marketing with flyers...whats the success rate?

[pist0la]

I handed out and placed on windshields 500-700 flyers and not one person that signed up for my site said that the flyer was what brought them there. My site specializes in precious metals and stones so I handed the flyers out in New York's diamond district. Some people seemed interested as I was handing them out but as far as I can tell no one followed up on it. It was a pretty enticing (in my opinion) little ad, too.

Side 1: hxxp://i46.tinypic.com/2zdx5bn.jpg
Side 2: hxxp://i45.tinypic.com/jtl7jd.jpg
(change x's to t's)

I don't have 10 posts yet so can't directly link to the flyer.

[ron komorowski]

Many years ago in my construction business we used to hand out flyers and we would actually get a 10% response but that was a generation ago when business was more trustworthy.

Today people think that businesses that pass out flyers are on the "sneak" or not trustworthy to do "normal" advertisements.

What does work, well it did a couple years ago when the economy was good was post cards. They led to sales worldwide for me. I have mine printed at VistaPrint.com can't beat the price and quality. Mail some out yourself to specific commercial places or businesses and leave little piles in places around your town.

That would be ok but flyers look unprofessional...but make up a glossy sheet and fold it twice to make a brochure and that will be ok....really a folded glossy flyer...but it's ok...go figure....the consumer can drive you nuts sometimes!

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

[Michy]

I estimate that with business card flyers I have a 10% rate of people going to my website on the back of flyers and then out of them a 5% of people buying something. all depends on where they placed - targetting key. Like earlier post said - things like e targetting (Pay Per Click) even more cost effective/ and time effective, but flyers still give a return and where I have time I still do as part of activity

[fanguide]

I have used flyers for my multi-service company. It has not been
sucessful.

[SmoothEntrepreneur]

Conversion rate depends on who you are giving your flyers to. If you are handing them out to a very targeted audience of people who you know will definitely be interested, I would expect something around 35%. Otherwise, 1% is probably reasonable to expect

[markblomeley]

The key to success with any direct marketing media is split testing, finding what works and just continue to do it until it stops. Whenever i have done flyers in the past i always start off with 2 or 3 different flyers and do small batches (i.e. 500 or 1000 each) and see what one works.

My success rate with flyers is actually 1 to 2% which is obviously quite high, considering my average cost of sale is $1800, so the ROI has been very much worth it for me. I find that when i deliver them as opposed to contract out that job that it converts way better, so be careful with who you choose to do this.

Yes, the internet is effective but diversification is the key. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Vurlo]

I agree with the internet marketing. I would focus a good chunk of my resources here. Test with small campaigns first though.

As for the flyers, your response rate is going to depend upon what is on the flyer. If the incentive, quality and distribution method all grabs the prospects' attention, interests them, creates desire and calls them to action-- your response rate goes up. If you could place that flyer into the hands of your most targeted customer, would they call you? If so, at least expect to recoup your costs after distributing a mess load of them. Try to target your distribution as best you can, get creative.

I prefer very targeted marketing, so I'm not crazy about mass flyer distribution to begin with. However, I have experienced 1-3% response rates with flyers in the past. If you have a very high margin service/product that sells for over $100, that's a very acceptable response rate. If you can get very creative, you could well surpass those numbers. The flyer isn't dead yet if you know what you're doing.

[Vurlo]

I handed out and placed on windshields 500-700 flyers and not one person that signed up for my site said that the flyer was what brought them there. My site specializes in precious metals and stones so I handed the flyers out in New York's diamond district. Some people seemed interested as I was handing them out but as far as I can tell no one followed up on it. It was a pretty enticing (in my opinion) little ad, too.

Side 1: hxxp://i46.tinypic.com/2zdx5bn.jpg
Side 2: hxxp://i45.tinypic.com/jtl7jd.jpg
(change x's to t's)

I don't have 10 posts yet so can't directly link to the flyer.

This is how not to do flyers. Am I wrong here?

I'm betting your target market wasn't in the diamond district. The people there are looking to buy jewelry, not precious metals and stones.

Attention Your flyer did not grab my positive attention. In fact, it flapping underneath my windshield wiper in the wind pissed me off.

Interest Your message did not interest me... everyone and their mother blasts me every day on TV and radio about how I can get precious metals from their website for cheap. There is nothing unique here that would force me to do business with you.

Desire I didn't even reach the point of desire because I probably didn't read it (due to it being on my windshield) and if I did, I was pissed and it wasn't interesting so I didn't even give it a second glance.

Action There are no calls to action. You tell me you have all this stuff, but you don't tell me what to do about it. There's a website listed... but should I go there? I don't know, I'm too lazy to think about it, I'm trying to get in my car and manage this traffic. I need you to tell me what to do.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything 'in it' for the customer. There is no incentive. You are telling me about you, but what about me? How is your business going to help ME-- make me more money, save me time or make my life better?

That's how my customers think, I don't know about yours.

If I'm wrong, totally write this off. I think you should be proud of yourself that you actually tried. Now you know what I think you did wrong, and if you think I'm right, we should learn from those mistakes. I have most certainly made them myself.

Thanks for sharing your experience here.

[DayTrader]

The success of marketing with flyers depends on the flyer itself -- what information it contains. Try to make your flyer worth taking a glance at. Create a catchy title. Use attractive graphics. Direct people's focus on what they get when they will use your product/service. More importantly, distribute them to your target market. These are the people who should be reading your flyers.