Leaflet Distribution

We all Like to Receive a Letter

 imagesAlthough door drop campaigns are often described as leaflet distribution campaigns, in reality more items than just leaflets are delivered by door to door distribution companies. These other items include product samples, company brochures and, in some cases letters, we all like to receive a letter don’t we?

Although leaflets are the bulk of the items delivered through the letterboxes by distribution companies and have proved to be highly effective in attracting customers, there are always some people who will prove resistant to leaflets, no matter how well designed and printed they are, resistance may be stronger if the leaflet is advertising an expensive product or service. There are people who often need more convincing when they are asked to consider buying a high priced item.

No matter how persuasive a colour leaflet is, they need more substantial information than a leaflet can convey. They need a well written and persuasive sales letter that arrives through their letterbox in a sealed envelope.

Now letters arriving through the letterbox from companies selling their goods and services is not a new thing. Direct mail companies have been sending letters to prospective customers for years. These letters are addressed to named individuals and have personalised salutations.

But the direct mail industry spends thousands of pounds building or buying mailing lists of people who have been identified as possible clients, and they are mailed to households nationwide. Now while buying mailing lists and sending personalised letters may not be a viable proposition for companies operating in a local area and on a limited marketing budget; sending a well written sales letter to all of their possible customers can be a viable and profitable proposition.

A company that operates in a relatively local area selling high-priced items, such as patios, driveways, or even swimming pools, could benefit by using a well written sales letter delivered through people’s letter boxes in a sealed envelope simply addressed to “The occupier”.

No matter how resistant people think they are to advertising, and leaflets, in particular, no one will discard a sealed envelope before opening it. And if the first thing they see is an attractive professional letter heading, with an eye-catching headline followed by an unbeatable offer and a list of benefits the product has to offer, nothing will stop the prospect from reading until they reach an irresistible call to action.

The main purpose of the or call to action is to collect the names of people who wish to become customers. But it also has a secondary but equally important function, and that is the collection and filing the names of people who did not buy after showing some initial interest. These people could be contacted again once a reasonable time has passed, and politely asked why they did not take up the initial offer. Once they have revealed their objections, it could be possible for the seller to overcome these objections and make a sale.

The direct mail industry uses this method all of the time to scoop up those extra sales that may have gone forever. There is no reason why it will not work for those businesses that use door to door distribution companies. A sales letter enclosed in an envelope and addressed “Important Message to The occupier” could break down the resistance of those people who may ignore sales leaflets. So why not copy what the direct mail companies do and pick up some extra sales.

Remember no one can resist opening a sealed envelope.

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Colour Grabs Attention

imagesWith leaflet design colour is not always the answer, yes it might look great and stand out from the crowd but black and white leaflets as well as colour grabs attention if done correctly.

Door drop leaflets, like any other form of advertising, depend on being noticed. It is vital that they attract people’s attention.

Of course the message they carry is important, but the message will never be read if the leaflet does not stand out from all the other forms of advertising it is competing with. To achieve this, most door drop leaflets follow the tried and tested method of capturing the prospects attention.

They use bright colours, illustrations and, if their budget allows it, high quality paper. This rule has served door drop leaflets very well, and should be continued. However there is an exception to this rule, and using bright colours and high quality paper can be put aside if the situation demands it.

An example of this exception to the rule of using full colour or black and white leaflets for printing on door drops came to my attention this month.

Here in the United Kingdom we have just held a general election, and for the past few months we have been subjected to relentless electioneering from all the many political parties competing for our votes; and of course most of these political parties have sensibly used door drop leaflets to get their various messages across.

Most of the leaflets I have looked at from the various candidates promoting the benefits to be gained by voting for them have been printed in full colour, with each party featuring their representative or house colour, and I must confess most of them have been very well designed and printed.

However, there was one leaflet that really stood out from all the others, and this leaflet proved that you do not need to print your leaflet in full colour to catch people’s attention.

This particular leaflet was not from a candidate from one of the main political parties, but someone who was standing as an independent, and had no affiliation to any party, and, therefore, no party colour to identify him. His answer was to use just black ink on plain white paper; but it was used in a very effective way.

The candidate, being an independent, had a very limited budget, but in my opinion he used it very well, a good message for little money.

The leaflet consisted of a single A4 sheet printed in black on both sides of reasonable, but not high quality stock. The sheet had been folded down to a third A4. A headline with the word “INDEPENDENT” in large bold upper case was printed white out of a solid black box, with the candidates name and sub heading and some copy beneath.

Once the leaflet was opened it had a clear and concise message on both sides. This stark, almost minimal approach, made this leaflet stand out. Lack of cash should not be a barrier.

stand outThe moral of this tale is that it is possible to produce an outstanding door drop leaflet on a limited budget. With some creative thinking at the design stage, even those with a little amount of cash to spend can have access to a door drop leaflet plan.

For more info on designing your leaflet CLICK HERE

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Leaflet Distribution Planning

One of the main challenges in advertising via door to door marketing for small businesses is leaflet distribution planning.

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We discovered that time and time again a lot of businesses have thousands of leaflets still sat in boxes at the office which are either now out of date or have no action plan to be distributed to potential clients. Others have commented that their return and generated sales / enquiries from their leaflets has been little to none.

Understand your target audience

Know who your target audience are in regard to age, sex, and ethnicity. Learn where they socialise, work, shop, live, visit and what they read, watch and listen to. You can begin to concentrate distribution efforts from this information.

Hand out leaflets in the street

If your target audience are found out and about in the town consider handing leaflets to passers by. Check with local authorities first about any by-laws in place for the areas you wish to distribute. This method often receives avoidance by passers by, so consider screening the people you hand leaflets to first or talking to individuals one to one before handing them a leaflet to gauge interest. My top tip here is be prepared to pickup dropped leaflets, you’ll do more damage to your campaign and business by littering the streets with your company flyers.

Go small

If you are handing leaflets out in the street you may want to think about the size of your leaflets. Credit card size receive the lowest drop-rate (the amount of leaflets dropped on the floor by people) because they fit easily into pockets or wallets. Larger, thick leaflets can put people off even taking it from you.

Post or email your customers

An obvious method is to post or email your leaflet out to all your existing customers. This could be a one off occurrence or part of a regular newsletter, either way make sure you understand all your obligations in regard to the Data Protect Act and the EU Privacy Regulations.

Place inside packaged orders

If you run an online shop or post out goods to customers place a leaflet inside the packed order. You could apply this same method to customers shopping in store. You may want to produce specific leaflets for this purpose, such as latest sales / discount voucher towards next order or a leaflet to raise brand awareness further.

Be a leaflet insert

Have your leaflets inserted into an established publication that is already distributed across your target area. Newsletters, local magazines and directories may offer this service at a cost.

Collaborate with complimentary businesses

Find complimentary businesses to help distribute your leaflets either through their own distribution plans or if they have a high street shop, perhaps inside carrier bags or on the counter at the tills. Ask shop owners who your target audience often visit to display small stacks of leaflets at the tills or checkout. This is often a common place to find local advertising however many shops discourage this method and will either say no or take your flyers and recycle them soon after, a waste of resources. So build good relationships with shop owners, possibly with incentives.

Stock control your leaflets

It may sound odd or a chore but controlling the number of leaflets you give out can maximise your potential and minimise waste. Giving the local newsagents 200 leaflets when they realistically will only shift about 25 is over stocking. Make smaller bundles and restock if required.

Support / Sponsor an event

By sponsoring or supporting an event such as a village fete, fundraising ball, music event, charity dinner, school production, local football tournament, sporting event you might be able to negotiate the opportunity to distribute your leaflets to all those attending whether through hand to hand delivery or a display table.

Attend exhibitions & trades shows

Book a stall at a local exhibition or trade show and pass out leaflets to passers by as well as talk to them in more detail about what you have to offer. You may even be allowed to display your products / services. On the other hand you may be able to pay for the opportunity to pass out leaflets to all exhibition / trade show attendees or at least have them displayed on tables within the shows.

Leaflet dispensers

Agree with shops, business’ or establishments that you can erect a leaflet dispenser at their business location. There are more permanent leaflet distribution points than the ones at local shops where you have asked the owners to display leaflets near the tills. You could even have a custom designed leaflet dispenser to add more appeal and brand awareness. Obviously devise a way to keep these stocked with leaflets.

Plot the miles

If you need to drive around many locations to distribute your leaflets take time to plan your journey to save on fuel and time. Also be specific to which locations / shops / businesses you need to visit to avoid wasted time and effort. Your first trip might be less specific on where to visit but try to make a note of which shops / businesses / locations agreed to display your leaflets so that in the future you can be more direct.

Time it right

Timing the distribution of your leaflets in phases or to co-inside with the seasons is always worth considering if the circumstances dictate. Perhaps you’re advertising an event that requires promotion early on and then a refresh a week before. Or your opening a new nursery that would suit distribution close to school term holidays should you take on new placements around term times. Think about your business and industry and identify any time based requirements that could be utilised.

Door to door

If your leaflets suit the majority of house holds you could try door to door leaflet distribution. Simply travel to a local town and post your leaflets through letter boxes. Note you may need a large number of leaflets to do this adequately and may have to walk some distances. Also note that you could use the Royal Mail leaflet distribution service or another third party leaflet distribution company who charge a nominal fee for x-amount of leaflets. (Do a web search for ‘leaflet distribution services’ in your area).

Hold a promotional day

If suitable, hold a promotional day at your business premises / shop and hand leaflets to passers by and those who attend. Any attendee’s are prime candidates because they already show an interest in your business / products / services.

I hope this guide on leaflet marketing distribution tips has helped you in some way.
If you need further advice on leaflet design or distribution please contact Hallway Distribution now.

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Leaflets Just Work

Many businesses use leaflet distribution to attract customers and increase their profits, quite simply because leaflets just work!

It is very well known among media aware advertisers that leaflets delivered to homes through the letterbox produces good ROI (Return on Investment), and the reason for this is something many advertisers are not aware of.

When their leaflet drops through the letterbox it continues working for them for the length of time it remains in the home.

Despite many people’s perception of advertising that is delivered through the letterbox, the majority of it is not relegated to the waste bin. Much of it is kept in the home for some weeks and continues to deliver its message to the various members of the household.

Leaflet distribution beats direct mail

A recent survey undertaken by the Royal Mail has revealed that door drop leaflets are kept in the home for an average of 38 days. This compares favourably against direct mail’s 17 days.

The survey also reveals that leaflets containing relevant local information or time sensitive information such as an offer ending on a specific date, are the ones most likely to be kept and referred to several times.

These interesting facts are not the only ones contained in the report.

Leaflets have a place

It appears that many households not only keep the leaflets they receive but also have designated places where they are kept for future reference.

These places can be various areas in the house, a random holding area such as a convenient empty space on a cabinet or mantle shelf.

Some households have designated place where a pile of material is allowed to gather, or a specific display leaflet holder where the various leaflets are left out for members of the household to read.

Leaflets stay on display

imagesResearch reveals that the kitchen is the most popular place to display leaflets, with 51% of people surveyed saying this was their choice, with the dining room coming second with 30% of the population surveyed favouring that area.

Surprisingly the hallway came a distant third with only 18% of people opting for that venue.
There are also three also rans bringing up the rear.

5% of the survey goes to a study or office, strangely 3% of those surveyed claimed they displayed leaflets in the bedroom, and even more bizarrely, 1% claimed the kept them on display in the bath room.

Make sure they stand out

So now the survey has revealed that not only do people hold on to leaflets for 38 days, but many of them have favourite places to display them.

This information is good news to all businesses using leaflet distribution to advertise their goods and services.

However this underlines the need for leaflets to be designed to not only encourage people to keep and display them, but to make sure they stand out from all the competing material on display.

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Leaflet Distribution Poor Relation

leaflet distribution

imagesIt amazes me that when a discussion takes place around the merits of direct marketing, leaflet distribution is still seen as somehow the poor relation in the process, leaflet distribution is not and never should be regarded as a cheap alternative.

This unfortunate state of affairs was brought to my attention recently while I was reading a book on copy-writing and a chapter on direct mail. Part of this particular chapter gave the reader some twenty-eight creative tips for a mailing.

The creative tip that occupied the seventh position in this list was “The door drop mailer.”
Now some people will think the seventh place in a list of twenty-eight was not a bad position to be in, but it was not the position of seventh place that irked me, it was the way the idea that door drops were the poor relation to direct mail.

The benefits were described as having control of where the leaflet goes and the timing of its delivery. However, I believe these benefits should have been granted much more attention than the one sentence it was given. In fact, I did not think that door drop leaflets should have even been in the list of creative mailing tips.

The reason I think this is that I believe it reinforces the perception, in people who do not understand direct marketing, that leaflet distribution is a cheaper alternative to direct mail. When the truth is door drops can be an integral part of a larger advertising campaign, or they can be used as a separate campaign. Either way they have proved to be a highly effective way of reaching customers and creating sales.

Another area where I believe door drop leaflets do not receive the credit due to them is in the field of their creative work. Unlike the writers of direct sales letters, the copywriters of leaflets do not have the luxury of several pages to get their message across to the prospective customer.

They have to use a very limited space to get their sales message across. They employ their skills in copy-writing to produce short but informative text to emphasise the benefits of their offer as well as it features.

And you will not see “clever” tricks used in the creative work of leaflets. No sensible designer of a door drop leaflet will use the dubious techniques often seen in some magazines and on some so called “classy” website where an art director or designer places a large body of text on a solid black background with the type reversed out, making difficult if not impossible to read.

Door drop leaflets need to catch the attention of the prospect and make it easy for them to read the sales message. The writers and designers of these will use the correct typeface to utilise the limited space available.

Of course, the things I have described above are not widespread in the advertising and marketing business, but there are still a few unenlightened people who look upon leaflet distribution as the poor relation of direct mail. Let us all hope one day the penny will drop and they will see it for what it is, a valuable professional industry filled with highly talented and knowledgeable people who know how to use their talents and knowledge in creating sales for their customers.

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Leaflet Distribution Works

A wide range of companies and businesses both large and small use leaflet distribution because it works. They range from the giant multinationals such as Virgin Media down to small one man businesses.

Many of these businesses have used the medium of leaflet distribution to build healthy profitable enterprises. However, a large number of the smaller concerns often fall at the first hurdle.

The reason for this is so many people hoping to start a small business fall into the trap of believing door drop leaflets are a cheap alternative to other forms of advertising, and this is because at first glance it looks so easy.

No planning or money.

How many people who have decided to venture into the world of say, garden and tree maintenance, think they can launch their business on next to nothing?

imagesThey get a few cheap leaflets poorly designed, printed and distribute them themselves. When they receive no replies they get discouraged and give up. They are among the many that do not realise that to set up a business however small, demands some planning and most of all some investment into a marketing strategy.

Having a couple of hundred cheap leaflets poorly designed, printed and delivering them by hand in the blind hope someone will respond is guaranteed to fail. They do not realise the aim of distributing leaflets is not just to get a few odd jobs but to collect customers. Customers who will keep coming back to them time after time.

To achieve this, they need to make and draw up a proper marketing plan and strategy ideally in conjunction with a media specialist. It does not need to be an official business plan but some financial considerations should be incorporated to ensure the strategy can be afforded and how it can be made to work.

The leaflet.

Single A5 colour leaflets printed on coloured stock was often the norm for leaflet campaigns in the 80’s and 90’s. However in this day and age with full colour being so affordable a striking and eye catching leaflet can be produced very cost effectively.

Success is all in the copy.

An effective leaflet will have a good punchy stand out headline and well written copy listing the benefits the reader will enjoy taking advantage of. Some quality relevant pics but not overloaded with visuals and a persuasive CTA (Call to Action) to encourage the reader to take the next step and make contact.

Most people expect to see a web or mailing address on leaflets and a postal address will show that the business is properly established. It is easy to set up a simple webpage free of charge. This page should contain contact details and an expanded description of the services being offered. It should also contain the location of the business and a page where the visitor can leave their contact details.

More than just a mobile number.

However, if a having web page is not possible the leaflet should display a landline telephone number along with a mobile number. Having just a mobile number and no other contact details does not inspire confidence in prospective customer’s minds.

There is the added disadvantage of the mobile being switched off or out of range when a would-be customer calls. If this happens, it is unlikely they would call again, the opportunity to gain a client gone forever. A landline or virtual landline with voicemail would be a more sensible way to collect contacts.

Take expert advice on leaflet distribution.

Finally, there is the question of how many leaflets should be printed and where should they be distributed.

For this important information regarding the campaign plan, there is only one place to go; and that is to an expert. A well-established leaflet distribution company will not only be able to advise the would-be entrepreneur on the design of the leaflet as well as the content to include, how many leaflets he should have printed but the best area to have them distributed.

In fact, a good distribution company would be able to give advice on all the things needed to launch a small business, from design and printing to distribution. They will also be able to advise that it will usually take more than one drop to secure a good client base.

If more one-man startups or small businesses would take the time to talk to a professional expert, then more of them would able to overcome that first hurdle and prosper in their new enterprises, simply put leaflet distribution works, and that is a fact.

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