How To Make Flyers?

How to make my own flyers for my company?

• I want to start my business with as little investment as possible so I want to make my flyers and business cards from my own computer using Microsoft Office atleast until I start making some money. The thing is I have no idea where to begin. I don't want them to look to cheap and I want them to be effective but I don't know how to create them on my computer. Could someone please help me?

• Answer:

  What is your business? Give me as much info as you can and I'll check back. For a cleaning service I would recommend spending your money on ad placement in the yellow pages and valpak coupon mailers once you get enough capital to advertise. Decal stickers for the car window or magnet ads give further visability of the company name and both are fairly cost effective. In the mean time I wouldn't print business cards. You'd have to get a heavier stock paper and honestly I don't think people would hold on to them. For flyers you can use a simple word document to build a flyer until you can afford to have them made. Stick with a professional, "clean" look and offer an introductory discount if you can. That is a great way to get your foot in the door and build clientelle. Once you visit them the first time you should have business card "magnets" that can go up on their refridgerator for future appointments. Anyways back to the flyers- You could print on regular 8 1/2 x 11 paper but have two "ads" per page. You should hole punch one of the top corners and loop a rubber band through it so that it can "hang" from a door knob. Try a limited run of these and see how many responses you get back from the ad total to see if it is effective enough to cover the expense. I would use a colored paper with black ink. That way it is a little more eye-catching but you don't spend a ton on color ink. Of course you can always update/upgrade down the road. Design-wise you should obviously play of the green products appeal. Maybe one side of the flyer you have company information, special offer info, etc. and on the other side you list out the benefits of using the green/safe products for both the homeowner and the environment. Use words like "non-toxic," "biodegradable," and "all-natural." But only if this is true of the products you use. First thing that will come to mind of the average consumer is how much more will it cost? You might want to address that somewhere below the list. Also for design you should use free stock pictures that are royalty free. Here is one site: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/ There are a ton of others just google "free stock non royalty images." Let me see if I can put something simple together for you that you can edit. I'll email you. Hopes this helps.