Direct Mail

Leafleting Benefits

Advertising, Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, , , ,

We live in a digital world, a world where social media, websites and digital marketing is a key consideration for every business, both big and small. However, that doesn’t mean that you should disregard the more old-fashioned forms of marketing. In particular leafleting and door to door marketing.

This approach to marketing means that you print up leaflets and then send them out en masse to a particular target area. It is often used for local services, which includes trades such as landscaping, plumbing and painting and decorating, takeaways, restaurants, taxis and even local shops too.

So, why is this still an effective form of marketing for your business? Let’s take a look at some of the main benefits of leafleting for your business.

Leafleting is cost-effective

One of the main leafleting benefits for your business is that it is cost-effective. Of course, there is a cost that is associated with designing and printing leaflets, as well as posting them out. But compared to other forms of marketing it is actually quite cheap and the ROI could be much better than you realise. You just need to remember to put some sort of code on the leaflet so that when people wish to engage your services you can ask them for the code (which may be date specific) and you can track how many people have engaged with your leafleting campaign

You can have a great reach

Another huge leafleting benefits is that it has a rather impressive reach. Sure, not everyone who receives one of your leaflets will then read it, or even get in touch with you, but there is a good chance that you will see plenty of people who then do learn more about what you have to offer and maybe even sign up for your services.

Direct mail marketing can be personal

Personalisation is a great addition to any marketing efforts that you make. After all, if you want someone to connect with your business, then you need to appeal to them on a personal level. It can be hard to personalise digital marketing campaigns unless you opt for email marketing, however, the same cannot be said for direct mail marketing (leafleting) which is actually incredibly easy to make personal.

You are reaching right into someone’s home

What could be a more direct approach to marketing than being able to reach someone in their own home? As I have already covered, not everyone will engage with your leaflet or flyer, but there is a much higher chance than you may realise of them picking the leaflet up and giving it a read through. They may not get in touch with you, book in your services or buy your products, but they may be just as likely to recommend your name to someone else if they are looking.

Leaflets are not only easy to create, but they are cheap to make and send out. Not only this, but they can actually have a positive impact on the marketing for your business. You can even design simple leaflets using the templates in Canva. So, why not try them out? You never know how much of a benefit leafleting  can have until you get out there and promote.

If you would like help in deciding what the right marketing tactics would be for you then you may need a marketing plan. Get in touch today to discuss your marketing needs with us here at Hallway Distribution.

Share Button

Postcard Advertising

Advertising, Business Branding, Direct Mail, , ,

If your small business is looking for an effective yet affordable way to reach and stay in touch with your customers, drop them a postcard.

Postcards are great tools to develop and enhance your relationships with your customers. Often overlooked by marketers, postcards have become a fast, easy and reliable way to increase your sales and profits without spending too much on advertising or promotion. It is a marketing tool that through content and design could break through the noise and clutter.

Postcards can be used in a number of ways. You can use it to generate leads, attract more website traffic, get new customers, and increase sales from your own customer base. It is also a great tool for announcing major changes in your business or events in your company.

Here are 5 great advantages of using postcards to market your products and services.

1. Easy to prepare.
Hands down, postcards win in the efficiency game. It is easier to prepare than direct mail or letter. You only need to write a short copy, no slaving for a 3-5-page direct mail material. Plus, you need not spend time folding and stuffing the postcards in an envelope.

2. Unlimited creativity potential.

Your goal in sending a postcard is not only to get the customer to read your message, but to keep your message! And you can achieve this goal by designing a creative postcard that could elicit the response you need.

One advantage of postcards is it allows you to experiment with size, shape, and artistic design, without cost getting too much in the way. You are not constrained by the letter size and the formal rules of etiquette. It is a medium designed for creativity and fun!

Some postcards are so creatively designed or have funny sentiment or useful information that customers pin them in their boards or in their refrigerators. Imagine a customer seeing your card (and reading your message) every day! Even better, a postcard’s staying power may mean that it can have the opportunity to be seen by the receiver’s business colleagues, family and friends.

3. Savings, savings and savings.

Postcards are more economical than a direct mail campaign. By using postcards, you can send up to four times (in full-colour) for about the same price as just one traditional direct mail package. You can realise savings in printing costs, paper, and labour costs. Plus, no envelopes!

Rising postal rates have also made direct mail expensive. A first class stamp, at the time of writing, costs 65 pence; postcards on the other hand are significantly cheaper. You can also  reach a wider customer base with postcards compared to direct mail.

4. Bite-sized information.

Postcards are quick and to the point. There are only a few words to read and you need to ensure that you get your marketing message across to the prospect reading the material. With the influx of marketing materials faced by consumers, it is important to shape your message briefly yet catchy enough to gain your prospect’s attention.

However, therein lies the challenge you will face when using postcards. You must have a unique selling proposition (USP) that you can craft in your message that will distinguish your business favourably apart from every other competitor. Why should the customer use your product or service? What is the unique benefit that you could offer? Customers want a company that offers them the best selection, the best prices and the best guarantee. In a few words, you must be able to write that message in a postcard.

5. Can make a big impression.

One advantage of doing postcards is its novelty relative to other marketing tools. While an increasing number of marketers are discovering postcards, postcards have not become too commonplace that it has turned to be an irritant. Many consumers already consider direct mail a scourge, and many direct mailings go to the wastebasket without even being read. Customers are also becoming inundated with emails as a result of spam that even legitimate emails are dumped into the virtual bin.

One advantage of postcards is its “openness.” Unlike direct marketing letters, you need not worry about customers simply throwing your mailing without even opening the envelope. With postcards, there is no envelope to open! The customer immediately reads your message. The more eyeballs, the more prospects, and the more customers you will have.

The key to finding success in marketing with postcards is to create the right postcard, mail it to the right audience and craft it with the right offer. The humble postcard can be a great tool to enhance your relationship with your customers. Best of all, postcards may be within your budget reach.

When planning a postcard marketing campaign (especially if it’s your first), it’s easy to get carried away with all the things you want in the design. After all, you’re sending an ad to hundreds, possibly thousands of potential customers, so you want to show off every aspect of your business. So, what do you do? You give your postcard marketing company 15 images, and you tell them they all must go in.

It’s a good thought. But unfortunately, it won’t leave a very good first impression on your customers. Most likely, it won’t leave any impression at all. Nine times out of 10, postcards that are too cluttered simply don’t get noticed. With too many images in your postcard, your headline, offer and call-to-action will get lost.

Tips on Using Images in Your Postcards

To improve the success of your campaign, here are some simple tips to keep in mind:

1. Keep images to a minimum.

On most size postcards, you’ll want a primary image on the front, your logo, some simple design elements on the back, along with a small image of someone on your staff (when appropriate).

2. You don’t need a picture of your office or building.

While it’s tempting to add one for credibility, it’s not necessary on a postcard. Save it for a brochure or your website. Otherwise, it will simply get in the way of your postcard’s primary messaging.

3. Let the experts help you decide.

Your postcard marketing company likely has years of experience in designing postcards for maximum response. Let them recommend the best possible use for your images.

Keep in mind that the primary goal of most direct mail postcards is to get a quick response. It doesn’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) tell the history of your company. You have only a few seconds to grab their attention and give them a reason to respond. Having 8-10 different images on your postcard won’t achieve that goal.

Share Button

Direct Mail How and When to Mail to Prospects

Advertising, Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, , , , ,

It is the prime aim of every business to sell their products and services to generate the absolute maximum revenue possible. Direct mail has stood the test of time and here is how.

Your marketing methods and strategies play a crucial role in the success of your online, as well as, your offline business.

If your offers are not marketed correctly, no one will ever be able to learn about your products and services no matter how effective and beneficial they are. You can use a number ways to market your business, however, advertising methods like flyers, direct mail, posters, banners, exhibitions and product shows are tried and true ways to attract new business.

Direct mail marketing is a promotional technique that helps you in advertising your business by mailing your specifications directly to the customer. With the help of direct mail marketing, you capture those potential customers that are actually interested to purchase your products and services.

You can access a consumer mailing list to mail directly to a targeted demographic that will likely have the highest response rate. You can also use a number of tools to find out the mailing prospects like you can use social media, business listings, yellow pages, telephone directories to find more even more addresses.

We’ve found that the best time to distribute flyers and send direct mail is when you have clear, definitive business goals in your mind. If you do not know what your actual goal is from the mailing or distribution, you can’t help but fail.

The biggest benefit of flyers and direct mail is its effectiveness in generating new customers. At the same time, it can also help you to expand your market to serve wider, more diverse demographic. It is also effective to drive repeat business from existing clients and customers.

However you use your flyers and direct mail, keep in mind the most important element is creating goals and tracking the results. Without measuring the success of your direct mailing or flyer distribution, you will never actually know what is working, and what is just costing your business money.

According to a 2018 survey direct mail drives higher return on investment (ROI) than any other marketing channel. Discover just how by clicking HERE.

The survey, which polled more than one hundred small business advertisers on a variety of sales and marketing-related topics, also found that most respondents spent an average of £5,000 to £22,000 on ads each year.

Additionally, 34.71% of respondents listed direct mail as their top marketing channel by spend, followed by social media (18.18%) and search engine marketing (14.88%).

So to book your next leafleting campaign in and around Cheltenham get in touch with Hallway Distribution today, before your competition beats you too it.

Share Button

Discover How To Get The Best Response Rate From Leaflet Distribution

Business Branding, Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, , ,

The question of what is the best response rate from leaflet distribution, has to be one of the most commonly asked questions we receive from potential and existing customers.

To put this question into context, it’s like a asking a gym instructor, ‘how much weight will I lose by joining the gym?’. There are many factors which determine how much weight you may lose, and the same is true for your best response rate from leaflet distribution.  The next few paragraphs will help illustrate how you can maximise your response rate.

What do the stats say about response rate from leaflet distribution?

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has carried out extensive research in an attempt to give you a good idea of what to expect from your flyer distribution campaign:  “A key finding is that 89% of consumers remember receiving a door drop mailing more than any other marketing channel. And it has a powerful place in people’s lives, with 45% keeping leaflets on a pinboard or in the kitchen drawer”. This is great news! However, the average response rate is around 1%. So the question is why aren’t people responding, and more importantly, how can we encourage people to respond?

Which industries benefit most from leaflet distribution?

According to a DMA article, the retail sector has most success with 9 in 10 people happy to receive retail based unaddressed mail. This was closely followed by FMCG brands, then restaurants and local services. In our experience, our biggest bulk of clients which repeat very regularly with us due to high ROI are Estate Agents, Gyms and Garages (car sales showrooms such as Perrys Mazda).

New business vs established brand, who wins?

Imagine that two businesses in the same industry decide to invest in a door to door distribution; who will receive the higher response? Consider, if you receive a flyer for DFS Sofas and another from Mr Sofas, they both say 50% off Boxing Day sale, and both have images of nice sofas from just £399, which would you more likely respond to? Even if Mr Sofas had a better offer and better starting prices, you would still go to DFS over Mr Sofas because you know and trust the brand, where as you have never heard of Mr Sofas (probably because I made them up!). Just think about that for a moment when looking for the best response rate from leaflet distribution

How many people will respond to your flyer?

For this let’s stick with the sofa example. If you receive a flyer from DFS, a well established brand, and receive a Dominos Pizza flyer, again a well established brand, the response rate would be equal right? No! How many times do you buy a pizza compared with a sofa?! The point here is not to dwell on the percentage response rate, but on the potential value of each converted lead. Dominos need to sell a lot more pizzas than DFS do sofas in order to see a return from their distribution.

But I’m not an established brand, is leaflet distribution a waste for me?

Absolutely not, and there are a number of reasons why. If you have a local business looking for local custom then I can’t think of a better solution to advertise locally than flyer distribution. So, why will people respond if they haven’t heard of you? They won’t necessarily on first view, but going back to the joining the gym analogy, leaflet distribution is not a one hit wonder event, just as going to the gym doesn’t work if you only turn up once.  Leaflet distribution works most effectively when treated as a long term campaign, which goes out to the same people over and over with a professionally planned strategy. This is the same whether you are an established brand, a new business, or a small business looking to expand.

What is the campaign based approach to gain the best response rate from leaflet distribution?

This is the essential ingredient to ensuring you will see a return on your investment. People don’t tend to respond to something on first view, they need to see it over and over, which is known as drip effect marketing. You need to plan a long term campaign, tailored around your budget, which enables your flyer to target the right audience on a regular basis with actionable flyers.

How much impact does the design of the flyer have?

A huge amount! For example, if you have an estate agents and send out a flyer with a boring image of your office on, and it says something like ‘we are an estate agents, we sell and rent houses’, you will likely receive no response even if you send 100,000 on a regular basis to the same audience. However, if you simply have a headline such as ‘Thinking of selling this summer?’ Followed by a sub headline, ‘we are offering free valuations in your area this week’, with a call to action, ‘Call us today on…and book your free valuation’, and an image of an exciting house with a happy family embracing it, your response rate will rate will be completely different. Why is this? Because instead of talking about your boring business, you need make your business relevant to the receiver, and give them a strong reason to respond. Actionable design is vital.

Share Button

Leaflet or Magazine Advertising

Advertising, Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, , ,

You have come to a point where you want to promote your business and are wondering what form of advertising to go for. Nowadays, there are numerous options available, from the Internet to print, but when you are a small business the first two ways that come to mind are most likely leaflets or an ad in a local magazine. So the question beckons leaflet or magazine advertising?

Both means of promotion work well on a local scale; however, when you consider all the pros and cons in more detail, leaflets turn out to be the most efficient strategy. Here are five key reasons why leaflet distribution is more effective than a local magazine advert.

  1. COST-EFFECTIVENESS

No doubt about it, for the price of the same size (A5) advert, usually a full page in local magazines, you can have twice as many leaflets printed. Leaflet distribution is a very affordable way of getting your name out to the wider public, and let’s be honest, when you’re a small business you don’t have a £1million+ marketing budget, do you?

  1. PERFECTLY TARGETTED AUDIENCE

When it comes to leaflet drops, we’re able to hand pick the most responsive areas for your campaign. We look closely at demographic and geographic factors and plan your distribution to ensure your leaflets go to those most likely to be interested in your services. We are even able to skip particular streets, to give you a fully tailored service. By contrast, with a local magazine you are not able to target specific areas in such detail, rather you are locked into the major areas that their distribution covers – and locked out of others.

  1. FLEXIBILITY

When it comes to designing your leaflet, the sky is the limit. Make it round, square, postcard, folded, DL – you name it, we can produce it. An ad gives you a standardised size scale, without much room to make your business really stand out. The flexibility leaflets provide also means that you can have two different design leaflets going out to various areas as part of the same campaign, whereas with an advert you’d have to pay for two advertising spaces, which would both be distributed to the same areas.

  1. QUICK TO PRODUCE

Had a change of heart? Realised you’ve put a wrong telephone number? With leaflet distribution we’re able to stop your campaign and quickly print a new batch, so you can always be sure that the right materials are going out. Unfortunately, with an ad, once it’s signed off to print you can’t call it back to update your artwork or copy.

  1. CONVENIENT

What’s easier to quickly fold and put into your pocket or bag? The answer is simple. Leaflets have the advantage that they can be easily stored for future reference, something a magazine doesn’t have. They are also a fantastic way of presenting your offer to the potential customer in a concise and direct way, whereas in a mag your ad might go unnoticed amongst a sea of others, thus producing no results but significantly draining your budget.

Next time you face an advertising decision-making moment bear in mind the features described above. Leaflet or magazine advertising is a big decision, these are only five of them, but in our opinion they are the most important aspects, particularly for small businesses. Affordable, well-targeted, flexible, quick to produce and convenient means are the most efficient and fruitful media to help you grow your company. Having over 9 years’ extensive experience we’re always here to help you promote your brand, so get in touch today to see how we can work together to achieve your business objectives.

We hope you got some value from this article, five reasons why leaflet or magazine advertising. If so leave your comments below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvassing

 

Share Button

Make Your Leaflet Drop Campaign a Success

Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , ,

It doesn’t matter whether you are an estate agent, a small business owner or own a restaurant, even a franchise or agency. One thing remains the same; you want to make your leaflet drop campaign a success.

Not just succeed in the sense that it gets produced and delivered through letterboxes, but work in the sense that it grabs people’s attention, i.e. compels them to take action and contact you.

Easier said than done, right?

Not when you have been creating truly memorable leaflet drop campaigns for the last decade. Here are our best practice tips for producing leaflet drops guaranteed to secure new business.

TIP 1: Research your market

The first, and perhaps, most important thing you can do (which people tend to spend the least amount of time on) is research your market.

imagesMost of us feel that we’re a professional in our field, and quite rightly so. However, just as consumers wouldn’t buy a car without reading up about it first, it’s wise to spend as much time as you can seeing if your product or service is right for the intended market before rushing into spending money advertising it.

TIP 2: Consider your price or offer

Your price or offer is an important factor in determining how much of a response you’ll generate. One of the best things you can do is get comparisons from your competitors. This will help you decide where you want to position yourself within the market – top, middle or bottom in price.

A question we often ask our clients is, ‘Are you trying to increase your market share on selling at almost no profit, or are you prepared to sacrifice a higher response to win business that makes more of a profit?’

TIP 3: Think about your start date

Think carefully about the best time for selling your service or product. For instance, it’s not a good idea to sell Christmas trees in the summer! Supply and demand principles also apply, so it’s worth planning ahead to get this one right as it’ll maximise your response rate no end.

TIP 4: Don’t be a one-hit wonder

We’ve seen this happen lots of times. A client carries out a leaflet drop campaign and gets either a great response or a poor response and on that basis chooses not to carry out any further activity.

In our experience, the most successful clients formulate a campaign that may run weekly, monthly or quarterly, the point is it’s a leaflet drop campaign. This gets the message across that they are in their chosen area to stay and it reminds the potential customer to use them. Sometimes it’s only after we’ve seen something three times, do we then have confidence in trying it.

TIP 5: Create the right image

Ensure your leaflet portrays your service or product correctly. Your leaflet essentially becomes your shop window so, not surprisingly, it needs to be designed and printed to match the quality of service or product you want to get across.

If you’re selling something at an economy level, you may want to print in only one or two colours on a thinner paper stock, whereas if you’re selling a high ticket item, you need to portray this by using a professional designer, full colour, and a more expensive paper or board.

TIP 6: Enlist the right expertise

If you’ve followed the tips above, it would be a complete waste of your time and money, and ultimately your response from your leaflets, if you opt to work with a door drop company that doesn’t sufficiently charge to deliver all of your leaflets.

As a very simple rule of thumb, it takes, on average, 7 hours to deliver 1,000 leaflets, which is around 2-3 per minute in your average street. Therefore you would expect the price to be over £55 per thousand to include transportation, office and warehouse costs.

Share Button

Print vs Digital

Advertising, Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, ,

We now have the scientific proof. Print is better than digital for advertising.

Despite the enormous migration to electronic media, neuroscience research shows that paper-based content and ads offer special advantages in connecting with our brains.

HImage result for print vs digital imagesow many times over the years have we have been told print is dead?

Ceefax (remember that?) was going to kill newspapers and videos were going to replace colour brochures. Now both theories were confined to history while print carried on.

But then the digital world exploded onto the scene. It did at the time, look as though print had met its nemesis.

Marketing people began turning to electronic mail and the internet to sell their products and services. Some even openly disparaging print as old-fashioned and doomed. However, some of the savvy marketers continued to use print to sell products because they believed it still worked and worked better than digital.

Now science has proved us right.

What we found the print vs digital facts

So, what is the scientific community telling us about printed messages being more effective than digital ones?

A study by a Canadian neuromarketing firm, True Impact, compared the effects of digital media in the form of display ads and email against a direct mail piece.

To carry out this test, the firm used two technologies. These two technologies were a high-resolution EEG that measured brain waves and eye-tracking techniques.

The critical metrics evaluated in this study were attention, persuasiveness and ease of understanding. In all three cases, the direct mail piece was found to be easier to process and proved to be better for brand recall mentally.

Those participants exposed to the direct mail piece had recall 70% higher than those exposed to the digital advert.

Now we cannot expect a mass exodus from digital marketing to direct mail and door drop leaflets. However it does prove that print-based advertising still has a significant part to play in the marketing plans of advertising managers across the land. And we cannot expect digital marketing to disappear either. The print vs digital argument will roll though.

The future is going to be print and digital working together.

Image result for print vs digital images

Any good direct mail piece or door drop leaflet must also have an online presence.

Despite the popularity of print in getting a sales message across, many people feel comfortable ordering from a website, and print can drive this valuable traffic to an online order or enquiry form.

However, a printed leaflet can only work if it has been carefully constructed. It must be well written, designed and printed by people who know their craft.

Hallway Distribution can not only advise on where to distribute your printed marketing leaflets, we also provide copywriting, and a design service all of the highest quality.

Share Button

Getting Business Customers Through Leafleting

Business Branding, Direct Mail, Leaflet Creation, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , ,

Plenty of research shows people need to see your marketing message several times, in different ways,  before they buy.

If a customer says no, is it game over? Be honest, do you give up after your first knock back? Many business people do. But that’s a mistake. Here we will outline ways of getting business customers through leafleting.download

“If at first you don’t succeed try try and try again.” I know this saying has become a cliché, but quite often clichés have something to tell us.

The message here, of course, is you should never give up. The problem with selling a product or service is in most cases it is usually a marathon, not a sprint (another cliché)

Repetition, Repetition.

Just because a customer says no is not a reason to give up. The sad thing is though, many business people do.

Plenty of research has been carried out proving that your marketing message will have to be seen several times before a sale or response is achieved.

If you ask any salesperson, they will say they rarely make a sale after the first contact with their prospective customer. It has been said a salesperson has to make contact seven times before they make a sale. Of course, that figure is an average one. Some people will respond after the first or second call, others may take longer.

Successful users of leaflet distribution will tell you sales of their product or services increase when the customer gets used to seeing their leaflet drop through their letterbox at regular intervals. The more your prospects read your message, the more chance you have of making a sale. It’s always better to contact 5,000 prospects 5 times than 25,000 just once. Getting business customers through leafleting works best this way.

Decide What Results You Need

What do you want your leaflet to do?

You must make it clear to the prospect what your leaflet is about and what you want them to do.

Do you want them to contact you by e-mail?
Do you want them to visit your website?
Do you want them to telephone you?
Do you want them to visit your store?

Whatever your call to action is, your headline and the copy must lead the prospect to do what you ask.

Select The Right Areas

If you were promoting home extensions or loft conversions there would be little demand for these on social housing estates, wouldn’t there? If you’re promoting a gardening business, there would be less point in targeting flats.

Selecting the right areas is a hugely important factor when preparing a leaflet campaign. There is no point in trying to sell a product where there is obviously no demand for it. You will save time and money by having your leaflets delivered to the prospects most likely to want your product or service.

Now, you won’t get this perfect the first time round and you shouldn’t expect to. This can be tested and refined each time you carry out a campaign learning from the previous results, which areas performed best, where you got the most enquiries and sales from and so on.

These are just some of the many ways you can make sure your leaflets are distributed to the people most likely to buy your product or service.

Stand Out From The Crowd

Remember you may be competing with other leaflets and letters arriving through your prospects letterbox. You want them to be attracted to your leaflet above all the others.

To help yourself stand out why not use a professional photographer if you are putting pictures of your product on your leaflet? If your budget stretches to it, use a larger leaflet. The print cost will be higher but distribution will normally be the same for an A4 or A5 single sheet leaflet and you are more likely to stand out on the doormat.

Why stop there? You can have your leaflet cut to a special shape. This will definitely catch your prospective customer’s eye.

The aim is to get your message read before their attention moves elsewhere.

Use Fonts, Styles And Text Correctly

Typefaces can tell your reader a lot about you and your business, so you must choose them carefully. The fonts you choose will also influence your prospects as to whether you are a safe and trustworthy company to do business with.

Don’t use more than two and use them in different sizes and weights. Make sure the typeface you select makes your text easy to read. Remember this text is carrying your message to your prospective customer.

Picking the correct font is so important that it would be advisable to get some expert advice. Ask us to help you with this aspect of getting business customers through leafleting.

Choosing Your Size And Paper Stock

The size of your leaflet really depends on the length of your message and what you want to put on your leaflet. We suggest keeping it short in most cases and simply increasing the size of your content to increase the impact when your leaflet lands on the doormat.

You do not want to squeeze too much text on a leaflet that is too small. This will make your look amateurish and put people off reading it.

downloadIf you are selling big ticket items like home improvements an A4 leaflet should normally be the minimum allowing you to include large images of the products you’re offering. If your offer is simple and your text short and sweet, then an A5 leaflet will be fine. But if you can afford it, the bigger the leaflet the louder the message.

The paper you choose for your door drop leaflet will also reflect the image you are putting out to your target audience. Using a cheap paper to save on price is usually a false economy.

When a prospective customer picks up a leaflet or folder printed on a good heavy stock that feels expensive, they are more likely to read it and keep it, as they will perceive it to be something of value. A cheap lightweight paper will send out the message that your offer and your company lack gravitas.

Don’t Stop

As I said at the beginning of this article, selling is a sprint, not a marathon and often, along the way to success, there will be some disappointments.

You should not abandon your leaflet distribution just because the response has not been up to your expectations because there could be a number of reasons why the response did not live up to your expectations.

However, if you follow the advice given in this article you will be sure to achieve success.

To make sure all of these important elements are in place when planning a leaflet distribution campaign, it would be wise to put all of the elements in the hands of the experts. Getting business customers through leafleting is not as hard as you might think.

Hallway Distribution has been managing leaflet door drops for many years, and we have a huge amount of knowledge and experience in what will work and make a successful leaflet campaign.

Share Button

Direct Mail Doesn’t Work?

Direct Mail, Leaflet Distribution, , , , ,

When people say that direct mail, flyers and leaflets dont work it makes me laugh out loud, and also they make pronouncements about particular marketing strategies, for example;

Direct Mail doesn’t work!
Google AdWords is expensive!
Yellow Pages are history!
No one reads Emails!
Junk mail is dead!

imgres

Whenever I hear statements like those above, a cheeky little voice inside me says “yeah who says?”. That is quickly replaced with a more professional thought and response (the result of years of training and hard won experience) “is that an opinion or based on market tests?”. Asking that question often leads to marketing breakthroughs, as all too often it turns out that the person making the statement is reflecting their own PERSONAL like or dislike of that type of marketing.

The simple fact is, your views and mine are just opinions. They do not reflect market sentiment. They are not a guide to marketing success or failure. It is fine to have personal views, I have them too, but it is deadly to bring them into the office and impose them on your marketing strategy.

To find out what your market thinks about how they prefer to source suppliers of your products and services, you had better be open to testing, otherwise you will limit your marketing, and your business.

Here’s a good case in point.
Plenty of people think that flyers and leaflets are dead. But that didn’t stop Lana and Stewart Brown of Vibralife from being prepared to run a small test when it was recommended by her Business Builder Program advisor. Vibralife are a new type of fitness clinic offering vibration training technology with luxurious and high-class members facilities.

The key to their success is generating good quality, low cost leads and getting prospects through the door (they are really good at converting).
As part of the overall development of a marketing system for their business they worked closely with us to create and test a flyer to be distributed to 5,000 local households.
The total cost of the A5 flyer including design, print and delivery was £307.

The Result?
Within the first month, the first 5,000 flyers generated 18 new enquiries. So far, they have converted 10 new clients, worth £3,631. That’s a 10x return on investment, and they are still getting enquiries and conversions.

images

By extrapolating these numbers, they have worked out that if the flyers were sent every month for 6 months to the original 5,000 households, plus an additional 10,000 households in the area, this flyer strategy could earn Vibralife a return of over £65,000 for an outlay or around £5,000! But the best bit is what this successful test could now mean for the future success and growth of Vibralife.

As you can imagine, they are now busy rolling this out. Needless to say direct mail is not the only strategy that Lana is implementing. They are busy creating a marketing machine for their business of which leaflets and flyers will be an important part.

Share Button

Does Your Leaflet Get Results

Advertising, Direct Mail, , , ,

When a leaflet has been successful for some time, it is tempting to keep sending it out unchanged. It is also tempting to blame outside influences when the responses begin to slacken off. So ask yourself does your leaflet get results?

Perhaps a smarter question would be “Are the results the same as they used to be?”

It could be the economy; perhaps you have been targeting the wrong people. Maybe the product or service is losing its appeal.

imagesPerhaps you think leaflet distribution is no longer working and it is time to try something new. When things begin to go wrong, it is human nature sometimes to blame the messenger. However, blaming the messenger is hiding from the truth, and the real problem could be the message.

I am sure when you initially sent out your leaflet you were pleased with it and the response you received.

However, now some time has passed, and things may have changed for you and your business.

Perhaps there are features and benefits you can see in your offer that were not clear at the beginning. Maybe your product and service may have changed slightly.

Maybe your message has been seen so often that it is starting to look a little tired and weary.

They say familiarity breeds contempt. Perhaps the time has come for you to step back and review your leaflet with an older and more experienced eye.

And perhaps this more experienced eye will see some things you may have missed, or you think could be presented in a more persuasive way.

Of course, you may believe the following suggestions are things you have heard many times in the past, and I am sure they are. However, by taking a critical eye over old copy you often see how they can be improved to ensure your leaflet get results.

Your Headline

Does your original headline still have the power to hold your prospects attention? Does it highlight the major benefit you are offering your target audience?

Benefits not Features

How many times have you heard this? But it is one of the most common mistakes people make when they design their first leaflet.

The features of an umbrella are, it’s got a strong, wooden handle and durable cloth covering so it won’t break in the wind.

The benefits are it offers protection from the sun’s rays and keeps you dry in the rain.

What’s In It For Me?

The offering to the reader is the only thing that will interest your prospect. Does your copy make it clear to the reader that they are being offered something that will benefit them in some way?

Use the word “you” as much as possible.

Boost Your Credibility

The best way to do this is with testimonials. Have you asked your satisfied customers for testimonials?

Third-party validations will build credibility for you and what you are offering your prospects.

Make it Easy for Them to Respond

Have you told them how to respond?

The call to action or the contact details are one of the most important components of your leaflet. Make sure all contact numbers, e-mail addresses, and web links are easy to read.

Whatever your call to action is, you must tell the customer what to do and make it easy for them to understand. If you do not make it clear what they have to do, they will not respond.

The above tips are just a few of the things you can do to make sure your leaflet get results if it has not been performing so well. Remember the leaflet was successful for you in the past, and there is no reason for it not to be successful for you in the future.

Share Button