How to create and use Flyers to attract new customers in your area.
One of the easiest ways to grow your business is to target potential clients where they live, work, and play. Think about it this way — a potential client is walking to the dog park feeling a little guilty that Fido didn't get any exercise yesterday. As they walk past the community board, they see a flyer for an awesome, local dog walking business. They grab one of the tear-offs, give you a ring, and become a regular, recurring client.
Using pet sitting flyers is one of the most effective ways you can grow your business! When thinking about using flyers as a marketing channel — there are three steps to take.
- Designing Your Flyer
- Planning Where To Put Your Flyers
- Printing/Preparing Your Flyers
Designing Your Flyer
It's important to make sure your flyer is both professional and appealing to your potential new clients. Many flyers also include a "tear-off" section at the bottom where a client can tear off your contact information. There are lots of great tools out there that can help you design a great flyer. These can be as simple as Microsoft Word or Google Docs — no need to go crazy, but you do want something that looks professional. If you are looking for a tool with some more design chops — you can take a look at Canva. Canva has lots of great tools for businesses to help them quickly and easily create professional-looking graphics. It's an excellent choice for projects like logos, social media images, brochures, and flyers. Here is what using Canva looks like:
Canva also provides lots of templates and inspiration. It may take a couple tries to create the perfect flyer, but keep in mind that your flyers should appropriately represent your business. Definitely take your time here to make sure you get it right.
What to include on your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Flyer:
Like with many elements of starting a business, it's usually best to keep it simple. Make sure all the information on your flyer is easy to read — make it extra easy to see how to connect with you to book services.
All you really need are a few basics:
- Name of your business and logo
- What services you provide
- What area you service
- How to contact you: phone number, email, website
- An eye-catching graphic or illustration — this is easy to add through a site like Canva
- Optional: QR code to your website. A QR code makes it easy for anyone to open a QR scanner and instantly visit your website without typing in the web address. Hubspot has a great guide to help you easily create a QR code for your website.
The design should reflect your personality and business, so have fun with it!
Planning Where To Put Your Flyers
After you have designed your flyer, it's important to think about where you are going to display them. There are two primary considerations here. First, where are the best places to put your flyers? Secondly, do you have permission or need to get permission to place your flyers there?
Let's tackle the first question. The best place to put your flyers are where your clients live, work, and play. Most importantly, you want to get as many people who are actual pet owners to see your flyer. So, where are these people?
As we mentioned earlier in our post, the dog park is a great place to start. Many dog parks will have a community board explicitly designed for people to put up flyers or notices. If there are popular walking trails in your area that have dedicated spots for flyers, you should absolutely hang a few flyers there.
Are there any businesses in your area that allow local businesses to place flyers (like a coffee shop or a pet supplies store)? You can call around to see if there are any opportunities to put up flyers. How about apartment complexes or neighborhood centers? These are some of the best places to put up your flyers. Think about that big bulletin board in the lobby of apartment buildings. It's also a great idea to pin a couple of business cards to those bulletin boards for people to take and share. Having a few business cards on hand comes in handy — especially when you find a great local place to advertise but don't have any flyers with you.
When considering all of the places where you can put up flyers, it's important to make sure that you have permission to put your flyers there. Most "community boards" allow anyone to put flyers up. Businesses or communities may require approval before you can put up a flyer. It's always better to be safe than sorry, so if you are unsure, just ask. Most businesses and communities are more than happy to support a local business that provides an excellent service to its customers and residents.
Printing/Preparing Your Flyers
Now that you've got awesome flyers and a plan to put them up around town — the easy part is printing and preparing your flyers. If you've got a reliable color printer at home — you can definitely print them there. If not — check out Staples, Office Depot, the UPS Store, or even your local library to print your flyers.
If you've created "tear-off" flyers, be sure to cut the sections to make sure it is effortless for a potential client to tear off your contact info.
Lastly, be sure to check in on your flyers regularly. If they are weather-worn or don't have any tear offs left, be sure to replace them
