Flyers still work. Here is what goes on one.
For a gardener, a plumber or a new shop, a few hundred leaflets through the right doors can still do more than the same money spent online.
The short version
Put one offer and one action on the flyer, big enough to read at arm’s length over a recycling bin. Deliver a few hundred to the streets around a job you’ve just done, go back a few weeks later, and add one line that lets you count the calls it brings in.
A leaflet is judged in the hallway, over the recycling, in a second or two. Almost every flyer is designed as though it will be sat down with and read.
Get past that glance, though, and a leaflet does get read. JICMAIL, the UK body that measures mail, has a panel of 1,100 households log what they do with every item for four weeks. It reports that “the average Door Drop now generates a minute of attention per item” (JICMAIL, 2025).
The flyers that get past the first second are closer to a poster than a brochure: one thing, said large, with an obvious next move.
What goes on a flyer
A flyer that works carries four things, in this order, largest first:
- What you do and where. “Garden care in Westfield” beats your business name at the top, every time. The reader’s only question is whether this is relevant to them.
- One offer or one reason to act. A first-visit discount, a free quote, a seasonal job like hedge cutting. One. Two offers means a decision, and a decision over a bin means the bin.
- One phone number, large.
- Your name and website, smaller. If the website is where they’ll check you out, run the ten-minute homepage check before you print its address on anything.
Leave off a list of every service, your full history, testimonials nobody can check, and small print. If you’re tempted to add a second paragraph, the offer isn’t clear enough yet.
The photograph
Use one picture, and make it the work rather than a stock person smiling at a laptop. A before-and-after of an actual hedge, bathroom or shopfront is worth more than anything from a photo library. Partly because it’s proof, and partly because everyone has seen the stock one.
Flyer size, print run and paper
A flyer should be small enough to go through a letterbox unfolded and big enough to read at a glance. Where paper is sized the European way, that’s A5 (148 × 210 mm). In the US, a half-letter sheet or a large postcard does the same job.
- A postcard-sized card suits a single strong offer. It feels sturdier, and it’s more likely to end up on the fridge.
- A full letter or A4 sheet is usually more paper than one message needs.
- Print for two passes of your area, not a whole city. For most local trades that’s a few hundred, not a few thousand. The unit price falls as runs get bigger, which is how people end up with two thousand leaflets and no plan to deliver them.
- Use a matte or uncoated stock if you want people to write a date or a note on it.
Keep the design file after the first run. The second version - new offer, new season - should take minutes, not a new design. Flyers look best when they match your van, your business cards and your sign.
Where to deliver flyers
Where your flyers go matters more than how they look, and most people get the geography backwards. A thousand leaflets across a whole city do less than three hundred through the doors of the four streets around a job you’ve just finished.
The tight radius wins for three reasons. You can get there quickly when somebody rings. Your van has already been seen on that street. And neighbours talk to each other about trades in a way they don’t about most things.
- Deliver around a completed job, while the van is still outside.
- Go twice, three or four weeks apart. The first drop makes your name familiar; the second is often the one that gets the call.
- Avoid the free-paper bundle if you can. A leaflet inside a stack of five others goes in the bin as a stack.
- Respect no-junk-mail signs. The one household guaranteed not to call you is the one you annoyed.
If you can’t walk the streets yourself, the post office may do it for you. In the US, for example, USPS Every Door Direct Mail lets you pick neighbourhoods on a map and delivers “to every address on your selected routes”, with no mailing list needed (USPS, 2026). Many countries’ postal services offer something similar.
How to tell whether a flyer worked
You can only tell whether a flyer worked if you count the responses, and most people don’t. Most leaflet campaigns are judged on a feeling, which is why so many people decide leaflets don’t work.
The cheap fix is one line on the flyer: a code, a phrase, or simply asking. “Mention this leaflet” costs nothing and turns the whole thing into something you can count.
For website visits, send people to a page made for the offer rather than your homepage. Then add campaign tags to the printed web address or QR code. Google Analytics explains that with these tags “you can view which campaigns refer traffic”, and the visits appear by name in its traffic acquisition report (Google Analytics Help, 2026).
Try this now
Before you print, write down the number of calls that would make it worth doing again. Then you’ll have a result, not an impression.
A flyer creates interest in a small area. Once people know your name, they’ll look you up, so make sure what they find is ready: a Google Business Profile with recent reviews does a lot of the convincing for you.
A few common questions.
How many flyers should I print?
Enough for two passes of the area you actually want work in, which for most local trades is a few hundred rather than a few thousand. Print runs get cheaper per unit as they get bigger, which is how people end up with two thousand leaflets and no plan for delivering them.
What size should a flyer be?
Where paper is sized the European way, A5 is the usual choice and a good one: big enough to read at a glance, small enough to be cheap and to go through a letterbox without folding. In the US, a half-letter sheet or a large postcard does the same job. A postcard size suits a single strong offer.
Is a leaflet better than online ads?
For a new local trade with no reviews and no search presence, it can be the better start, because it does not compete with anyone and it reaches the exact streets you want. They do different jobs, though. The leaflet creates demand in a small area; search catches demand that already exists.
How often should I deliver flyers to the same streets?
Twice, three or four weeks apart, is a good starting pattern. The first drop makes your name familiar, and the second arrives when some of those households are ready to call.
Should I pay a distribution company?
It depends how much you value your evenings, but check what else goes out in the same bundle. A solus delivery, where yours is the only leaflet, costs more and is worth considerably more than being one of six.
