How to Design a Leaflet

Can a Leaflet Design Be So Bad, It’s Good?

Here’s a little case study you may find helpful for designing and writing leaflets and other one-page promotional materials.

A few days ago, I found a leaflet under my windshield that was so cluttered and confusing, I spent about half an hour studying it. Maybe that’s what the creators wanted - a leaflet that was so difficult to read, readers would not be able to resist the challenge of reading it.

Let’s start with the content. I’ll show you the raw content first, then show you how they styled it.

Raw Content

Invitation
Blessing…

Match Your Motif to Your Message

Marshall McLuhan famously said, The medium is the message.” In terms of website design and message strategy, we could also say, “The motif is the message.”

To illustrate, here’s a story a friend of mine from the world of advertising told me. Apparently this is a famous story in advertising circles.

Imagine you are driving down a tree lined country road. You see a dirt road leading up to an old, somewhat run down farmhouse. On a weathered, old piece of wood, you see a sign nailed to a tree - SWEET CORN.

Now, if you had…

How a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) Can Raise More Money

Luke Gedeon is running a group project in support of Caring for China (C4C), an NPO dedicated to helping the Chinese people move toward greater freedom, including freedom of speech. In this project post, I want to talk about ways NPOs can more effectively raise money through direct mail solicitation.

The most important thing an NPO must convey is a direct mail solicitation is legitimacy. NPOs should assume that the recipient is skeptical. We are bombarded by requests for donations and in the back of our minds we fear being swindled. This attitude may hold even among previous donors.

How can a…

The Benefits of Talking about Features

The Sales Power of Features

Every sales and marketing specialist agrees, “Talk benefits, not features!” Yet there are ways of talking about features that can advance the sales effort.

Let me give you a practical example of the power of features from my packaging sales and marketing days, and then relate it to well known and successful marketing campaigns and draw some general principles.

I once sold a product called Microfoam®, a thin, white flexible foam used for cushioning, interleaving, and other types of industrial packaging. The product had two features we liked to talk about.

First, Microfoam® has a high…

This Is So Ironic … Or Is It?

The Difference between Irony and Paradox

Do you think it’s ironic that people use the word ironic to describe situations that are anything but ironic? Let’s investigate. Have you ever heard someone pose a rhetorical question along these lines -

“Isn’t it ironic that the bill collector burst into the lobby at the very moment I was sneaking out my office window?”

To really answer this question, we need to know what irony means. Irony is an incongruity between what one expects and what occurs. We can assume our hypothetical deadbeat business person is aware that his creditors will come after…

Words that should be banned: Solutions - Guest Post by Clare Lynch

Today we have a real treat, a guest post by copywriter Clare Lynch. She writes with brilliance and wit about the English language and has a fine eye for spotting the true idiocies of corporate adspeak. Clare, thank you so much for this fabulous rant. There are about 10,000 companies I can think of offhand that should read it.

The word “solutions” seems an easy target for writerly spleen. After all, everyone knows that incorporating it into your professional vocabulary is a short-cut to sounding stupid. The UK satirical magazine Private Eye even had a whole column devoted to collecting examples of…

Does Your Website Scare Customers Away?

It’s become rather obvious to say that having a website is essential if you’re in business.

Let me challenge that supremely conventional thinking.

Some websites are doing their firms more harm than good. Such websites should be taken down or fixed, pronto. Every day these sites are up is another day of lost opportunities, potential customers screaming for the exits.

Telltale Symptoms of a Frankenstein Monster, Business Killing Website

If your website’s News page was last updated in 2006, you’re telling visitors you’re either doing nothing or too lazy to report it. Goodbye.

If your website has an impossibly complex contact form, you’re telling visitors…

Silly Sales Wordplay - Invest versus Spend

Have you ever run into a sales person who insists on using the word invest rather than spend?

“You’re not spending on a direct mail campaign, you’re investing in market development.”

“You’re not spending on new packaging materials, you’re investing in a better looking brand.”

That kind of verbal gamesmanship drives me up a wall. Do people think they can pull the wool over a customer’s eyes so easily? I’ve been around purchasing people, executives, and business owners my entire working life, and I’ve never met one who would be influenced to buy something because the seller said invest instead of spend. On the other…

Do You Suffer from SME Info Dump Syndrome?

Not long ago I was with some people (normal people, that is - ones who don’t sit in front of a computer screen 24/7) and someone mentioned something in passing about blogs. In no time, I was waxing eloquent about RSS feeds, the appeal of interactive marketing, and the merits of WordPress over competing blog platforms. I was so wrapped up in my oration that I barely noticed that several of my companions had gone to refill their drinks, and the few who remained had their eyes glazed over.

Yes, the shocking reality took hold - I am in the…

To Write Persuasively, Know Your Customer’s Mind

Many moons ago in a Xerox sales training class, I learned the difference between skeptical and indifferent customers. It’s a distinction that I’ve found imperative to keep in mind at all times when writing any sort of sales copy.

A skeptical customer is one who recognizes a need for your product or service, but doubts your ability to fill it.

An indifferent customer is one who does not recognize a need for your product or service.

These two mindsets are very different. A skeptical customer is motivated to buy - just not from you. An indifferent customer is not motivated at all. In the SEO industry, skepticism…

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