photo by schoschie

When you are producing marketing literature for the first time, there are a few pitfalls you can fall into. It can cost you more than it needs to, or the results might not be quite right. Here are a few tips to help you get what you want.

The first thing that you should think about when producing marketing literature is why you want to produce it, what is it’s main function and what do you want to achieve through it? It is also important to think about who will be reading it, as this will have a bearing on the layout and the information that is displayed.

Marketing Literature needs to give your target group specific information that will result in a specific action, e.g. a flyer gives you information about a workshop, where, when, contact information etc that stimulates the target group to book places. To make sure that the marketing literature produces the desired result you have to think about what information you put on it and how it is designed.

The Information
When writing your information you want to get across the less words you use to do this the better. Start by bullet pointing the key bits of information that you want to communicate, this will make sure that you keep it concise and cut out the waffle. The cleaner and less clutter your marketing literature can be the better. Next think about the language that you are using. Don’t you acronym’s or jargon many people wont know what you mean and will ignore it. Use simple, plain English that can communicate your message to the most people, in the shortest space of time.

When people read your marketing literature they should leave knowing the following:

• What the main piece of information is that literature is communicating- e.g. is it a project and what it is about “We offer free drop in sessions for French speaking Africans in Sheffield”
• What are the services that you can offer? E.g. confidential Advice and information services, translation, personal support, a friendly project worker who will be there to listen and guide you, etc.
• Who is running the project/ activity/ selling the product e.g. Sheffield African Organisation
• Where will the project/ activity take place and when (time, date/ day) e.g Drop in sessions will be held at the Swallownest House, S11 8PD on Tuesdays and Wednesday’s’ between 5-6pm and Thursday’s between 10-12pm
• How to find out more about it, how to book/ purchase e.g. contact details, telephone number, name, email address, website
• Who else is supporting or involved in the project/ activity e.g. Sheffield City Council has funded this project which can be communicated through using the logo
• Is there a cost? This can be displayed by stating something like “Free drop in sessions”

If you are going to need the information for more than once occasion and may need to change the information on the flyer a good tip is write some generic information and then when designing the layout leave a large blank square on the literature. You can then print off the relevant information on a label and stick it to the post, flyer, brochure etc. This works well if you need to change contact information, venue details days, timing etc.

The Design
The design of the information, colours, layout, font use etc is vital to how your target group respond to the literature. Many people like to make it full of colour, use images, often make text squiggly or make shapes out of the words, use strange fonts with shadows etc. However doing this makes the information confusing, not very eye catching and generally unreadable from a distance.

Some good principals are:

• Use a sans serif font and not a serif font as they are clearer and easier to read e.g. Arial, Verdana not times New Roman, Georgia etc.
• Make sure that the text is of a good size preferably no smaller than size 14 font
• Make sure that there is a good colour contrast between the text and the leaflet background colour. This ensures that text can be read from a distance. Look at some text that has pale text on a pale background, can you read it?
• If you are using pictures make sure that the pictures and the text are separate, if text is placed on top of a picture it makes the text difficult to read and ruins the picture.

All of these things will make the leaflet stick out, why, because it is easier to read!

Dealing with printing companies
Printing companies offer 2 key functions, design and printing of materials. Most printing companies will have different prices for the 2 different elements of their work. The cost of artwork is usually given per hour, a rough guide would be £50, the cost of printing will be given in volumes that are printed e.g. 500, 1000 or 1500 leaflets.

In dealing with printers these stages below can be followed:

1. Find the printer you want to use and get a written quote for a) the cost of art and b) for printing the materials, make sure that you get 3 quotes as there is always a point where it makes sense to order more for not much more cost. It is useful to get the quote broken down so any hidden cost are shown e.g the quality of the paper used, the gloss finish etc.
2. Once you have an idea about the cost get your information ready and send it to them. It is important to try and make sure that the information you send to the printer is correct, the more changes that have to be made the more room there is for error and the misprinting of information, and the more expensive the artwork cost will be.
3. When they have completed the artwork make sure that you view it to approve it. Once you say it is ok, the responsibility for any errors will pass to you.
4. Make sure that you get an invoice for the work that has been done.

This will hopefully stop any money being wasted and means that you get what you want for the cost you expect.