Even with all the opportunities available for marketing a product or promoting a business--television, radio, magazines and billboards--one of the best, cheapest and most direct ways is to use old-fashioned flyers. Flyers allow you to more carefully target your audience, selecting a particular location or demographic. But at the same time, you still want to get the most bang for your buck. This means that if you can create an effective flyer on only one-quarter of a standard page, you can then print four flyers on one page, saving money. Fortunately, using the basic Paint program that comes with every version of Windows, you can quickly do just this.
Instructions
1. Load any images or graphics (such as your company logo or a photo of your store or product) onto your computer, either by copying them from a digital source like a camera or CD, or by scanning in printed versions.
2. Decide what information you want to include in your flyer, such as the name of your business, what you offer, your address, phone number and email. If you are having a sale, these items should be listed and the duration of the sale period mentioned.
3. Open Paint. Select "File" and click "Page Setup." In the dialog that pops up, set the size to standard "Letter" size and then set all the "Margins" to zero. Click "OK."
4. Select "Image" and click "Attributes." In the dialog that pops up, change the increments from "pixels" to "inches." Then set the "Width" to 8.5 inches and the height to 11 inches.
5. Use the "Rectangle" tool to draw a border in the upper left quadrant, defining the area where the first flyer copy will be.
6. Select "Edit" and click "Paste From." Browse to the images you loaded in step 1 and select the first one you want to use. Resize it to the size you want and place it exactly where you want it inside the border (you won't get a chance to reposition it, so make sure you have it where you want it). Repeat this step to add all your images.
7. Click on the text tool and draw a text box where you want some text inside the border. Change the font style, color and size to what you want and type in the text. Repeat this to add all your text.
8. Use the "Rectangular" selection tool to select the border area. Then use the "Copy" and "Paste" function to place one copy of the flyer in each corner. Save your work and print your flyers.
