How To Create Your Own Circulars

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Very effective circulars can be created using a very minimum of equipment. A typewriter or word processor, some large rub down transfer letters such as 'Letraset' and imagination.

The reason why so many homemade circulars look so un-professional is due maily to two things. Lack of writing ability and not enough knowledge of layout.

Writing can be improved by taking longer over producing the script and splitting it into manageable parts. Successful circulars are not written in an evening. They usually take weeks of alteration and improvement. Consider first the ideas that should go into the message. List your basic ideas and try looking at them from the customers point of view. List more ideas than you need.

Once you have your ideas, pick out the best and put them into the order which you want to write them. Writing will now be much easier and far more effective. Put it aside and the next day, try to improve on it. Alter words, paragraphs and sentances if need be. You may even want to cut some out or add to it. Do this about three or four times until you have something that makes sense and has some real 'pull' to it.

Spend some time on creating the right headline to your brochure. These are the most important words as they will be read first and make the potential customer decide whether to read on or not.

Just typeing the words and adding a large heading is all that is needed although it will look poor if it is done poorly so be sure to get a new quality ribbon for your typewriter/word processor and take your time producing it.

If you want to do 'paste-up', only glue them in place AFTER you are fully satisfied with their positioning. To stop the edges creating a line on the photocopier, turn the paper over and run something fairly sharp or pointed along the edge of the new piece so that the origional sheet is brought level with the new one. A paper knife is usually ideal for the job.

If you want to add pictures to your circular, this can be done by using 'clip-art' books. The pictures in these books are 'copyright free' so you can photocopy them and paste them where you want. To improve the pictures, it sometime helps to go over some of the areas with a felt tip pen to bring out the blackness. Graphics are very good at drawing attention to your circular and arousing interest in it. If possible, try to use graphics that bare some relation to your message or product.

If you want to know more about creating better circulars, the guide 'Beyond Basic Brochures' goes into details of layout, writing, ways to bring in more sales and much more. It also gives examples of successful brochures and points out reasons for thier success. Further details of this guide are available from any 'Exchange Mailers and Remailers Club' member.