Door To Door Marketing Techniques

Advertising, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , ,

Door to door marketing can be intimidating, but it also offers a lot of benefits as a strategy for building your business. The chance to directly engage with potential customers and pitch your offerings in person brings a connection with your audience that commercial advertising can’t match. Understanding some basic marketing techniques can help beginners make the most of these interactions.

Location Is Key

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A key part of any door to door marketing campaign is picking the right neighborhoods to canvas. If you already have a database of previous customers, the neighborhoods or post codes that show up most frequently are good places to start. If you’re the local ice cream parlor, for example, walking around the neighborhoods within walking distance or a short drive away and handing out coupons for a free small cone at the beginning of summer can be a great way of either introducing yourself or reminding folks that you’re there at the start of your biggest sales period.

Hone Your Pitch

A successful transaction rarely is as simple as knocking on the door of the fortunate customer who already needs what you’re selling. You’ll have a very short amount of time to convince the resident to patronize your business, and many times the best way to do so is to sell a larger idea rather than your specific product. Someone might not think they need a pest control service, but if you ask them if they want to protect their home from termites it might resonate. Use whatever strengths you have if you’re naturally funny, start with a joke, for example. But whatever you do, make sure you’re focused on the customer and their wants and needs.

Make Materials Count

If you’re going door to door marketing to promote your local business, the fact that nobody answers when you knock doesn’t mean your marketing work is over it just means your prospective customer will have to read about what you have to offer instead of listening to you say it via a leaflet. As you are working your script to present in person, don’t neglect the brochures or other marketing material that you’ll leave behind if nobody’s there. Make sure they catch the eye, that they include a call to action or incentive to become a customer and that they’re placed somewhere hard to miss, like hanging from a doorknob or placed in the mailbox.

Set Realistic Goals

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Doing door to door marketing isn’t going to make you a millionaire over night. Be realistic about your expectations and also be realistic with any canvassers you hire to go door to door for you. It can be a frustrating job with a lot of rejection, and it’s only worse if someone goes in expecting nothing but credit card numbers and referrals. Whatever your business is, and wherever it is located, you should be able to find out an expected response rate to serve as a benchmark. Use that as an initial guide to determine whether your own efforts are effective, and adjust as necessary if you fall below that threshold.

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Supercharging Your Business

Advertising, Business Branding, , , ,

imagesThe following are some of the best ways for super charging your business, no matter what kind of business you are in.

  1. “Same-Old” is out

    Getting attention with something new is in. To get new business, you must strive to be innovative and dramatic. For example, an insurance agency, offered “the biggest steak dinner in town” if it couldn’t save any person money on their car insurance. This challenge was enough to make the telephone start ringing off the hook for days at a time. The customer flow was “absolutely crazy” for days.  The bottom line: dozens of new insurance buyers and tons of new cash flow and all they had to do was fork out the cost for a half dozen steak dinners!

  1. Tight target marketing.

    The big job in marketing and sales is getting to the right people inside another company. Addressing mail to “Facilities Manager” or printing a “routing slip” on the outside of the envelope is ineffective. Hitting the target is the challenge. Scoring a bull’s eye means making contact with the right individuals and is the only way to make the sale. Taking time to be highly targeted in business communication is essential.

  1. Be more creative.

    Pushing direct-mail pieces out the door or sending the newsletter to the mail room isn’t doing the job. Ask yourself: “Will anyone be intrigued enough to read the mailer before tossing it in the wastebasket?” Ask the same question about the company newsletter. A highly creative approach is necessary to be different and distinctive. Creativity costs money. But, if more people read the ad, take time with the newsletter or decide that the offer in a mailer makes sense, you have accomplished the goal.

  1. Focus on what customers care about.

    imagesAfter listening to the admissions director talk about what should be shown in the school’s new recruiting video, the marketing consultant asked, “Is this what parents and prospective students are interested in knowing?” Suddenly, everyone became less confident. Someone suggested asking the student tour guides what questions the visiting parents and kids asked? Whether creating an ad, a brochure, or a sales presentation, knowing what the customer wants, needs and expects is what works.

  1. Tell customers how to think about your company.

    We come to conclusions by making comparisons. If you don’t let customers and prospects know why it is in their best interests to do business with you or buy your product, they won’t. The rating of life insurance companies makes an impact on customers. The J.D. Powers’ customer-satisfaction survey on cars and personal computer manufacturers influences buying behavior. Wise companies spend time and effort consciously influencing the way they are perceived by customers, prospects, bankers and stockholders.

  1. When supercharging your business make your offers outstanding.

    Customers are cautious. They don’t like being put on the spot; they don’t want to make a mistake. This is why offers are essential. “Try it for 30 days free.” “We won’t deposit your credit card slip for a month.” “Your satisfaction is guaranteed.” “Take the car for the weekend and drive it all you want.” The goal is to overcome the customer’s reluctance.

  1. Be in the right place at the right time.

    “Why didn’t I think of you last week when we bought the new…” Some salespeople simply shrug off such comments. Oh, well. I can’t be in the right place every time.” Wrong. Being in front of the customer is today’s assignment. Developing a consistent program for staying in front of customers regularly is the challenge. A mix of seminars, newsletters, bulletins, fact sheets, special events and informative articles will keep you in the customers’ minds.

  1. Be relentless when supercharging your business.

    Persistence is power in marketing and sales. Far too many firms fail in their efforts because they don’t follow through long enough to produce proper results. Marketing momentum comes from a consistent effort. Once you start a newsletter, issue it on schedule. It takes time for customers to comprehend what you are doing and for prospects to get acquainted and comfortable with a business.

  1. Get rid of the self-serving nonsense.

    Most company publications, ads, letters, brochures, and other sales materials are filled with words, photographs and information that do nothing more than toot the company’s horn. No one cares that the business says it is the “best,” “oldest” or the “biggest.” Pictures of the staff are only interesting to the staff. A better approach is to ask prospects what they want to know about your company. We doubt anyone will be anxious to see pictures of the CEO, chairman of the board or the executive vice president.

  1. Tell them everything you know.

    Spill the beans, so to speak. Since today’s customers want information, knowledge and helpful ideas, do everything you can to share everything you know. This is the only way to become a valued resource to your customers. When people use your ideas, they will buy what you sell.

  1. Be generous.

    No one wants to do business with firms operating on a one-way street. Buy a new car and the dealer hands you a 20-cent plastic key holder! It sends a message that this dealer doesn’t under-stand his customers. You may forget the car, but you will never forget the lousy key ring! Another auto dealer delivers the new car to your office. What a difference. This dealer sends a powerful message our customers are important.

  1. Make prospect identification your mission

    imagesThe single most important daily activity in any business is prospect identification. By making prospecting a continuing process, companies produce a steady flow of new sales leads. They never stop asking, “Who do we want to do business with if we have the chance?” Then make sure all prospects are entered into a database so they can be cultivated over a period of time.

  1. Scrutinise your corporate identity.

    Yes, how a company presents itself makes a difference. Is the logo appropriate? Is it dated? Does it communicate the right message and the correct image? Is the president the only one who understands it? What about the company colours? Are they reminiscent of the late ’70s? Do the letterhead, mailing labels and business cards convey a strong, positive message? Or, are they dull and ordinary looking? If you don’t think this is important, your competitors will be thrilled. Corporate identity is the face you put on your company.

  1. Write customer-centered letters.

    Most business letters have cold, impersonal words. “As per our conversation,” “Pursuant to our agreement.” When was the last time you heard anyone talk this way at lunch (other than perhaps a lawyer)? Yet, give the same executives a pen and they become stilted. There is no reason why business letters should not be warm, friendly, conversational, interesting and customer-centered. Write as if you were the one reading it. Should a letter end at the bottom of the first page? Yes, if that’s what it takes to tell the story? But it may take two, four or six pages. A letter should be as long as necessary and always interesting to the reader.

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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.

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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.

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Marketing Via Leaflet Drops

Advertising, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , , , ,

Many businesses depend on marketing via leaflet drops as their primary strategy for bringing in new clients. We at Hallway Leaflet Distribution not only help entrepreneurs and businesses to get their leaflets through doors but we help them use the proven “direct-response marketing techniques” that have helped many other businesses to succeed.

Marketing via leaflet drops is a very powerful strategy when used correctly. It should give you the facility to bring in new business at a rate that is chosen by you! The control that you will have over your leaflet distribution campaign should give you the flexibility to scale up (or scale down) the influx of new clients as you require it. Very few marketing techniques or strategies have this flexibility.

To make a profit from your distribution campaign is absolutely paramount. To put thousands of leaflets through doors in the belief that you are successfully raising your companies profile (but not actually making any money), with the hope that people will “eventually” decide to use you when the time is right, is unfortunately one of the biggest mistakes you can make with leaflets.  The techniques I can show you to maximise your results from leaflet distribution will be focused on gaining an immediate targeted response from ‘ideal’ clients you want to work for (i.e. filtering out time wasters)!

The following guidelines for designing your distribution campaign outlined here are not business specific but have been proven to work for many different types of businesses.

See The Bigger Picture

Marketing Objectives

Decide exactly what you wish to gain from your leaflet campaign. Workout all your costs and how much revenue you need to make for it to be successful. For example, consider: How many leads will you need from the campaign?  What is your conversion rate?  What is your average job value?  What is your cost of sales? You need to consider what information you will need to know to establish whether you are making money, breaking even, or losing money. Tracking the origin of client inquiries is absolutely essential for monitoring the success of your campaign.

Design Campaign

Design your leaflet campaign to meet your marketing objectives. Consider also the types of client you’re hoping to attract and the demographics of target areas. It is always worth thinking who your ideal clients are (i.e age, income, home owner, geographical area etc), have a look at your existing client database if you are unsure. If you are unsure as to which geographical areas will be suitable for your business then contact us for further information. Your leaflets will probably get an excellent response in some areas and a very poor response in others. Careful planning as to where your leaflets are dropped will always improve your response.

Tracking

Ensure that you have a robust system of tracking PROFIT from your campaign and assessing whether marketing objectives have been met. It is a fact of life that certain types of marketing strategies will not work for certain types of companies.  Leaflet distribution is no different, and if you are not making money you need to know straight away. Effective tracking is the only way to do this.

Designing Your Leaflet

USP

What is your Unique Selling Proposition?  This will be a reason why clients will choose you over your competitors and should be something that you convey in your literature. A USP can be anything from being ‘the cheapest’, ‘the best quality’, ‘the fastest’, ‘the most thorough’ or anything that gives your business an edge. If you tell people why you are different you will attract the sort of clients who want to use your service. For example, if you are selling a product which is of the finest quality or of high value you need to tell people that specifically because those are the types of people you trying to attract. If you don’t mention this fact, and you only attract people who are seeking the cheapest product on the marketplace, then you will have failed to pre-select your ideal customers using your leaflet.

Services/Features Versus Benefits

A typical flier design that many people use is: company name at the top, a list of the services provided in the middle, followed by a phone number at the bottom. Unfortunately, this type of design will do nothing to convey to your prospect clients why they should choose you as opposed to your competitors. You must convey the benefits of using your service. If you are not absolutely clear what benefits your clients are looking for then ask them! Try to build as much ‘value’ into your product as possible. If a client doesn’t perceive the ‘extra’ value you offer them over your competitors their decision to buy will be based entirely on price comparison. If you are selling a product on price alone, working with the thinnest possible margin, the only route to success is to sell MASSIVE volume. Selling high-volume is not as easy as some people might lead you to believe, and is certainly much harder than building value into a product or service (which is consequently sold at a higher price!).

Objections

If your clients typically have objections to using your kind of service then it is important to raise them and explain why they will not be a problem if they choose your company. If you do not tackle your client’s main concerns head-on they may decide not to use you. It is in your interests to raise these issues (assuming that you have a very convincing argument as to why your company can overcome these objections).

Using Text

Don’t be afraid of putting lots of text in your leaflet.  If you were going to use a new company you had never used before (and spend hundreds of pounds with them) wouldn’t you want to spend five minutes reading about them to know that they were a good company? People will read it! The design process is NEVER about designing the most beautiful flyer; it’s ALWAYS about getting people to pick up the phone and call you. Don’t fall into the trap of asking your friends and colleagues (who may know nothing about direct response marketing techniques) what they think of your newly designed flyer only to get put off by their comments that they think you have inserted too much text and that it doesn’t ‘look attractive’.

Image Based Marketing

Many companies make the mistake of trying to get “brand recognition”. Unless you are a huge national company with massive marketing clout you will struggle to achieve this.  Smaller companies need to focus on getting a direct response from their marketing. If your initial leaflet design concept revolves around your company logo and some nice looking pictures don’t be surprised if you get virtually no calls from your campaign. It might work for multinational companies with millions of pounds to spend on developing their brand awareness, but “pound for pound” will almost never be the most effective way for you to spend your money.

Specific Design Mechanisms

Heading & Subheading

Putting your company name at the top of the flyer is a wasted opportunity. You need a catchy hook to get them to look at the rest of the flyer. A good heading might include your foremost USP, a guarantee, or special offer for example.

Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse

Don’t just tell them what service you provide, make them a fantastic offer that they must take you up on before a specific deadline. Build the offer up with a story if you can. Make it believable, giving them a reason why this offer is a one-off offer and if they don’t take you up on it they will miss out for good!

Vouchers

Put a voucher in your leaflet is a great way to market via leaflet drops. It is a fantastic mechanism to get people to keep your leaflet and gives it real value.  Make sure your voucher has a dotted line around the outside and has a very bold deadline to it. A deadline is absolutely essential for getting clients to call you straight away.

Testimonials

Proof from satisfied clients of yours will be the best advertisement you will ever have. A good testimonial will probably have a client stressing a particular benefit or overcoming a potential ‘objection’ to using your service.

Guarantee

If you guarantee an aspect of your service it will give a prospect client confidence in you. A guarantee can be anything from a moneyback guarantee, a lowest price guarantee, guaranteed timelines, 100% satisfaction guarantee, or quality guarantee for example.

Website

A leaflet gives you a limited amount of space to convey to your prospect client why they should use you.  If you have an excellent web site which markets your company really well it is important to direct your clients to it from your leaflet.  Don’t forget to give a reason to go to your web site, perhaps you are giving away special offers or consumer information for example, or maybe they can book or order on-line. There are specific things that you can do with your web site such that it will run alongside your leaflet campaign, and make it more effective. If you are not experienced with maximising the potential of your web site please get in touch with us as we have some of the best contacts in the industry who are able to advise you in how to fully exploit this medium.

Contact Information

The way you present your contact information on a flyer will affect your response. You should always have a contact address on a leaflet (even if you’re not local to the area you are dropping the flyers in). Rogue tradespeople don’t have addresses on their flyers and prospect clients know this! Consider also the type of phone number you’re using.

You may get more calls if you use the local area code for the area you are dropping the leaflets in, even if your office is not from that area. People like to use local companies and will be attracted to the local number as a consequence. These days obtaining a ‘local telephone number’ for an area that is then rooted through to your main office is VERY cheap to do. You should also consider having a freephone number that people can call (some people will call an 0800 number but will not want to pay the expense of paying for a local rate call!). Never put your mobile number as a main contact number.

Most people will not want to spend their money on expensive mobile charges, and besides it won’t help you to look professional. If you do not have someone to take calls in office hours it is very straightforward to have your business landline number diverted to your mobile phone or a remote messaging centre to take your calls whilst you are out (or indeed do both together!).

Professional Bodies

If your company belongs to any reputable (but relevant) trade bodies it is a very good idea to include this information in your leaflet. A logo with a brief explanation of why it is beneficial for a prospect client to choose a company who is a member of this body is all that is required.

Testing Your Leaflet

Once you have got together a design you’re happy with don’t forget to test your leaflet. It is recommended when conducting tests to use a reasonable sample size (at least 10,000 leaflets) otherwise the statistics you gain will be very difficult to analyse, or worse – probably meaningless. The best way to improve your leaflet, once you have something that works, is to conduct an “A-B” test using two different flyers to ascertain which one is the most effective. There are specific ways too conduct this type of test however if it is to be truly representative. The only way I would recommend doing this test is to systematically mix two equal numbers of Leaflets A with Leaflets B and distribute them to the same area on the same day (remembering to deliver to a reasonable sample size). As long as each distinct flyer has a separate reference number which is tracked when clients call (or some other way of easily distinguishing them) you will have enough information to know which leaflet is the most effective. Marketing via leaflet drops need to be tested this way.

Whilst all the above will help you maximise the response from your marketing campaign don’t fall into paralysis by analysis.  The only way to be successful is to act (and actually put something out!). So good luck with your marketing campaign and don’t forget we are always here to help.

Graphic Design & Printing

Hallway Distribution is a specialist door-to-door distribution company.  We do however have a large amount of experience working with graphic designers and printers to ensure that our client’s promotional material not only looks great but is also delivered on time and to specification! If you are at that initial stage of planning your campaign and you want to save a couple of days time trying to find a good printer or designer then call us. We have some of the best contacts in the industry, which will probably save you hundreds of pounds, plus a great deal of stress! I should also stress that we receive no commission from recommending you to other businesses, the gain for us is the more successful you become through leaflet distribution the more successful we become! Good business is about developing good relationships!

How Can I Make My Business REALLY Successful?

Learning how to run a successful business is no different to learning how to make (for example) your leaflet distribution campaign successful, in that it is all about getting the right information. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, all the good information is out there, you just need to seek the right sort of success information for your business. If you need pointing in the right direction then get in touch and let me know, with some of the many marketing and business development contacts I have developed over the years I have no doubt that I will be able to put you in touch with people who can help.

Check out more advertising tips right here.

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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.

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What Is Your Leaflet Delivery Cost

Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , , ,

In this business the question I get asked the most is, “what is your leaflet delivery cost?”

Allow me to explain how I get to a certain figure.

downloadWhen I first started, I had a slight advantage in that I was already established as a door to door distributor, so I knew many of the pitfalls and problems people could face when undertaking this kind of work. This must be conveyed to the client when discussing the all-important matter of money and what they expect in return for it. Your prices must be competitive, but not too low as cheap will have an undermining impact on results. When setting a price you must be able to explain why you have set it so.

One vital thing to consider is that some business owners will want their leaflet delivered on its own and not with any other advertising material, this method is called a solus drop or solus delivery, this will in turn increase the amount you should be charging for the job.
Many distribution companies try to under-cut the competition, but ask yourself this question for a moment. If you are paying a person to deliver let’s say 1000 leaflets for you and you are paying just £30 you will be wasting your money, here is the simple maths. It takes on average 7.5 hours to deliver to one thousand households, that equates to only £4 an hour way less than the minimum wage. Ask yourself, would you work for that?

If you operate your door to door distribution business as a one man band then perhaps you can charge another small business £45 per thousand households, £6 per hour. But that has to be the lowest you can charge the customer if you intend to make real money and earn a proper living from this.The price you charge your clients is governed by several things, for example is the area going to be delivered to a rural one or full of easy to deliver terrace houses. Are there large housing estates where the dwellings flow or is it an exclusive residential part of town full of large houses with long driveways. Take into consideration also what the landscape is like for example, is it hilly or flat, are there lots of shops and businesses to deliver too? These are questions you need to ask yourself as time is of the essence with this type of work, the quicker it is completed the better. Of course we all walk at different speeds, I for one walk faster than the average person so some distributors you employ could be discouraged by being paid inadequately for the time it takes to complete the delivery process.

imagesThis should answer the question of, you charge how much to deliver and justify your leaflet delivery cost.
Now these above figures are mainly for the purpose of a solo drop, where the leaflets are not being delivered with anything else. If the customer is happy that their leaflet can be delivered with another then and only then can you give a lower quote per thousand. Obviously you never deliver two competing leaflets at the same time, for example two estate agents or two pizza companies, this does not make good business sense.

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Discover Leafleting Benefits

Advertising, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , , , ,

What are the exact benefits of a local leaflet distribution campaign, is it right for your business?

leaflet-advertising-imgWhilst the 21st Century digital world offers a wealth of modern marketing techniques that can deliver healthy returns on investment and a great cost per conversion, for local businesses particularly, “old school” leaflet and flyer distribution is still popular and can yield impressive results.  In fact, done well, there are few techniques, online or offline, that are as effective.

This form of direct marketing, also known as leafleting or door to door marketing is simple, affordable and effective at bringing in new customers and boosting sales.  It involves delivering unaddressed flyers to homes in the local area. If you offer a service locally, such as takeaway food, window cleaning or a taxi service, leaflet distribution is an ideal way to spread the word about your business. When it comes to launching a new venture, such as a shop or restaurant, this type of advertising is particularly effective.  If, on the other hand, your business is already established in the area, leafleting can be used to advertise a future event or promotion, or to deliver money off coupons to incentivise your target audience to buy now rather than later in a drive to boost sales.

In addition, you can select delivery areas to ensure you are reaching your target market, such as families or affluent consumers, and unlike TV or radio advertising, you can also have confidence that your advertisement will be seen.  By choosing leaflet advertising you are leaving nothing to chance. You’re not reliant on your prospective customers buying a newspaper, listening to the radio, checking the Yellow Pages, or doing an online search. You’ve put your business message on the doormat of the people that you most want to see it; they will need to pick it up and so inevitably, it will be seen.

Advertising campaigns based on leaflet distribution aren’t for everyone, but if you are a business owner managing a local business of any size there is compelling evidence to suggest that there are big rewards to be had here.

So, what makes an effective leafleting campaign?

  1. Eye catching design
  2. Clear message
  3. Professionally printed
  4. A call to action
  5. Targeted distribution
  6. Measurement of the response

Creating and Printing your door drop

In the past, poor-quality leaflets and flyers have given leafleting a bad name.  To make your leaflet or flyer stand out, good design and professional printing are essential. The creativity of your campaign will have a significant impact on the level of response.  Of course, the good news is that leaflets and flyers offer a great deal of creative freedom, restricted only by the size of the letter box, the look shape and weight of your leaflet or flyer are all up to you.  You can use more than one creative design or have different versions of the same leaflet if you are targeting different groups of people.  On the doormat, your leaflet will be competing with other door drops, post and newspapers. Your challenge is to create a flyer that captures the attention of the recipient and avoid it going straight into the recycling box!  Even if it just gets glanced at by a prospective customer as they pick it up from the doormat, a well-designed leaflet will grab their attention sufficiently to create an interest in your business and develop an almost subconscious respect for it, such that even if they do not require your services personally, they may mention your business to family members, friends or colleagues that do.  A printing company will be able to guide you as to what is possible and what isn’t from a creativity point of view.

A call to action

Your marketing message should be clear, with a call to action. Offers and coupons work well as an incentive and are likely to be kept and used.

Leaflet distribution

Distribution is a vital part of the whole campaign, and there are several ways to deliver your flyers. Many small-business owners pound the pavements themselves or pay casual staff to do the delivery. If you use outside leaflet distributors, ensure you employ trustworthy people who will deliver every leaflet to every house in a way that reflects well on your business.

If you are sending out large numbers of leaflets, there are specialist door-drop delivery companies that provide a professional service. The Royal Mail also offers a service whereby it delivers flyers with the post to specific postcode areas.

Leafleting is generally seen as a blanket-marketing method. However, as mentioned above you can take a targeted approach to your door drops and improve response levels. Study your local area and assess which streets are most likely to have residents that fit your target market.

Also for effective targeting, consider the timing of your campaign.  Could the sales of your product or service be affected by the seasons or a particular time of the year? For example, the Landlord of a local pub may wish to offer a Christmas party menu throughout December and the New Year period and may decide to use a leafleting campaign to promote it.  However, timing will be key here as distributing too early may cause the leaflet to be viewed as irrelevant and put in the bin and distributing too late may miss opportunities if prospective customers have been organised and already booked their Christmas Party meal.

Measuring the response to your campaign

Leaflet distribution gives you full control over where you advertise, making it easier to accurately gauge performance and success.  It’s a good idea to use a promotion or coupon to help you track response to your leafleting activity. Give different campaigns or delivery areas unique promotional codes or coupons so you can compare and measure the results.

Like other direct marketing techniques, leafleting is a numbers game and the bottom line is cost per response. Once you have calculated this, you can roll out the most successful creative approaches to the most responsive areas.

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Why Does Your Leaflet Advertising Fail

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In my dealings with small business owners, I have discovered something very interesting: Leaflet advertising almost NEVER works for them. As you can imagine, since I own a leaflet advertising / marketing company that I grew from nothing using direct mail marketing, this comes as a huge shock to me.

It seems that, contrary to what has been proven over and over by thousands of other business owners, leaflet advertising actually doesn’t produce new customers, leads or revenue! I hope you can sense my sarcasm there.
Now, I will grant that not all marketing works for everybody. That’s a fact, too. But the truth is, marketing does work and it can work for you if you do it correctly.

Below are the 3 of the most common reasons why marketing hasn’t worked for you:

You don’t target your ideal market
You don’t communicate clearly
You give up

Now, please notice that they all start with “You”. There’s a reason for that. If you take care of the points above, you will have a change of heart — and revenue. The key is to find the marketing channel that works the best for your business and industry. However, if you commit the marketing sins above, even the best marketing will fall flat. That’s just the way it goes.

So let’s talk about how to avoid them. For each problem, I’ll lay out how you can solve it with direct marketing.

Problem: You don’t target your ideal market
Solution: Ask for a targeted mailing list based on the demographics of your current best customers.

For every business there is a smaller segment of the greater population that is more likely to need, want or respond to that business’s marketing. So, say you are a lawn care company. The people most likely to respond to you are those who can afford to have someone else do the work and those who live in a free standing home. Even more specifically, you can assess your current customer list to get most common income level and home value. The key is to find who that is for your business, then ask to target those people.

Problem: You don’t communicate clearly
Solution: Use proven copywriting and graphic design techniques to deliver your message with clarity.

If your prospect doesn’t grasp the point of your advertisement in the first fraction of a second, you’ve lost them. That means you need to read through your copy and take out anything that would slow down the reader’s understanding of the message. Be clear and to-the-point. Then, match that text with an image that supports the message. Atention, Interest, Desire, Action!

Problem: You give up
Solution: DON’T!

Think about leaflets in terms of television commercials. Do you ever see a commercial just once? The answer is no, because even if you have, you wouldn’t remember it! Repetition is the key to establishing yourself in the mind of the prospect, building credibility and being remembered. If you aren’t committed to marketing, it just won’t work for you, so don’t bother. However, if you are committed, go ahead and plan for more business!
Once you’ve corrected these mistakes, there is nothing standing between you and a significant increase in new customers.

For help putting together a successful leaflet marketing campaign get in touch with us here at Hallway Distribution.

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Creating Leaflets That Get Results

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Leaflet distribution has a very successful track record as a marketing tool if done right. If you want to promote your services and attract fresh leads into your business, creating leaflets that get results is a very important factor in the process.

Despite the evidence to the contrary, many people still claim that leaflet distribution does not work and is just a waste of time and money.

imagesHowever, in most of these cases it is not the distribution that is letting them down, but their leaflet itself. If the leaflet is wrong, then nothing will save their campaign and they end up out of pocket, disillusioned and disappointed.

Many businesses both large and small use door to door leaflets to launch their enterprises and they continue to use them to win new clients or to establish their company brand in the eyes of their target market.

There are many factors involved with creating great leaflet designs that work.

Below are 20 things you should consider when creating leaflets that get results.

Headline

Your headline copy must be immediately engaging. It must give your prospect a compelling reason to keep on reading.

A boring headline will just get your leaflet confined to the waste bin.

Captions

Are your captions as compelling as your headline?

Captions underneath illustrations are the next most read part of your copy after your headline. Do they send out a strong selling message?

Your Contact Details

Make sure your prospect knows exactly how to contact you.

Make sure you give them every opportunity to contact you. Give them your address, your e-mail address, your telephone number or numbers and your website address.

And check the details are correct. Check them twice, call the numbers to be sure. You cannot afford to lose a sale.

Call To Action

Have you told your prospect what they must do? Your call to action (CTA) must give them clear instruction on how and when they should respond. Leave them in no doubt what they need to do next.

One Big Thing

Is the message on your leaflet focussed on one thing? If your message wanders from the main point you are trying to make, you will confuse the reader and lose their interest. Stick to the point; don’t waffle.

Images

Are your images relevant? Do they accurately portray what your product or service will do for the prospect? Images put on just for decoration are a distraction, a waste of space and money.

What’s in it for me?

Your sales message must tell your reader of the benefits of your product and how will improve their lives. It must convince them your offer is specifically designed to help them. They are only interested in themselves, nobody else.

Offer

Your offer must a compelling offer that your reader cannot refuse. It should be placed it the start of your copy and if possible you should repeat it next to your call to action.

Deadline

Does your sales message contain a deadline to encourage your prospect to respond before a certain date? Does it tell them what they will gain if they respond before a certain date?

Creating urgency on your leaflet will ensure it’s not just put in a draw with the intention of dealing with it later.

Double sided

Are you using a double sided leaflet? Remember you must use both sides to their full advantage. Do not waste money by filling the second side with irrelevant information.

Does each side stand alone?

Each side of your leaflet must be able to sell your product as if it were a single sided leaflet. You cannot afford to waste space.

Accuracy

It is vital you check all of the details on your leaflet. Then double check it and check it again. Nothing will turn your prospect off than a stupid typo, or an incorrect contact detail.

Angle

Have you approached your sales message from the right angle? Do your headline and copy tell your reader exactly what you are offering? BE CLEAR!

Measurable

Do you have a plan in place for tracking your responses? It is important you know how many replies you get from your leaflet. This information will help you plan your next campaign.

Clarity

Have you read your leaflet over and over again to make sure your offer is clear and concise, leaving your prospect in no doubt about what you are offering?

Personality

Your leaflet and the message it carries must reflect the personality of you and your business. This will make your prospect more inclined to respond than a cold impersonal message.

You: We Ratio

It has been proved that sales message with “you” / “your” or “yours” in the text get better responses than “I” or “we”. Using “you” and its derivatives lets the reader know you are focussing your offer on them.

Logo

hallway-distribution-logo (2)If you are placing your logo on your leaflet, make sure it is placed at the bottom. Do not place at the top so it dominates your message and distracts the reader from what it is you’re offering.

Social Proof

If you have good and positive testimonials from satisfied customers, then make sure you include some of them on your leaflet. An accolade from a happy customer will increase your response rate.

Is your leaflet easy on the eye?

Is it easy to follow and do the colours add to its readability rather than clash with the eye? If possible get someone not involved with your business to read your leaflet and get their opinion on its readability.

If you need assistance with creating leaflets, why not contact the Hallway Distribution design team today and get all the advice and help you will need.

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Business Branding Tips

Business Branding, Marketing Strategy, , , , , ,

imagesWhen it comes to successfully branding your business, you want to get it right first time. Creating a strong brand for your company is one of the most important aspects when it comes to marketing your services and if it is successful, you will be able to benefit from the trust and loyalty that comes along with attracting the perfect consumers.

As a leading leaflet distributor, we have come up with some helpful hints and tips on business branding to add more value to your business and generate those all important sales. So let’s get started!

Who Are Your Customers?

Ultimately, the main focus of your branding strategy should be to attract consumers to your business and forge a strong brand loyalty between you and your customers. You need to identify your target consumers and how they think when it comes to purchasing a product.

What do they want from your product or service? Identify that and you’re already halfway there. Tailor your product or service to match their needs and they will come to you.

Brand Identity and Market Position

imgresBrand identity isn’t just the marketing strategies that you adopt, or how well your publications look. It also includes how you operate as a business and what your beliefs and values are.

You need to make sure that you are consistent throughout the entire business branding process. Make sure that your values and beliefs are consistent and your consumers will be more inclined to stay loyal to your brand, rather than seek out a competitor. This consistency will also make your brand recognisable to your loyal customers, creating a strong brand loyalty.

You also need to establish where you fit in the market that your business operates in. You need to determine whether your business is quality or price driven to effectively market your brand.

Keep Your Business Branding Simple

Company names and taglines should be kept as short and snappy as possible. These will be the items which will feature on every publication and form of communication from your business, so it’s important that they can be easily recognised and read without the consumer getting bored halfway through your elaborately worded company tagline.

Be Consistent Across All Media Types

In today’s society, there are so many forms of media where you can showcase your brand. It is really important that you market yourself consistently across all media types to ensure that consumers can identify you from a wide range of other businesses.

No matter if you are advertising on the web or in print, make sure you have a consistent brand presence.

Involve Professionals

While you may believe you have the perfect business branding and marketing strategy, it never hurts to employ an expert to help you to get it right first time, as any mistakes or errors can be extremely costly, not only money wise but to your company’s credibility.

That’s where Hallway Distribution come in. We are industry experts when it comes to putting together successful door to door marketing solutions for your business. We will work with you to ensure that your marketing is targeting the correct audience, as well as providing a professional image of your company.

If you would like to find out more on how we can help you market your business, products and services effectively get in touch today.

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