After printing your a5 leaflets what's the best way to distribute them?

Having organised your a5 leaflet printing the next step is to make sure that you distribute it in the right way and to the right people.

The order volume and distribution mechanism of your a5 leaflet should be reflective of the products and services on offer. Key to this is how far either you, or potential customers, would be willing to travel to make the transaction worthwhile. There is little point to printing a5 leaflets and then distributing them to areas with competitive businesses providing like for like offers.

A lower price, or added benefits, may attract you or your customers to travel further away from where you’re both based. The increased petrol costs, travel time etc can always be traded off against savings on a product or service purchased more locally if yours is available at a lower price, or alternatively there’s added value such as a higher quality of service, 24 hour support, exclusivity, a time sensitive offer or extended warranties and so on.

Likewise, your business or product range may only appeal to a specific type of customer profile in which case you may need to reach further afield in order to put your product, service and event in front of enough of such niche, smaller groups of prospects in order to get a good return on your investment.

Alternatively you may have mass market appeal in which case you just need as much local reach as possible – depending upon your competition locally and further afield.

Having considered your product, service or event, your target market, and potential geography you have a wealth of choice when it comes to distributing your a5 leaflets. Each way of distributing has its own unique benefits and will, if chosen properly, give you a solid return on your a5 leaflets campaign.

Letterbox distribution with a5 leaflets:
Delivered directly through the letterbox, you can select from solus distribution where your a5 leaflets are the only ones distributed; shared distribution whereby your leaflet is in amongst other leaflets; or alternatively you can have your a5 leaflets inserted with a trusted newspaper or magazine.

Each method of letterbox distribution has its own benefits and weaknesses: Solus distribution of your a5 leaflets gives you uniqueness of presence but may also easily be looked over – depending on the impact of your leaflet offering; shared distribution ensures that people will generally flick through the leaflets to see other offers but your message lacks exclusivity and could always be dumped amongst other leaflets; Newspaper and magazine inserts pass on the trust of their brands and credibility to potential customers but your message is competing against the desire of your customers to read the latest news and sport – unless you have a compelling and impacting message within your a5 leaflets. One big strength of letterbox distribution though is their ability to scale your distribution geographically to those customers that are most likely to buy from you. This will help you to get a greater potential return on any leaflets campaign.

Mail shots:
Doing a mail shot of a5 leaflets almost guarantees exclusivity in making sure that your message is seen in isolation and it can always be scaled down to selected postcode areas that meet your product or event’s target customer profile. However, personalization and relevance of your leaflet is fundamental. You don’t want your marketing message to be considered as junk mail. To that end, personalising your leaflets may mean added costs in buying the data, but it will increase the number of people that see it – and therefore more potential response.

Handouts:
These are most suitable for time sensitive events or offers that encourage people to call in whilst they are in the local area, or for general awareness raising activities. Remember that you’re also invading people’s leisure time, in which case the approach and manner of your distributers is as elemental as much as the product, service or event that you’re trying promote. Recruiting a professional, experience distribution outlet is therefore essential. There will also be serious wastage unless your product, service or event has broad appeal or convenience – unless you are able to carefully brief your distributors on whom and where to target.

Pickups:
Select your pick up outlets carefully unless you have genuine mass market appeal. It goes without saying that an Aldi customer will differ in their lifestyle choices from someone that shops at Waitrose. The nature of pickups also means that the placing, design, timing and the actual offer on your a5 leaflets is central to their success. You have to convert passers-by into buyers passing into your business. Also, remember that you may also be fighting for positioning, and prominence in amongst other leaflets. A compelling offer may be enough to make it work but be wary of time sensitive offers as it may take a while for enough of your target customers to pass by and pick up in order for you to get a return on your investment.

Although this may all seem to be a minefield it’s all actually quite simple. Just make sure that your a5 leaflets are designed clearly and communicate everything that you need to say without overcooking it, that your product, service or event offering is right, and then it’s just a case of getting it in front or the right people. How you do that depends on which distribution system gives you the greatest chance of your message being seen by who you want to.

Affordableleaflets.co.uk provide free UK delivery of a5 leaflets, online leaflet ordering, flyer and leaflet design services and leaflet distribution.

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