Mobile DJ Trade Tips - Issue 62 - Mobile DJ Marketing

Designing a Leaflet or Brochure

A really effective form of marketing is producing a leaflet or brochure for your mobile disco business. If you do wedding fairs or want to target venues, it is a necessity. They can also be left in shops and hotels for potential customers to pick up.

As with all marketing material, if it isn’t done well, it could cause your business more harm than good.

A well thought out design is the key to the success of your leaflet or brochure. It represents you and is an integral part of your marketing. Good marketing brings more enquiries; more enquiries equates to more work.

Sample Brochure

Things to think about:

Before you put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) there are three vital elements to consider:

  1. Your target audience. Always know who you are aiming the leaflet at. If you have two target groups such as brides and venues, consider designing two different leaflets; what is important to one group won’t be the same for another.
  2. Your message. Have a clear message for potential clients and know what you want to achieve with your flyer.
  3. Time sensitive. As it’s more economical to order a larger quantity of leaflets than a small amount, you could be using the same material for a few years so it is important that you don’t include anything that could be out of date in six months.

Choices to make:

You need to choose whether to have a postcard style flyer or a folded leaflet. Bi-fold, which creates two panels, and trifold, creating three panels (although technically it only has two folds!), are the most common. These are traditionally printed on both sides. Postcards can be printed on one or both sides. If you're going to post your marketing material, consider size as the postage prices in the UK differ for small/large letters.

What to include:

With the previous choices made and keeping your 'think about' ideas in mind, start collecting your items together. This includes text, bullet points, contact info, logo, photos, tables, testimonials and graphic images.

Designing your leaflet:

Design and good writing go hand in hand. Without eye catching design it won't get noticed; without good copy it won't get read. Your overall leaflet needs to be easy on the eye, exciting and professional looking.

Repetition creates uniformity so use design elements consistently. For example, if you have a decorative blue line going across the front, continue it on the back too.

Most commercial leaflets use an imaginary grid, whether it is in square units or columns. Adjust your elements to fit your chosen grid and the reader will find it much easier and more appealing to read.

Brochure Sample 2

Choosing the right colours:

Some colours complement each other, whilst others clash. Colours send different messages. Have a definite colour scheme but be aware that screen colours aren’t the same as printed ones (RGB vs CMYK).

Choosing a two colour print can work out cheaper although full colour, especially if you are including photographs, is much better. The quality of paper is paramount in creating a professional feel. Cheap paper portrays a cheap company.

Branding - if you are directing people to a website then keep to a similar design so that the client knows they are still with the same company. Branding contains hidden messages such as your pricing and target market and what you do.

Text for your leaflet:

When writing the text, try to think from the client’s perspective; what do they want to know and what is important to them. Try applying the ‘so what method’; for each statement, ask yourself ‘so what?’ thus concentrating on the benefits. Write it as if you are helping the client rather than promoting yourself.

Avoid large blocks of small text. A large paragraph of text can be daunting to read. If something is difficult to read, there is a good chance it won’t be read. Bullet points are easy to read. Try to include persuasive words such as guarantee, proven, you, your, save, easy.

Don’t just give information, compel the reader to call you... NOW! You need to create a sense of urgency for the client to get in touch else your leaflet could get filed away and forgotten about.

Avoid writing in capitals; it's harder to read and gives the impression you are shouting!

Fonts - use two families at the most - one for headlines and the other for the body. Fonts can portray different aspects such as childlike, formal, fun, elegant etc. Choose the right 'personality font' to suit your own individual style. For example, comic sans would be ideal for a children’s entertainer, but not be classy enough for a wedding brochure.

When setting out your text look at the spaces between letters, words and lines as it affects readability of your piece. Consider justifying the paragraphs left and right; it gives a neat appearance. Unjustified looks friendlier whereas justified looks more formal and professional. Centred copy should only be used for a short announcement because it is more difficult to read with the varying starting positions of each line. Be bold, use headlines, clear pictures and bullet points.

Emphasising a word by underlining it is old fashioned and harps back to the days of the typewriter. Nowadays it is better to emphasise a word by putting it in bold or italics.

Some useful questions to help you decide what text to include:
What have you done that makes you an expert?
Why are you the best choice?
What do you do that will benefit the client?
Do you have evidence to back up your claims such as photos and testimonials?

Brochure Sample 3

Pictures and graphics:

All photos and graphics need to be of a very high quality as print can show up the slightest blur or pixilation. Crop photos, taking off unnecessary bits, but leaving the important part. This will emphasise it. Take care to constrain proportions so that people don’t suddenly look fatter than they actually are.

Choose your photos wisely as pictures tell a story of their own. Look at them as if you are a client and ask yourself what it says about you. If you include pictures that show you performing in village halls with people dressed in jeans, it is unlikely to appeal to a bride getting married in a nice hotel.
Don't be afraid to put a picture of you on your marketing material. People buy people. Use your leaflet to connect with potential clients by being personable.

If you are short of a vital photo, and don’t have any of your own, it is possible to buy stock photos on-line. Where ever possible, use your own. It’s worth remembering that photos on-line are copyright protected unless they say otherwise.

Your photos need to be of a high standard. Ones taken from the internet have often been reduced in quality so that they load quickly (72dpi for the web - 300dpi minimum for print).

Always include your AMPdj logo. Affiliation to an organisation increases confidence.

And Finally….
If using a professional printer to produce your leaflet, check with them for standard size, trim size specification etc. Many will provide you with a template.

Make sure you proof read your leaflet carefully. Read it aloud as it is possible to read what isn’t there because you know what should be there. Ideally, ask an independent person to read it.

On this last point - all AMPdj members are welcome to send any drafts to the office for a free critique and proofing.

Till next time…
                        …make that marketing effective!

Sandy, Paul and the AMPdj Team

The Alliance of Mobile & Party DJs - PLI for £49.99 - why pay more for less?

Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

The contents of this Infomail are ©AMPdj 2014. It can be reproduced in whole or in part elsewhere provided a clear link to the original (i.e. this page) is included.