Quantities, Timing, Frequency

Leaflet Distribution Explained

All you want to know before you start advertising with door drops

Quantities, Timing, Frequency

5 minutes read

Dear reader,

 In our previous articles, we discussed the efficiency of leaflet distribution and the different leaflet distribution plans. Here we are going to focus on the quantities, the timing and will discuss what may be a good frequency strategy.

 How many leaflets should I distribute?

Probably you already know for yourself that the more - the better. However, more often than always, the budget you have for this channel will not allow ordering an immense amount. So what should you consider when choosing the number of leaflets? This question has many variables - let's take a look at the most important.

First of all - what are you selling? People don't buy tyres or insurances every week, but they do want to do sports more often and order food. Depending on your business you will want to calculate the value of a customer or in other words, what is the net amount you will earn from a single sale. With our new Distribution Management Platform, you can measure the ROI of your leaflet campaigns through time. 

*Actual graph of the leaflet distribution levels pattern of an existing client within our Distribution Platform Software (Months measured Nov 2018 to September 2019).

After that, you want to consider your goals - do you want to penetrate or win new areas where there is a severe competition? Maybe you want to position your business in a new area where you don't have competitors at all? Are you talking back to people that already know your brand or to strangers? The answers will help you decide - distribute a large amount of door drop flyers in a large area or to cover a smaller area with a significant chance of winning the majority.

It is essential to know that there are limitations regarding the minimums you can order from the different leaflet distribution plans. It is common to have a minimum of 5000 leaflets per order per week. For comparison, Roya Mail and some other leaflet distribution companies quote for 8000 leaflets, where Logiforce accepts order as low as 5000 items.

Despite these minimums, most customers distribute on average 20 000 items per order, with variable frequency. Some do it weekly with much higher numbers.

Once you know what you want to achieve and what is the monetary value of one customer, you can adjust your budget and decide on the number. Logiforce order wizard can automatically suggest you quantities based on the households per each postal sectors you choose.

 

Keep in mind that the ROI is between 1% to 3% depending on the type of business.

 If your business is more seasonal, you could create monthly or quarterly regular distribution campaigns in a similar way as described above.

 If your business can attract repetitive clients on a regular weekly basis, then you should distribute every single week of the year. However, this does not mean spending really large amounts of money. All you have to do is divide your business areas into three weekly cycles, and only distribute in each area once every three weeks. For example, if your business operates within a two-mile radius of your base, then you can map out the postal sectors within these two miles, and then divide the areas into three zones. Zone 1 will be your week 1 of distribution, zone 2 - week 2, and zone 3 - week 3. This has proven the most cost-effective and beneficial strategy with leaflet distirbution. If the budget is tight or you do not require such a large exposure, you can increase the zones and weeks to 4, 5 or even 6. In this way, you can have as large or as little distributions, you may think you require, and at the same time ensure equal coverage throughout the whole year, maintaining a good marketing level.

How often should I distribute?

If you just want to start with leafleting and you are not sure, then the golden rule here is that three is the best - one door drop for a trial, second to confirm the result and third - to check what is working - within a period of one particular month.

 Ask yourself the same questions every time you want to decide on frequency and numbers of leaflet distribution. What do you offer, where are you going to distribute your flyers, to whom? If you are going into new areas - repetitive weekly cycles of three are the minimum if you want people to remember you and take action. If you promote an exclusive offer aimed at people that already are familiar with your business, then one to two distributions could do. The case would be different, though, if it is an exclusive seasonal offer. Then you might want to stick to three again - one to present the offer, second to remind of it and third - to give a "last chance".

 When is the right time to distribute?

You, better than anyone know when is the best season for your product or service. There are a few things you might want to consider. If you are doing weekly distributions, then map out the best days of the week you should be able to maximise your profits. For takeaways, this could be weekends or towards the end of the week, especially around Fridays. On a monthly scale, the weakest month in the UK is August. If you want to boost your sales for this time of the year - start earlier and think through your strategy carefully. Include more than one channel. Propose a discount code for specific areas or even neighbourhoods.

Based on our decade of statistics, and mainly evaluating the larger marketing companies we work with, regarding various promotions, the most active months typically are April, November and September, with occasional peaks between May to July as well. December and January, see a bit of a quite-down as the Christmas and New Year promotions now tend to start really early. February and March tend to show some upward movement as well as October.

Businesses do distribute throughout the year, week in and week out, so it's best to go by your own statistics based on the local knowledge or targeted area you may have paired with the particular marketing strategy for your own business.

 In any case, consider the experience you have - when people are more likely to buy your products and services. Focus on acquiring new customers throughout these periods. Even though there are many ways to approach your weak periods, you could try with retention at those times. 

Most important of all - never forget to be sure what, where, and to whom you distribute. Build up your database with care and make decisions based both on your experience and the data you have.

 Conclusion:

• Don't forget the three W - what, where, to whom;
• Calculate the one-time value and the lifetime value of your customers
• Take into consideration your budget based on the previous two and decide on the number of leaflets;
• Use more than one channel - don't rely solely on leafleting or exclude leafleting completely;
• Build a robust database with information about demographics, income, possible ROI;
• Build a well-thought strategy about the weakest periods;
• Use the active periods to acquire new customers;
• Look for easy wins;
• Don't be afraid to experiment.

 

Happy Leafleting!

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