Tag Archives: direct mail

Leaflet Advertising Vs Digital Advertising

Advertising, Leaflet Distribution, Marketing Strategy, , , ,

In a world where discussions about marketing are dominated by social media and email advertising, it can be easy to assume that leaflet distribution has lost some of its relevance. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

In fact, what we are seeing is a reaction against digital advertising. Consumers are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the sheer volume of digital noise they are being inundated with, and are learning to ignore online advertising.

Instead, these consumers, exhausted by inbox overload and algorithmic bombardment, are becoming more and more receptive to offline forms of advertising that feel like an interesting novelty in our digital age.

Smart marketers are informed by what consumers are responding to; they don’t keep hammering away at channels that no longer engage customers. So we’re here today to break down this consumer’s turn away from digital advertising and to show you how leaflets can be your secret weapon!

Digital Fatigue Is Real
We all remember the golden age of social media, when those platforms were vibrant communities of real people. But those days are long gone, and now it feels like there are more advertisers on social media than real users.

Research conducted by Siteefy in 2024 revealed that the average consumer believes they are seeing over 10,000 social media adverts per day! Whether or not this is literally true, this perception demonstrates just how overwhelmed by online ads consumers feel. A recent survey by Hootsuite found that 59% of people think there’s too much advertising on social media and are “fed up” with digital advertising.

And it’s driving users away! According to Statista, consumers are spending 20% less time on social media than they did 5 years ago. This decline in time spent on social media is most pronounced among younger demographics, with the majority of Facebook users now over 55.

Why spend all that money on social media advertising when the people you want to reach just aren’t there anymore?

And the story’s no better for email. When was the last time you truly engaged with an email in your inbox? How often do you even open a promotional email?

So, if digital marketing is no longer an effective way to reach customers, what is?

Customers Engage With Leaflets
While people increasingly tend to scroll past digital ads or press ‘skip’ the moment they can, leaflets still command attention from consumers.

Unlike digital marketing channels, which measure their engagement in fractions of a second, leaflets measure their engagement in minutes. According to research done by JICMAIL, a staggering 95% of door drops are engaged with, and the average time that each leaflet dropped through a letterbox is engaged with is 56 seconds. That’s almost one minute of a potential customer’s attention! Compare that to 0.7 seconds for social media ads!

And it’s not just quantity, but the quality of engagement that improves when you choose leaflet distribution. Almost half (45%) of the UK keep leaflets in their homes for future reference, whether that’s on a kitchen table or pinned to a noticeboard.

That means that, even if your leaflet doesn’t immediately generate a sale, there’s a good chance your leaflet has stayed in the potential customer’s home and the next time they have need of a business like yours, the leaflet is right there.

Customers also remember leaflets! People recall information on leaflets 35% better than social media advertising and an incredible 49% better than emails.

Customers Act On Leaflets
Advertising isn’t just about generating impressions. Building brand awareness is great, but in the end, you want a customer to go out and actually try your business.

When asked, 71% of people reported that receiving a leaflet through the door had prompted them to actually go and try a new business.

That same customer whose eyes glazed over as they scrolled past your social media advertisement may have actually been inspired to go and try your business had they been engaged with a leaflet!
People are almost twice as likely to try a new business if they receive some sort of coupon or offer. And there’s no better way to deliver a tangible coupon that potential new customers can keep in their home than dropping a leaflet through the door. That offer they might have scrolled past online could stick around on a customer’s noticeboard or kitchen table for days or weeks for future use if delivered as part of a leaflet.

Here we see leaflets don’t just beat digital marketing when it comes to engaging customers, they also excel at getting customers to act. Especially over a longer period.

Customers Trust Leaflets
The problem facing digital marketing doesn’t stop at the issue of customers being fed up with the amount of it; increasingly, consumers are beginning to distrust it.

In an era of ‘fake news’, ludicrous stories and AI-generated fake ‘photos’ flooding Facebook feeds, the public is starting to think of anything they see online as suspicious, and this includes advertisements.

Your advertisement and, by extension, your business could be perceived as untrustworthy simply because of what it is placed next to on social media.

By contrast, customers trust leaflets. The tangibility of leaflets, that they are something physical the customer can hold, lends them credibility. Unlike social media ads that appear alongside fake news, leaflets come through the letterbox alongside important material like bills and government communications. An association that gives leaflets a sense of authority.

The data bear this perception out. According to Statistics, consumers are more than twice as likely to trust print advertising versus digital advertising.

Credibility matters. The likelihood that a customer will engage with and act on an advertisement directly corresponds with how trustworthy they find the medium through which that advertisement was delivered.

Stand Out From The Crowd With Leaflet Distribution
While your competitors are wasting money on digital channels that are becoming less effective by the year, your business can stand out from the crowd by taking advantage of a marketing channel that consumers still engage with, act on and trust, leaflet distribution.

Leaflets are a powerful tool in reaching a consumer base that is overwhelmed by and disengaged from digital noise, helping you to break through and share the great things your business has to offer. 88% of companies that dropped leaflets said they saw sales increase.

So take advantage of this opportunity before your competition figures out how powerful leaflet distribution can be. See what leaflet marketing can do for your business by getting a quote today.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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We all Like to Receive a Letter

Leaflet Distribution, , , , , ,

 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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