If you have a business or other organization that needs to get a promotional message out quickly and easily, flyers are your answer. These are simple printed advertisements that are delivered to people's homes, or handed out in the street, a mall or other public places where you target market can be found. Flyers can also be inserted into newspapers and magazines that your target market reads, or left in a pile at a library or local store.

Flyers are a tried and tested way to get your marketing or informational message out in front of the people who need to see it. It's a highly flexible and scalable method, too. Whether you're a one man operation or a large company, a church or nonprofit organization with just a few employees, flyers offer you many advantages.

Flyers may be a simple format but you still need to work hard to make your message as effective as possible. The fact is that flyers are easy to throw away. This means they need to catch people's attention quickly so that they get read.

You need to follow the standard rules of advertising and graphic design to create an eye catching memorable flyer that will be read and acted upon.

One of the basics of advertising formats in known as AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action).

Attention means that your flyer must catch your prospect's eye and lead him to read your message. The best ways to do this are with a vivid graphic and/or with a headline that appeals to his self-interest. An example would be a headline offering tremendous price reductions currently being offered or a promise to solve a common problem your target market has.

Having got your prospect to start reading, you now need to build interest. Again by stressing the value of your offer or the way it can solve a pressing problem, you can engage your prospect's interest and keep him focused on your offer.

This should build desire, the third component of AIDA. Now convinced your offer can enhance his life, he wants to get hold of it.

Which brings us to the final component of AIDA - action. A strong call to action is the vital conclusion to your flyer. It tells your target customer how and where to get hold of your offer. One effective method is to promise a discount for holders of the flyer. A time limited offer also works well here. A 'today only' offer creates a sense of urgency.

Other tips on crafting a flyer include using bullet points rather than a block of text. This makes it much easier to read and makes the benefits of your offer stand out. Also graphics and the judicious use of color can make your flyer stand out from the others that are distributed daily.

You can get flyers in a range of types and sizes - one page or two-pages in color or black and white copies, folded and unfolded. The most popular sizes are A4, A5, A6 and DL.

Another key factor is the quality of the paper. The higher the quality the more attention people are likely to give it. So make sure you use a minimum of 130gsm. Your choice of paper depends on the nature of your promotion. If you're making a regular promotion, for example, paper quality won't be so critical, but if you’re making a special promotion, it might be worth investing in a heavy, smoother paper for your promotion.

When ordering your flyers, be sure to order them well in advance of the start of your promotion. This will allow you time to check them thoroughly and arrange the most effective way for their distribution.

Using flyers to get your message out is a tried and tested system that combines a refreshing simplicity with a powerful effectiveness. And even the highest quality flyers needn't be expensive. Getting your flyers printed online is an economical and convenient way to get a professional job done quickly with a firm that offer on demand digital printing services.

Just find a reputable web-based printing firm with a step by step online quoting and ordering system, place your order and upload your file. Your flyers will be delivered in a day or two. You can use an online printer for all your printing needs including color copies, black and white copies, newsletters, brochures, and manuals as well as flyers.