Solus Distribution | Brand Awareness | Marketing Advice | Leaflet Design | Leaflet Delivery Pricing | Distribution Quantities Advertising Budgets | Distribution Timings | Distribution Frequency | Penetration Levels | Recognition or Non Delivery | Leaflet Recognition Rates | Response Rates | Saturated Market | Offers and Coupons | Starting a Business | Enquires to Sales | Advertising Service

Leaflet Distribution

Leaflet distribution is a cost effective method of direct marketing that can deliver a measurable return on investment for a range of different businesses and organisations. Leaflet distribution and leaflet delivery is a method of marketing that places your message into the hands of your target market. Leaflet delivery and leaflet distribution remains one of the most effective and popular forms of marketing for companies and organisations that want to increase brand awareness and stimulate business. There are numerous companies in the UK that provide leaflet distribution services and finding an organisation that can maximise the impact of your leaflet distribution campaign is vital. The work of a reputable and competent agency will ensure that your product or service thrives in a competitive market. 

Flyer Distribution UK

Flyer distribution in the UK has always been a popular method of marketing directly to consumers and with the advent of email groups there was a fear that this type of marketing initiative might become redundant. This is a long way from the truth. The flyer distribution industry in the UK continues to demonstrate a cost effective solution for delivering a message to potential customers.  Flyer distribution is a targeted method of marketing that utilises door to door marketing techniques and can offer a great return on investment for people that want to ensure that their product or service has an impact. Many of the companies that distribute flyers to a wide audience also offer a flyer creation services to ensure that the flyers are not only delivered to the right people but also that they deliver a succinct message.

The purpose of this website is to promote and educate businesses and organisations in the Direct Marketing field of Leaflet Distribution. Leaflet Distribution is a widely used and high successful door to door marketing medium that is used by many of the top UK household name companies. The Leaflet Distribution process is also a very major part of councils and the major political parties way of keeping in contact with the public. Leaflet Distribution has two main purposes, firstly, as a very cost effective way of increasing brand, company, event or organisation awareness, and also as a direct marketing method, leading to increased customer enquiries, which can then lead to sales. If basic principles are followed, Leaflet Distribution will yield very healthy results but all too many leaflet distributions are let down by poor planning, poor leaflet design and content and basic business principals that are left lacking. The advice below should offer lots of help to make your business grow and to make leaflet distribution your advertising medium of choice.

Leaflet distprincipalsribution is broken down into three separate areas, Solus Distribution, Shared Distribution and News Share. Solus Leaflet Distribution is without doubt the premier route to go, and will give the best possible returns, the leaflet landing on the door mat on its own has the best chance of being seen and the marketing message taken in. Next is a Shared Distribution, whilst this does reduce the cost per thousand your leaflet is then falling onto the doormat with other leaflets and depending on your deal this could range from one to five other leaflets, sometimes in busy areas it may be more, the reduced rate must surely be out weighed by the fact the householder picks up a bundle of leaflets and your marketing message is at best just one of many, it is possible that it may not even be seen if it is surrounded by others. Thirdly you have the option of News Share, this option is where your leaflet is distributed along with the free newspapers that many of us receive, but as a little side note, I must say that I do not receive them ! so the first issue that you face is lack of complete area coverage. This is possibly the least successful option, whilst the rates are reduced yet again there are even more pitfalls. Your leaflet will again be competing with others, but often a greater number than with a shared distribution. The two main issues that I believe Newshare has are the fact that lots of householder simply empty out the contents of the newspapers and simply discard the material that falls out, simply as there are too many items. Secondly and possibly the biggest concern, you are relying on the fact that the paper person who is delivering the newspaper inserts the extra leaflet that he is delivering into the newspaper. Lets be very realistic, having a number of extra bundles of leaflets to carry around and then to have to juggle to insert each of them into the newspaper is quite a task even for the best person with good patience, so imagine a typical newspaper delivery person, 15 or 16 years old, would much rather be doing something else, getting paid very little, having no connection or interest in the leaflets. Does this sound like a route to success ? You make up your own mind. In my mind there is only one option, Solus Leaflet Distribution.

Brand awareness is one of advertising's key goals. The main aim is to be at the front of peoples minds when ever they have a need for your service or product, making your company or organisation the name that instantly springs in their minds. The long term goal is to make your name a name that they are familiar with even if they are not actively looking for a product in your particular field. Many of the household names that we are surrounded with on a daily basis have succeeded very well with this, we are all very familiar with the large brands of supermarkets, car manufactures etc, these companies have become this large through extensive advertising and the growth that then follows.

When considering or taking marketing advice it must make very real sense to take that advice from successful companies. Marketing is one of the industries that can attract lots of graduates who have studied for a very long time and have possibly great qualifications, but possibly have very little real world experience and the knowledge of trading day to day, without that day to day working knowledge of running their own company how can you be truly assured of the best advice when marketing your own.

Leaflet Design

The design of your leaflet is vital, it will be the first impression that the householder will have of your company or organisation, if your leaflet looks cheap and unprofessional you run the risk that the viewer will judge you in the same way. Three factors must be very closely watched, design, content and quality. Design is often best left to a company or person that has skills in this area, just knocking something up at home on your pc may not be up to the mark. One the the most common mistakes in home designed leaflets is the lack of graphics or images, just lines of text, one below the other. Make the leaflet content short, sharp and punchy, bang the message you are trying to portray home very quickly, and for best results use images to back this up, a good photo of your product will be instantly recognised, the text can then impart the marketing message. Make sure that your contact details are clearly shown, especially telephone number and website address. You will be amazed but it is true, we have seen leaflets for distribution that have no contact details what so ever. Lastly, quality, if the leaflet looks cheap, you may well be wasting your money. Leaflets should be on good quality paper or card, and probably glossy. Make sure that your leaflets are full colour, and not just blank ink on either white or coloured paper. Remember, this leaflet is the route to your business, make sure this route looks inviting.

The pricing structure for leaflet distribution is normally charged on a cost per thousand basis, a discount structure is often in place for distributions of greater numbers. As with most things in life people are always trying to push prices down and expect the same level of service, this must be at best a risky plan, but something many companies still try to do. The cost of leaflet delivery is made up of a number of components, normal business running costs, then the costs per the distribution involved, administration, logistics and delivery costs. Distribution costs can vary, but once again be realistic, do not expect to get a top level result if you drive the cost right down. To give an example we have heard of clients trying to organise leaflet distributions at rates between the £15.50 and £25 per thousand, this can only be described as foolish. Be prepared to a pay a reasonable rate for a good service.

Most Leaflet Distribution companies have a minimum distribution number or minimum spend, this is often around the 5,000 - 10,000 items to be delivered level. This minimum order is to cover all the administration costs along with the distribution and logistic costs. Often larger distributions will attract a better rate per thousand. Areas often have far more households than people might imagine, quantities can soon run into 100,000 properties or more, so be very realistic with the area that you wish to cover. Asking a company to deliver 10,000 leaflets into London is as you would guess a small drop in the ocean, but be assured this sort of request happens very often, whilst this can be done, the area as a whole will have an extremely low penetration level, so trying to analyse any feedback from the drop will be pointless. Remember leaflet distribution is a very cost effective mass marketing method, the concept is to deliver large quantities on a regular basis.

Most companies have very little idea of what their advertising budget should be, and when they find out they are shocked to say the least, and dismiss the idea straight away. Most small businesses seem to only advertise when they are desperate for business, and this is often too late, it is very hard to save a sinking ship, far better to avoid the iceberg to start with. If your business is in difficult times, it will be very hard to find the funds to mount a successful advertising campaign, that is why it is vital to advertise at all times to maintain cash flow and to have to fund available to grow your business. We would suggest that your advertising budget should be between 10- 20 % of you yearly turnover figure.

Timings for your Leaflet distribution should be carefully thought about, most companies advertise in their quiet months to increase sales, whilst this is totally understandable, it should be pointed out that you are then spending valuable advertising resources at times of the year when the potential business is at a lower level, would it not be far better to advertise to a much greater potential market ? Certain dates and time periods need to be carefully considered, and every business is different. There is very little point in advertising winter products in the summer, or perhaps advertising a beauty service aimed at mums that required available time, just as the schools are breaking up for the summer holidays.

The frequency for your leaflet distribution is a very simple question to answer, the more frequent the better. We would suggest that the best way would be to plan your leaflet distributions evenly over the year and that way the maximum amount of people are covered as frequently as possible and your name is in their minds as often as possible. You need to make your leaflet the one that they always remember, they may not instantly act upon it, and common sense would tell us that not every person needs every service or product at all times, but if you leaflet is a very regular visitor the the door mat, when that person does need your product or service the chances are that they will remember your company, this regular advertising is boosting your brand awareness, they probably will not have one of your leaflets to hand or rush into your shop shouting that they have seen one of your leaflets and it is going to change their life, but the name will be at the forefront of their mind.

Penetration levels are one of the most misunderstood areas of leaflet distribution and many people can have expectations that are very unrealistic. Firstly lets talk about penetration levels, this is normally expressed as a percentage, and it is usually the maximum amount of properties that can be expected to be covered in a given area. For example if the maximum penetration rate expected was 70%, it is expected that up to 70% of the properties in that area could be covered, but this does not mean that 70% will actually be covered, the reasons for non delivery are many and varied, from no access properties, dogs in gardens, signs requesting no deliveries of leaflets etc, areas that it is not safe for personal safety issues to deliver to.

The issue of penetration levels often crops up when a third party is organising a leaflet distribution. For example, a county council or large organisation may wish to distribute an item to every household in a given area, and may need a very high penetration level, in fact may wish for a 100% penetration, albeit a highly unlikely event, the person who is organising this distribution then contacts a third party, often an advertising agency or similar, this company becomes the third party. This third party company then gets in contact with a leaflet distribution company and will say that they have a certain number of items to distribute in a given area. At this point the leaflet distribution company will make a contract with the third party company and the leaflet delivery company terms and conditions will apply, the norm for leaflet distribution companies is to give a guide penetration rate up to around 75% or so. The problem then arises when the leaflet distribution company does not give 100% penetration as the council hoped, but has never suggested to the third party that it will. The third party company has entered into a contract with the large organisation to distribute approaching 100% of the media supplied, but the big issue here is that it has quoted a cost that is based on the media being delivered by a leaflet distribution company, using leaflet distribution, a method that is a mass marketing tool and does not offer a 100% penetration level. The third party has entered into a contract with the large organisation to virtually guarantee 100% penetration but has then sub contracted the distribution work out to a company that is offering a penetration level of around 75% at best. You will note that these third party companies often add a quite large percentage to the distribution cost. The main problem here is the third party is offering a service to the large organisation that they do not buy from the leaflet distribution company.

Make sure that you know what you are buying with leaflet distribution, it does not offer 100% penetration and never will and companies never suggest it does. If you need approaching 100% penetration do not expect to get that service paying the rates that leaflet delivery costs, you do have options though, but very few will be willing to pay the rates, firstly, you have the option of individually posting each item in addressed envelopes, I would guess that the cost per item will then be around £0.45 each at best,which equates to £450 per thousand items, probably more if it is a multi page or large size publication, but this still does not guarantee delivery, and you still have no proof of delivery. The next option is again to post addressed envelopes but with a signature needed for each address, this will push the price up to around £1.15 per item a huge £1150 per thousand ! All very funny to be honest, £450 per thousand, most agencies are trying to get the items delivered for around £40 per thousand !

Make sure you realise what leaflet distribution is.

Recognition or Non Delivery

When back checking after a leaflet distribution Recognition and Non Delivery can be very confused so needs to be very well understood. Back checking is a method of providing some kind of feed back after a leaflet drop, but is very open to flaws and possibly very inaccurate information, and realistically only in a negative way. The answers that you receive will depend on how the question is asked, whether the leaflet is shown, who answers the door, how long after the distribution the back checking is taking place, whether it then looks like you are trying to door step sell, the list goes on and has very many variables. If the responding person gives a negative feedback, that does not mean that the household has not received it indicating non delivery, it just means that that person is either saying that they personally have not seen it or infact that they just do not want to talk to the checker. There is a way of certifying delivery and that is to receive a signature from each household that is delivered to, but you would have to guess that most companies or organisations would not be prepared to pay between £1 - £2 per leaflet delivered...remember leaflet distribution is a cost effective mass marketing method.

Brand or Product Recognition is an area that most companies strive for, but only the very serious advertisers will ever achieve real brand recognition. The likes of car manufacturers, mobile phone companies, soft drink brands, supermarkets are the ones that instantly spring to mind. How have they done this, by continual advertising and being in front of most of the population every day of the year. Obviously we are concerned with the recognition rate of a delivered leaflet. Expecting a good recognition rate off a single leaflet distribution is at best very hopeful, and to be honest quite naive. Companies do make it work but these are the ones that distribute a leaflet or catalogue at regular intervals over a long period of time, often a number of years, consumers then start to expect and wait for the arrival of the item, an example that I can think of being a larger DIY store that distributes a small catalogue of its products featuring many products on offer. After distributions back checking is sometimes carried out and can have quite misleading results, standing on someone's doorstep and asking them if they have received a shown leaflet is never going to be reliable. Firstly the householder will think that you are following up the distribution and then trying to sell on the doorstep and will say no just to get rid of the checker, secondly, most homes have multi occupants, so how do we know that the person that is answering the door at that moment is the person that picked the leaflet up ? We don't, and have no way of knowing, thirdly, can you expect any one person to accurately know and remember every item of delivered material that is put through their letterbox, let me put this question to you, Can you remember what items were delivered to your home 8 days ago ? Also can you guarantee beyond doubt that you are aware of every item that is delivered on any one day ? the answer is probably no. But please remember and don't get down hearted about leaflet distribution, it is one of the most cost effective ways of advertising, and it works ! If it did not, you would not be receiving media through your door!

The issue of Response Rates is probably the biggest area of misunderstanding, and very often people have no idea of what a response actually is. Many companies who carry out a Leaflet Distribution expect customers to come running through their shop doors waving the leaflet above their heads screaming out that they had received it, in reality this just does not happen, and you should not expect it, the only time you may expect a percentage of people bringing in the leaflet is when the leaflet contains a voucher, but in reality this is still a small number. Response rates can be affected in a huge number of ways, which virtually all have no connection with the Leaflet Delivery Company that carried out the Leaflet Drop. Normally the response rates are affected by issues far closer to home, and most companies are not even aware of when they have had a response, or even what a response actually is. Responses happen in a many ways, and a response is not a sale. Most consumers now do large amounts of shopping on the internet, and do even more research. Most of the general public if they are considering making a purchase will stop and think and if it is of greater value research the products and companies, this is very often now done over the internet, so if a potential client views a website after receiving a leaflet, this is a very positive response, but one that many companies would not even think about. Even picking the leaflet up, looking at the marketing message and then thinking how that product or service could fit into their lifestyle is response, the response being the fact that that consumer is now thinking about that service or product.

There are without doubt always one or two buzz word businesses to be in at any one time, almost get rich quick industries, and it must be said that some people do make lots of money very quickly, but I am sure if you researched a little, you would find that these people are existing business people and are just grabbing a piece of the pie for a short time. Normally the masses of these industries see people doing well, and try to jump onto the bandwagon, some with success but some fall right back off again. A perfect example that is very current is the BMV industry, and if you are not sure what that is, it stands for Below Market Value, basically buying houses from distressed sellers at a figure below the market value, fairly simple when you know ! In 2006 the BMV market really took off, it was established before, but people were making money and the bandwagon was rolling. The leaflet distribution industry was alive with BMV leaflets it almost seemed like every other contract you undertook was for BMV, soon every area of the country was being covered, and I am sure that there must have been many houses in the UK that were having these BMV leaflet through their letter boxes every week by one company or the next, now this is when you have market saturation, there is only a certain amount of business to go around, at the start for the few companies operating the system, pickings must have been very good, but as more and more started, the amount of deals available became less and less so business grew harder. The businesses that were using Leaflet Distribution for their advertising found that the return per thousand reduced and then started to blame the leaflet delivery companies for lack of delivery, what they were experiencing was not lack of delivery but lack of potential business. As 2008 hit us with the so called Credit Crunch it would appear that the most of the BMV industry as been hit very hard, although that there are now more distressed sellers in the market place, most of the companies operating the system relied putting very little capital into each property and very high percentages of mortgage, exactly what the money lenders were stopping ! Now is the time to go into BMV if you have the capital to invest!

Offers are always a great way of attracting potential customers, but they must be attractive and offer a real catch. Making offers time sensitive can be looked at as a positive or a negative, whilst having a time limit may increase business during that time period, it may also limit the total business down to the fact that householders may not want that product or service in that time frame. In general offers must be considered as a positive, but make them worth while, do not expect people to try miles just for a free cup of coffee. One offer I have seen used many time by garages is giving a bottle of champagne to anyone that test drives a new vehicle. Yes at first glance it may seem a costly marketing method, but if you are confident in your product and the ability of yourself and your sales personnel to make sales I am sure that it would work out to be good value. Obviously the value of the offer has to be relevant to the value of the product or service that you are marketing. Offering added value to sales is also very popular, and especially good if it is not a product that you would not normally sell as part of the prime purchase, for example, If you were selling garden furniture and you were not a garden center just a furniture manufacturer, you could add extra value buy giving away free table ware to use on tables, or perhaps a barbeque. It is vital though that you offer something that you would or could not sell, otherwise, you are missing our on a potential extra sales opportunity.

Running your own business is seen by many to be the perfect lifestyle, the potential to make a good income, perhaps flexible hours and better life, but very few people who are thinking about starting a business realise how hard it will be ! Starting a New Business from scratch takes huge amount of energy, time, commitment and most importantly Money ! Money and cash flow is the lifeblood to any business, without it you sink. One of the areas people seem to forget when planning a new business is the amount of money needed to advertise it, without advertising no one will know you are there, and if they don't know you are there, they will not be able to give you their hard earned cash ! Very often we see start up businesses that have everything sorted, great premises, cars, vans, stock, tools, staff everything that they need to trade, as it gets close to the opening date the attention comes around to advertising the business, the phone calls are often very similar, I am sure many will agree."We are starting our new business next week and we need to do a leaflet drop to promote it" this always gets the alarms bells ringing, the information is gathered, location, type of business etc, then it comes around to the budget, " I have spent so much setting the business up, I only have £500 to advertise it " now £500 is not going to go very far when you consider the leaflet needs to be designed, printed and then distributed, but that is all they have, enough for one small leaflet drop. Any new business needs to advertise very regularly and often especially over the first year or two, once it becomes established the advertising schedule can then be tailored to suit. If the advertising is not in place, there is a large risk of lack of business, without the business there will be no cash flow, without the cash flow, you will not be able to advertise, and so it goes on, and sure way to sink. Remember the advertising is what generates business, it should be one of your priority items, not something last on the list.

The main focus after your Leaflet Distribution must be to convert as many responses as you can to direct enquiries and from that hopefully sales, this process must be slick and efficient and a very easy process for any potential customer. Firstly think of as many ways as possible that someone may have responded to your leaflet, ranging from thinking about the product or service that you offer, visiting your website, going through to a direct contact, perhaps by phone, email or by personal visit. You must make it as simple as possible for any potential clients to make contact, view the range of products and services that you offer or even possibly make an order. One of the biggest mistakes that companies have is by having a junior member of staff answering telephone calls, quite often from potential clients, if someone is making an enquiry, they expect a quick efficient delivery of the information that they require, and very often a junior staff member will not be able to provide this. Lots of small businesses also make other major mistakes, which are frankly unforgivable, these issues often affect the trades type businesses, builders, plumbers, electricians etc. Firstly, the telephone not being answered, just an answer phone, secondly, if the phone is answered all you will receive is a short sharp "Hello" no company name or similar, the caller is then left wondering if they have called the correct number, but certainly has a much reduced first impression of the company called.

Most Businesses really do believe that they are offering a required product or service, but I think that there may be quite a large number of people that are offering their business to a rather limited market, so their chances of business success are always going to be limited. Even in the mass market fields there is no quick route to instant riches and success, if there was everyone would be millionaires. You have the option of being in a limited market with few competitors, or a mass market where you will have many competitors and huge competition. I have seen many products and services over the years and I am still amazed at some of the ones I still see. Also be aware of the time of year that you may planning your distribution, unless you plan to advertise throughout the year there is very little point in advertising summer products in mid winter, for example bbq equipment and charcoal.