Leaflets or Junk Mail?
Leaflets or Junk Mail?
I know of people who have rubbish bins next to their mail boxes for the sole purpose of emptying the trash straight out of the mail into the bin, and I'm not referring to bills.
Other people have become so offended with what gets delivered to their mail boxes that they put up signs saying "NO JUNK MAIL."
What this means, besides that it's harder than ever to get leaflets read, is that if you're not going to do it properly, you're going to be throwing your client's money in the bin.
One way to gain a balanced perspective is to imagine it was your money. I know clients can be pushy with what they want but that's usually just because they are trying so hard and no-one's ever educated them. Introduce your clients to AIDA. Get the reader's Attention pertinently, get the reader Interested in the product or service, create Desire to buy or use, then close by asking for Action.
In other words, don't do what everyone else is doing - fridge magnet calendars, menu's, "I've got someone interested in your property" business cards - unless it's you do it differently.
One leaflet grabbed my attention recently simply because it was so badly done. Which is fine, if messiness is pertinent to your message, such as the before and after product, or to convince people you are really cheap and not spending money on fancy leaflets.
Unfortunately this one was a bad photocopy of some cut out lettering, touched up with a thick black felt pen and stuck on crooked. I guess the only saving grace was that they forgot to put their name on it!
Some positive ways to get attention are to fold the leaflet differently or to cut it to an unusual shape or size, or print a strange colour or on unusual paper. Or you could start with a strong heading or bold illustration.
A real estate agent could use a "ransom note" look and say "We've been watching your place", a pizza shop could send a cut out pizza slice saying "The first slice is on us," a lawn-mowing service could print green with a zig zag cut side, a video store could send a TV guide with what's on TV this week, a fish and chip shop could have a picture like Jaws or The Deep and a heading saying "In Batter or Grilled Tonight."
To get attention, you have to do something different. Look at WA Salvage - you don't believe he really dresses and talks like that or his stock is always cheap - it's a gimmick to get attention.
Now they're looking at the leaflet, what are you going to say to them? Expand on your heading, explain it if necessary, so your target audience is interested in reading on.
Now give your sales pitch, testimonials, bargains, quality etc. If selling an expensive product you may have to say a lot more to overcome possible objections. But beware not to say too much. Some of the most successful ads in the world use heaps of copy, but they don't use one word that's not necessary.
Now close your sale by asking them to do something like phone or fill in a coupon or put th leaflet somewhere safe or prominent, and get them to to it NOW or TODAY.
A couple of points to keep in mind:
Finally, if you're going to say something about any business or product, be sure to say something good or you're just going to increase the amount of junk main in my rubbish bin.
Colin Norris, Kingdom Artroom
Graphic Design & Print Consultant (Ph 275-9091)
