Marketing Tips

Archive for October, 2009

What Makes A Successful Leaflet Distribution Campaign?

Article Overview

Every day I assist a wide range of business owners marketing managers and advertising planners to devise successful leaflet distribution campaigns. Over the past ten years I have helped to develop project manage and deliver literally thousands of leafleting campaigns. A large part of my job role as MD of Link Communication is to work with the client finding out a little about their aims and objectives educate them to the possibilities and identify the best strategy which will generate results for each business which we work with.

Half of the time our clients come to us with a vague end goal of what they want to achieve and who they want to reach. We then offer up a bespoke solution to tap into their target audience in the most cost efficient way. Conversely some of our newer clients come to us with a very set idea of what they want to do which at times does not match either their target audience or product offering. When this happens I listen to their rationale fully and offer up some ideas on how it might be done differently. Its amazing how frequently I get experienced marketing managers to fully reconsider their preconceived ideas about leaflet distribution by educating them on the possibilities of how it can and should be done.

This article is a whistle stop tour of the key factors you should consider before you finalise your leaflet distribution activity.

Leaflet Distribution Method

The first consideration I always try to determine is what type of leaflet distribution is going to yield the highest results. There are two main methods which I will review in this article; door to door and hand to hand.

Door to Door Leaflet Distribution

Door to door leaflet distribution is one of the most popular methods of delivery. So many of our customers have only ever considered door to door leafleting before they speak to us. For some businesses which rely on residential houses within a designated area eg: takeaways this is a valid method if done correctly but for almost all other businesses there are far more targeted higher impact methods which can be executed for a similar budget which I will review later in this article.

If you are geographically bound by targeting residential accommodation and are planning a door to door leafleting campaign the first question you need to answer is shared or solus distribution? Shared means your leaflet is delivered at the same time as a number of others solus means your leaflet is delivered by itself. In terms of impact and measuring results solus will generally generate a multiple of about ten to one in comparison with the cheaper shared distribution.

As such I would recommend that you should only ever consider solus distribution even if you are working with miniscule budgets. Shared door to door leaflet distribution is a false economy as the campaign impact is reduced by a multiple of how many other pieces of print are received by the potential customer at the same time. News share goes one worse than shared leaflet distribution as it hides the leaflet inside a copy of a free newspaper; an item in itself which is already regarded as junk mail. The leaflet does not even get an airing until the small percentage of customers who actually manage to receive the paper then bother to read it then actually find the page where it is hiding then find it to be the most interesting thing on the page amongst all of the local news articles before it even has the first glimpse of opportunity of being absorbed as a piece of promotional collateral by the recipient who given the random nature of the papers distribution is most likely to be completely inappropriate for the products or services being offered! Cheap it maybe but throwing your money straight into a bin is cheaper still.

So how much should you pay for solus door to door distribution? As little as possible seems like it should be the obvious answer until that it you take a look at the math. Those of you who have attempted to take any of the leg work on yourselves will know that to properly deliver one thousand leaflets into an average suburban residential housing area it takes a full day of about eight hours. When you do the math that works out to be one house every 30 seconds. So you need to ask yourself if I am being charged just 30 per thousand for solus distribution does that mean that some diligent reliable hard working person is undertaking all of the hard work for just 3.75 per hour!? While an amazing amount of customers kid themselves into thinking they have found a real bargain the actual reality is not as pretty. Like anything in life you get what you pay for. It will generally mean that you are only getting a small proportion of your print delivered. If you are not paying for an appropriate amount of man hours location mapping team management print logistics and activity reporting the chances are you are not going to get it! Again if saving money is what you are after it is cheaper to either throw your money straight into the bin or just not to do anything at all!

Costs do vary massively from company to company so do shop around looking not only for fair price which allows the distribution company to do a proper job but for a professional approach which offers proper team management activity reporting full accountability and flexibility in terms of targeting. If the above hasnt scared you off door to door completely and you are going to run a door to door campaign you should give yourself the best possible opportunity to make it pay by finding a distribution company who are able to map the areas to identify the most suitable locations in terms of average income levels age ranges ethnicity or even housing type terraces semis detached with or without gardens driveways or whatever else is relevant for what you do.

Its amazing how many customers come to us after being burnt by the temptation of finding the very cheapest option but have come away very dissatisfied. Expect to pay anything between 50 to 79 per thousand and upwards depending on the volume the size and format of your print material for a decent job to be done.

Hand to Hand Leaflet Distribution

Hand to hand leaflet distribution allows you to select the exact activity locations which have the highest yield of your target audience the most opportune timing for the leaflet delivery and a well presented introduction to the nature of the promotion. As such distributing your print material directly into the hands of your customer is generally the most targeted method of delivery which will produce the greatest results for the majority of businesses products or services; so is often the method of leaflet distribution I will generally ask you to consider first.

Hand to hand leaflet distribution has a range of advantages over door to door which you should consider before finalising your distribution plans:

Location Selection

The locations for your leaflet distribution can be matched to suit your target audience. In simple terms you do not have to wait for them to come to you but you can deploy leafleting teams wherever is going to be most beneficial for who you are trying to reach. You can target professionals in busy office area walkways outside commuter stations during rush hours or at lunch times. Shoppers can be reached on the high streets or close to the stores which attract similar customer base as the one you are trying to reach. Students on their university campuses drinkers in city centre pubs theatre goers outside of the theatres football fans outside of their local stadiums on match days etc etc. If you can identify who your target demographic approximately is you should be able to identify a number of leaflet distribution locations which will benefit you the most.

The extent of your coverage is then only really limited by your budgets and the extent of your service delivery. Most cities are able to offer a similar mix of targeted locations from train stations office areas high streets universities sports grounds concert halls ethnic suburbs farmers markets etc so your distribution can be carried out simultaneously in multiple cities at the same time multiplying your potential audience reach proportionately.

Activity Timing

Unlike most door to door campaigns the timing of your hand to hand leafleting can be precisely timed to maximise impact. If you are handing out a leaflet for a new office area eatery you should be reaching potential customers on their way into work or before they make their purchases during lunch times. If you are promoting a high street fashion store you might reach customers while they are already in the city centre browsing for clothes on a busy weekend.

For lower price tag or impulse buy items this can have a massive impact on the take up of your campaigns by negating the need for the potential customer to have made a premeditated decision or to take the leaflet with them. For some higher value items or you might consider giving it to recipients before they get on a train or as they make their way home from work so it is taken back home for a lengthier review.

Customer Incentivisation

Potential customers are exposed to hundreds of adverts across a wide array of media every day. Leaflets have a slight advantage over most other types of media as they are tangible. You can hold it read it absorb the information and put it either in the bin or keep it in your pocket for when you need it. The chances of a potential customer putting it in their pocket and keeping it for when they actually do need it are multiplied massively if they have an incentivised reason to do so such as a voucher.

Adding a voucher suddenly transforms a simple piece of paper into a potentially valuable piece of paper! If the recipient who has been reached does not have an immediate and active need for the products and services being offered then a proportion of the print will not make it beyond the first available bin. A voucher should make a potential customer think that the leaflet might come in handy in the future and that they have a financially worthwhile reason to keep the leaflet until it is needed. Please note that offering a 5 discount when spending 1000 does not do this! That said a voucher doesnt have to directly cost you a large proportion of your profit margin. You need to identify the range of low cost offerings you can provide which sound very generous to the customer but are actually very low cost for yourself.

An additional free bonus for yourself when providing a voucher is that it provides you with an accurate measurement mechanic to gauge the success of your campaign. You can count up the amount of vouchers which have been redeemed through each of the distribution locations and methods to see what works best for you which should help refine your strategy for future leaflet distribution campaigns. Our most regular customers are the ones who know that the leafleting campaign that cost 5000 last month has actually generated a total of 100000 worth of business!

Print Design

I recommend a general two second rule that if your potential customers are not interested in your leaflet within the first two seconds of looking at it the chances are it will end up in the bin. Ask yourself roughly how many poorly designed leaflets from all types of businesses have you taken one glance at before throwing it straight in the bin!?

I would suggest that takeaway menus are often amongst the worst designed types of marketing material which are distributed. Most fall into the trap of being made as cheaply as possible without any consideration for company individuality eye catching design or attractive headline offers. In an extremely crowded competitive market place this means that the majority of actually what makes it into potential customers hands is just wasted.

When I pick a restaurant or a takeaway I must have complete confidence in the quality of ingredients the authenticity of the cooking and ability of the chefs. If the print fails to do this in the first few seconds I am unlikely to become a customer. Similarly when customers pick any product or service from any industry they need to be persuaded to become your customer.

An eye catching headline which informs the recipient of why they should become a customer is a good starting point. This should be followed by some summary info detailing why they should buy from you. What makes you so good at what you do? Convince me; and do it quickly before I get bored of reading it!

Staff Uniforms

First impressions count is a very well known expression because it is so true. Credibility is critical and a low cost branded uniform can make a massive difference to the acceptance rates of both your print material and the success of your overall promotion. This is especially true if your target audience can be found in busy high footfall locations such as outside of train stations on high streets sport stadiums or anywhere where stand out and impact is important.

A smart jacket with full colour logos can be made from as little as 25 and a T shirt suitable for warmer times of year can be half that cost. If you can allow yourself to get a little creative you can also think about themeing the uniforms to match in with your product offering. Fancy dress costumes can be hired at very low cost locally or even added to with banded garments both of which provide real stand out and often extend the opportunity for customer dialogue by breaking down any barriers and making the leafleting activity light hearted and fun.

Legal Requirements

Since the introduction of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act in 2006 you run the risk of receiving fines upwards for 1500 for leafleting without the appropriate permits in most major cities across the UK. Permits can be purchased in advance but will can cost anywhere from 50 each to over 250 per permit depending on which city and youll need one for each member of staff in every location! The more professional leaflet distribution companies will advise you of which locations you will need them for and will already own them for their leaflet distribution teams.

Part of the reasoning behind the permit schemes is to ensure that leafleting doesnt result in littering. This is best achieved by following the guidance above; pick your target audience match in your activity locations design your print well add in an incentivised offer present the print well using high calibre promotion teams in branded uniforms and straight away youll find that you wont generally have any litter! For the little that may still occur it is absolutely essential that the leafleting teams are constantly on top of it taking it as their responsibility to pick up any dropped leaflets within a few hundred meters of where they have been working. Failure to do so results in your brand being trodden on by passersby and the possibility of heavy fines. Make sure the company you chose to distribute your leaflets have a policy in place to ensure this does not happen and that it is properly enforced.

Conclusion

Some businesses think that if you dont have big marketing budgets you just have to make do with second rate leaflet distribution being done as cheaply as possible. I would suggest that if you are starting small it is more important than ever to give yourself the best possible opportunity in order to grow. Similarly when you are working with larger budgets there is far more financially at stake if it is not done correctly. In either situation it is absolutely vital that leaflet distribution is planned intelligently and executed effectively or you might as well not do it at all. With all of the above taken into account your leaflet distribution campaigns can and should be a very powerful marketing tool which can be utilised by almost any type of business.

For free campaign planning strategy advice and costed proposals contact Link Communication at www.linkcommunication.co.uk

About the writer:  Joel Kaufman is the managing director and founder of Link Communication; the UKs largest nationwide network of high calibre leaflet distribution teams. Established in 1998 Link Communication have been distributing leaflets for a massive array of businesses and brands of all types and all budgets from small internet start ups or one man bands with limited marketing spends to the largest blue chip companies

What Has Christmas Got To Do With Article Distribution?

Have you been getting a plethora of promotional emails lately claiming to be Christmas greetings? Yet when you open these emails up you find them to be promotional emails? To be honest these emails have been flooding my Inbox for the past few weeks! To the point that it’s almost annoying to be seeing them resurfacing again and again now.

So what has Christmas got to do with an article distribution company like us?

Obviously we can choose to behave like everyone else and hammer everyone over the head with tons of sales pitches. But that doesn’t really help matters does it?

You see Christmas is about home and family. And I know for a fact that many businesses are taking Christmas as an opportunity to bring in more profits. I can understand this. Businesses have expenses to cover. They have bills to pay and employee wages to take care of. So it looks like every Tom Dick and Harry is doing the same thing.

Fortunately for us we are a small outfit who doesn’t have the pressure like the bigger guys out there in the market. So we can afford not to promote anything this time round. In fact we recently just wrote a letter sincerely wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas without a single sales link on the letter.

The letter is a Christmas greeting. It contains fun and interesting information about my home country Singapore as well as some events that took place during the year. I introduced some food that my country has to offer and showed everyone a Christmas tree that I had in my house.

Now you may ask “Why am I doing this? Is there some ulterior motive?”

No there is no ulterior motive. Like I said there wasn’t a single sales link on the letter. But I am trying to build a relationship with my customers. And it’s hard to build a relationship when you are forever talking about business. How do you form a healthy relationship with someone who is forever asking you to spend money? It’s almost impossible.

So I took the opportunity to take everyone’s mind off business and allow the relationship to grow. We learn more about one another we exchange emails and everything just takes off naturally from there. I personally think there is little need to try and sell and sell and sell whenever there is the slightest opportunity. That just kills off any chance of a pleasant relationship.

When you really think about it that’s what marketing is really about building healthy relationships with other people. They may be your customers your suppliers or anyone you come into contact with. When you create the conditions for relationships to bloom you set yourself up for success.

So do you now see the relationship between Christmas and article distribution? We used the holiday and article marketing as a channel to build healthy relationships.

Now what have you been doing for the upcoming Christmas? Built any meaningful relationships lately? No? Perhaps it’s time to start.

About the writer:  The article distribution team wishes you a very Merry Christmas for 2008.

Web Marketing Techniques – What I Would Do With 100
This is going to be a fun article and I hope one that you will get a lot out of as well. Lets say as an Internet marketer you only had 100 to invest and you wanted to put it to use as wisely as possible. What would you do with it? Actually this is a question a lot of people ask. The dollar amounts vary but for the most part the questions come from folks who dont have a lot of money to sink into their marketing. Well Im going to show you how to get the most bang for your buck for just 100. First thing I would do is get myself a domain that matches the niche that I want to tackle. Lets say youre thinking of selling natural acne cures. What Id do is pick up a domain as close to naturalacnecure dot com as I could find. Its doubtful that this domain exists but something close to it could be available. The domain will cost you all of about 9 for the year. That leaves you with 91 left more or less. Next thing I would do is get myself hosting for the domain. This is something that you must have and trust me you dont want to go with free hosting. The reasons are many. For one thing you have to put up with all their banner ads and whatever else they force you to show on your site. On top of that the disk space you get is next to nothing and forget about any bandwidth to speak of or things like PHP and MySQL. In short the only thing you can do with most free hosting is put up a static web page. For about 5 a month you can get decent hosting that you can run a business with. Thats 60 a year. You still have 31 left to spend. What would I do with that 31? I would save it for when you have your site up and your product ready to sell and test your sales page with it by running a limited pay per click campaign. For 31 if your clicks are costing you 10 cents per you can get over 300 clicks for that much. This is certainly enough to see if your sales page is doing the job. If it does youll end up making sales and can then take THAT money and use it for other things. This is how you build a business when youre low on funds…one step at a time. Eventually youll have hundreds if not thousands of dollars to spend on your business.

About the writer:  To find an Internet Marketing Expert and Miami Florida SEO Company visit my web pages.