Brochures and flyers are an excellent way to market your company, but you need to know how to reach the most people and how to get them interested enough to take action. Here are the top 5 ways to market your business with brochures and flyers.

1. Blanket distribution

The more people that see your marketing materials, the more business you will get. While targeted distribution takes precedence, brochures and flyers are economical enough to widely disperse in any number of places and situations. In fact, both brochure printing and flyer printing get cheaper per piece at higher quantities, so if you think of your expenses in terms of cost-per-person (and you should), printing the most brochures and flyers – and distributing all of them – is one of the smartest marketing moves you can make.

For a blanketed effect, get your flyers or brochures in racks at hotels, welcome centers, Chambers of Commerce, grocery store bulletin boards, libraries, and anywhere else potential customers might see them. Use them in your direct-mail campaigns, and be sure to distribute them face-to-face at trade events, fair booths and even parades.

2. Add value with coupons and free offers

Nothing motivates customers more than the word "free." Your flyers and brochures are a great place to advertise free offers or discount coupons because, if you make the offer redeemable only if they bring the brochure or flyer to you (or enter a special online code), you can easily track how effective your marketing materials are. You can even have your customers fill out surveys to collect valuable demographic data you can use when developing your next brochures and flyers.

3. Encourage your reader to look and act

Use phrases such as "limited time offer,""act now" or "look inside for instant savings." You could mention exclusive benefits, a free report, new products, important information or a special discount. A powerful call to action isn’t merely a suggestion of what your prospects should do — savvy marketers know that you have to tell your prospects exactly what to do to achieve the desired response rate.

If you’ll be handing your flyers and brochures out personally, take a moment to point out anything of particular interest, and say something like, "Don't miss this valuable coupon." Also, make sure your design is visually appealing. Because your marketing materials are a direct reflection of your business, great-looking brochures and flyers are an extension of your marketing efforts. Skip the black and white cheap stuff and opt for full-color professional brochure printing or flyer printing.

4. Make it simple and understandable

Many amateurs try to impress prospects with technical jargon, long and drawn-out paragraphs, and other forms of information overload. This only serves to confuse — or worse, distance – prospects and should be avoided at all costs. If you want to achieve a great return rate, you need to make prospects feel comfortable dealing with your company. Use layman's terms for everything, and if you must use technical jargon, make sure you explain what it means.

5. Keep it out of the trash

You want to keep your brochures and flyers out of File 13, so include useful information that prospects will want to keep for future reference or show to others. Give how-to directions or professional tips, such as a color chart showing which paint colors create which moods. You could even try a time-delayed event. For example, "Do not throw this brochure away! It has a special prize code just for you — hold on to it and see if you’ll win a free 32-inch color TV when XYZ Company holds it’s annual super Fourth of July giveaway event!"

Brochures and flyers can really help drive traffic to your business if you know how to design and distribute them. Follow these tips and you will have more customers in no time.