Leaflet drops have a bad reputation, it is fair to say and in some cases rightly so. However, when done right it can have a great response rate and attract exactly the right people to call you. It is fairly inexpensive and can be turned around quickly.
I have put together my ideas on how you can ensure that your leaflet campaigns are successful and hassle-free!
1. Know your target
If you don’t know who you are trying to attract how can you get to them?
You must know who you want to communicate to and what you want to say to them. If you get either of these wrong you will end up with a brand heightening exercise and not much more than that.
Find out what the demographics are in the area you are looking at delivering the leaflets to. Ask the company you are using questions like:
- How many deliverable homes are there in the area. You can’t put a leaflet into a letterbox unless you are a Not For Profit or Government Agency)
- What sort of people live there – are they families, retirees, a particular culture…
- Are the houses units or large detached properties?
Whilst each of the questions above are valid don’t be too quick to rule out areas. It might be that with the first couple of leaflet drops you include all areas and then analyse where the responses came from. Based on that information you can make a decision on future drops.
2. Choose the right Print company
It will cost you less per leaflet, for printing, the larger the quantity that you get done. If you are planning to deliver 2000 a week for 12 weeks then get 25 000 printed in one go – it will cost much less than getting 2 or 3 lots done of 8000 done.
Don’t be tempted to go for the best quality – something 120 GSM or 150 GSM is more than adequate but always go for double-sided. It won’t cost much more than single-sided (maybe 20% more or thereabouts).
3. First Impressions count:
Your leaflet should give the impression of your business that you want it to. We would always recommend you get a designer to do your leaflet but be sure to give them a really clear brief. Make sure they absolutely understand what you want to achieve.
4. Plan a campaign, not a leaflet drop of 1000
Make your target keep seeing you and you build up trust!
There are a few circumstances where a message repeated is not appropriate. I have seen sustained campaigns work really effectively!
You will find there are a couple of things that happen. The first drop will get people responding who were already thinking about buying your product or service. There will also be those people that are interested so will hang onto the leaflet until they need your product or service.
The second delivery needs to happen fairly soon after the first. This is to capitalise on the recognition factor. The sooner you can build the familiarity the sooner your prospects will trust you! You will also get those people who weren’t quite ready the last time they saw your message.
By the time you get to the third drop, you are really starting to get recognised. You will find your response levels will e 3 or 4 times higher than they were the first time around.
You are starting to be known in the area and you are starting to build a name for yourself.
5. How often is too often?
I would suggest that unless you deliver to the same houses every week for 12 weeks you will be hard-pressed to deliver too often. If your leaflet stands out and has an appealing message I would suggest every 6 weeks is about right.
You want people to recognise your company name and your brand. This only happens with regularity – every 12 weeks is probably not going to do it.
6. Shared Leaflet drops or Solo?
So this is where it starts to get a bit more challenging to measure although I have my theories on it!
Solo leaflet drops are where only your leaflet being delivered. It is more expensive however we have had some quite exceptional results for clients. The only challenge is, of course, you can’t control what other companies are delivering so you could end up as part of a pile anyway.
Some distribution companies will guarantee only a certain number will be delivered at one time. We will only deliver 3 leaflets and only one from each industry type.
7. Manage your expectations:
If you are delivering 1000 leaflets a week and expecting anything more than 1 or 2 enquiries then you really do need to reappraise. My recommendations to deliver at least 2 000 a week and for the first couple of drops don’t expect anything more than one or two responses initially. As time progresses that is likely to increase to maybe 10 per 2000…
8. Some useful observations:
Female adult delivery staff do better than any other category! It is worth checking with your delivery company who they employ.
To deliver to 1,000 households in a typical suburban area takes between 4 and 5 hours.
The more walkers get paid the more unlikely they are o dump the leaflets. If you are paying a low rate they walkers will be paid poorly.
Posh areas take longer to deliver to! The lots are bigger!
GPS Tracking is in use by most reputable companies. Some, like ours, will only offer them to you if there is some kind of problem. They are most commonly used to protect the walkers but can be very useful to prove an action has happened.
9. Readiness
Have in place your response handling mechanism. Don’t book your leaflet drops for a week when you are going to be away on holiday or example.
Make sure that every enquiry you get is logged and ALWAYS how they heard about you! This will help you to measure the effectiveness of each campaign.
If you are not answering the phone yourself, make sure whoever does knows exactly what is going on. Maybe even write a script that they can follow to be sure that you get all the information you need!
GOOD LUCK!