subject: Avoid being ripped off by a leaflet distribution business! [print this page] Avoid being ripped off by a leaflet distribution business!
While door to door leaflet distribution is one of the most effective and cheapest ways of advertising, it can be problematic finding a reputable flyer delivery service that will guarantee distribution with experienced leafleters, rather than hiring a gang of people from the job centre and not managing them adequately!
You should look for a company that is long-established, as a new leaflet distribution business tends to make a lot of mistakes at your expense! Local firms are better than national leafleting firms that attempt to manage your distribution from far away by subcontracting the work to the first company on google that answers the phone and charging you a hefty premium for this! It is just not possible to organise a flyer campaign properly from a long distance, especially checking that they have really been delivered, such as knocking on doors or asking people you know locally. References are useful and any decent door drop company should be able to provide them. A leaflet distribution franchise would offer a more systematic, well thought out service than an independent leaflet delivery service that started up last week!
Places vary, so for example, leaflet distribution in Surrey, Sussex and Kent is not the same as in London in terms of how densely packed the housing is. This means it takes longer to drop 1,000 leaflets, so therefore it will cost more. Conversely, bigger houses that are more spaced out are less likely to be deluged with leaflets, so the response rate should be higher.
The thickness and size of your leaflet is important. Some flyers are just awful! Not only do they look bad on poor quality paper, but thin paper crumples in letterboxes, as many of them have draught excluders and need a heavier leaflet to go through properly. The grams per square meter is crucial. Big leaflets are also harder to deliver and tend to be folded, so a customer would have to unfold them in order to read them.
Realistically, the only organisation capable of doing country lanes is the Royal Mail's door to door or door drop service. For private marketing companies, it is simply not cost effective. You might imagine that postmen are always reliable, but I have been told in confidence by postmen that some of them do actually dump leaflets, as they are not checked and it is simply extra work for them.
I hope this has been useful in enlightening you about leaflet distribution services. If you would like me or one of our local franchisees to manage your leaflet drop, do not hesitate to contact us.
