Ever wondered why most fliers end up on the floor, in a trash can or as a perfect wrap for grilled plantain aka boli? That’s majorly because they communicate no benefit whatsoever to the target market and the design is totally unprofessional.

Everyone has needs and all people really care about is how their needs can be met. How fantastic all the legendary executives of a company are is secondary to them. The number of awards a company has also won is even less important.

Your target market is only interested in how your product/service meets their need.

So how do you ensure people who see your flier contact you or at least keep it till they need you?

Assuming you’ve done your market research and it is clear that there is a market for your product/service (and not that you are making a frantic effort to sell an electric powered car in a developing country suffering from epileptic power supply), the following will help you get results.

1. A bold title/header
You need a title that clearly states a benefit of your product/service to your target market. People are usually in a hurry and not patient enough to read what really wasn’t necessary for them to do in the first place. If nothing on your flier catches their attention in the first 4 seconds, on the floor it goes.

2. An engaging picture
As they say, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. As much as possible, please consult a professional to come up with an engaging picture for your product/service; a picture that will attract your target market and not one you like (and definitely not all the pictures in your store).

3. A simple message
Now you can explain your product/service but your explanation must clearly state how the product/service helps the reader achieve the benefit in your title/header.

4. Your contact details
Something tells me I didn’t really need to say this. Well, make sure you have at least a phone number and an email address. If you have a web address, that will be perfect.

Finally, a flier is neither a company profile nor an art gallery! No one has the patience to read an epistle and look through dozens of pictures forced into a petite piece of paper. The aim of a flier is mainly to grab the reader’s attention for further investigation. If you have a website you can direct the reader to, that will be excellent.

Now that your professional flier is done, it can either be mailed, handed out, sent electronically, placed at selected public places or left at places you know your target market will visit.