Leaflet Success - A Distributor's View

Here at LDS Tourism Services, we stock hundreds of tourism leaflets for a vast variety of attractions and events. The strengths and shortcomings of those leaflets become more apparent when comparison is so easy - and on a smaller scale - which happens every time a leaflet is placed in a display containing fifteen, twenty, sometimes thirty other leaflets, all vying for the visitor's attention.

The following list contains points arising out of our day-to-day handling of a large numbers of leaflets - and they might be points that your graphic designer has never considered...

Leaflet displays are geared towards accommodating 1/3 A4 leaflets, which is by far the most common size. This equals a normal sheet of paper folded in three, with provisions for a smaller number of A5 brochures as well as the occasional A4 display. Leaflets that are taller, wider, narrower or shorter than this standard size are difficult to place and might end up having to be placed outside the displays, or falling over and being damaged.

As most displays are staggered, what remains visible is often only the top third of the front page of your leaflet. Consequently, this area should have the name of your attraction on it, or at least be interesting enough to entice visitors to pick it up.

Leaflets should encourage visitors to come and visit your attraction. To be successful, the leaflet should reflect the nature of the attraction (action-packed or informative?), and give clear directions, opening times and pricings. Think hard about the amount of information you need to place in your leaflet to get people to pick up and keep your leaflets, and view it in the light of the fact that one twelve-page brochure might take up as much space as three 8-page leaflets, thus severely restricting the amount of people you can reach with the content of a single pocket in any one display. Single-page leaflets, on the other hand, are akward to display: they will crumple easily, refuse to stand up on their own, and get into disarray easily. Half-page folds, resulting in uneven thickness, also pose problems when placing leaflets in displays. So, 4-8 page, 1/3 A4 leaflets, printed on good quality paper, are the easiest to handle.

It sounds trivial, but when you handle the volume of leaflets we handle on a daily basis, this becomes an issue fairly quickly: being able to tell the top from the bottom of a leaflet, and the front page from the back, is a task that we and everybody else who restocks or tidies displays have to perform. Visitors might pick up leaflets, find that the depicted attraction is not to their taste or outside their travel route and put them back - if that process leaves your leaflet upside down, the next person is less likely to have their eye drawn to it.

The inclusion of vouchers makes a leaflet more attractive to visitors; and vouchers are of benefit to the issuer, too, as they will help you to learn where your visitors are coming from or what brought them to your attraction. While your average customers might be families with children, consider including a voucher that benefits adults, too - there is no reason why grown-ups shouldn't visit a zoo, an aquarium or a amusement park, and a good offer might just entice them to your attraction.