SWOT analysis. What are your business’ strengths and weaknesses? What are the business’ opportunities and threats?

Market Analysis- How will competition affect your business? Is there a growing demand for your product or service? What are the past trends for your product or service? What are the anticipated future trends? Market Research will help you find answers to these questions.

Marketing Strategy- How will you be marketing your small business? In what ways will you be promoting your business? How do you plan on reaching your target market?

Sales- Perform a Break-even Analysis to determine your break-even point. Your break-even point is how much you have to make in order to cover your business expenses and break even. What is the projected number of sales for the upcoming year? If you are making a marketing plan for a current business, you should include sales information for past years as well.

Who is your Business Target Market? Your target market is your targeted customer. It is a particular group of people whom your product or service will be marketed to. Of course your small business will attract other types of customers as well but determining a business target market will help you focus on a particular type of customer and as a result you can better cater to their specific wants and needs, and develop a more effective marketing strategy to attract them.

For example Punky has just opened a pizzeria shop named PunkyPizza. Punky’s target market for his pizzeria are college kids ages 18-25 who often eat out. Punky has determined this particular group is the most likely to buy from his pizzeria since he is located across from the college. Punky knows that college kids are very busy with school work, are living on a budget and often don’t have time to cook on their own, therefore they make an ideal target market for his pizzeria. His idea is confirmed after conducting market research.

To attract his target market Punky decides to center his business and marketing efforts around his target market. He creates his pizzeria into a cool hang out spot for college kids. He puts up flyers around the college and offers special discounts if they show their college ID.

How do you determine your target market?

• Who is most likely to buy your product or service?
• Will they be able to afford your product or service?
• Is the location of your business convenient to your target market?
• Is your product or service satisfying a need or want of your target market?

What are the 4 Ps of Marketing?

The 4 Ps of marketing also known as the marketing mix concept was first developed in the 60s by Professor Neil Borden who identified certain characteristics involved in marketing. By conducting market research you can find information for the following categories.

Product- What products or services do customers need or what? How does your product fit into their needs or wants? Why would consumers choose your product over the competition?

Price- What are consumers willing to pay for this product or service? How is your price compared to your competitors? Is the price too low, is it too expensive? Will you be offering discounts?

Place- How does your products or services reach your customers? Will you be selling your product or service at a retail store, through the Internet or other. You may discover some consumers prefer to purchase a certain product at a certain place. For example some consumers prefer to purchase party supplies through a catalog rather than through the Internet.

Promotion- How will you promote your product or service? Will it be positioned as a high end product? What different forms of advertising will you use?