The trouble with fliers

[mark123]

Back in June I printed up some fliers and posted them along with everyone else's fliers at the grocer, the laundromat, the beauty salon and the restaurants. The total number of calls in response to these fliers: Zero! Nada. None. Zilch. I do believe the problem is the same as with web ads. Nobody looks at them anymore. When you see them all the time you automatically block them out. Especially when you put your ad in the middle of 300 other ads. It's just sensory overload. So far all of my referrals are from word of mouth of a happy customer. I wonder if a news paper ad would generate more interest or if it's just another waste of time. Does anyone actually get a response from fliers?

[turfmaster]

Originally Posted by mark123

Back in June I printed up some fliers and posted them along with everyone else's fliers at the grocer, the laundromat, the beauty salon and the restaurants. The total number of calls in response to these fliers: Zero!

Nada. None. Zilch.

I do believe the problem is the same as with web ads. Nobody looks at them anymore. When you see them all the time you automatically block them out. Especially when you put your ad in the middle of 300 other ads. It's just sensory overload.

So far all of my referrals are from word of mouth of a happy customer.

I wonder if a news paper ad would generate more interest or if it's just another waste of time. Does anyone actually get a response from fliers?

I to feel that flyers are pretty much a waste of time. A few years back they seemed to work better before the market was saturated with LCO's.

Newspaper ads worked a little better but in my market there can be up to 50 ads at one time for LCO'S. Again market saturation.

Getting out there and working seems to be the best for me nowadays.
People stop and ask for an estimate or other customers refer you.

[Steve]

I think it all comes down to doing something different to stand out. If there are no flyers, then do flyers, if there are no newspaper ads, do them.

If everyone uses white paper for their flyers, use bright yellow.

Do you hand out flyers to the neighbors of your current customers? To try and get more customers per stop?

What other marketing ideas have you been considering?

[Plan-It Graphics]

Originally Posted by mark123

Back in June I printed up some fliers and posted them along with everyone else's fliers at the grocer, the laundromat, the beauty salon and the restaurants. The total number of calls in response to these fliers: Zero!

Nada. None. Zilch.

How many flyers did you pass out?

I'm not pointing fingers at you, but i think it's important for all business (lawn care or not) realize that 1-2% response is about the best you will get. Don't get me wrong, some might get better, but using my direct mail rates for my lawn care company, .5% is good for me.

Keep in mind this is a "response" rate and not a SALE rate.

So for example, if you passed out 1000 flyers the best you would get is 20 phone calls. How many of those calls you convert to sales depends on many variables.

I think the most important thing to consider with any marketing is... volume. But good volume is the key. If you want to target home owners, then using something like valpak(not sure if ValPak is familiar to everyone or not, but is an envelope that is mailed with various advertisements in it) where it goes to homes, apartments, condos, etc. may not produce the response you are looking for. Newspaper ads are the same thing. For every newspaper bought by a "potential" customer probably two are bought by people who would have no need for your service. BUT STILL... these are still effective sometime, but the response you get based on the circulation rate might not be what you're expecting.

You mentioned displaying flyers at the laundromat... I'm assuming your in the lawn business. Think of the customers you have now, I would say that most have their own laundry room, and don't visit a laundromat.

You need to put your flyers, or ANY advertisement where it's most effective. Putting flyers/door hangers etc. on a "soingle family home" door or mailbox should get you the best response. It takes lots of time, but it's effective when done right. If you're lazy like me use direct mail, it's costs more money because of the postage, but you'll hit the most amout of home in the shortest amount of time.

Sorry for such a long post, but I think i posted some things to consider.

If you have any more questions, or maybe tell me I'm wrong, I'd be happy to talk to anyone. I've tried lots of advertising over the past 14 years, been part of a franchise, worked for the "big guys" and now on my own, so I've seen all types of methods work and fail.

[mark123]

I'm just talking about wasting time by hanging fliers in places where there are 3000 other fliers on the same bulletin board not about handing them out. People just don't look at them anymore. In fact, I think they are so overloaded with them that they actually block them out completely. Same with newspaper ads. I know I skip over them when reading the paper so fast that I don't even realize they are there.

It doesn't make much sense to hand out a flier to a person you're already talking to, does it? Why not just give them the pitch and hand them a business card? Fliers just seem to be a waste of time no matter what you do with them.

Oh, the laundromat is connected to a self-spray car wash but still, waste of time.

Just checking fliers off the list as too ineffective to be relevant. Business cards do much better and are much cheaper.

[dclgraphics]

You got to look at marketing as investment to grow your business, if people don't know about your business, you don't exist, also remember marketing is a numbers game and a tax write-off.

For any member on this forum, we will double any order of flyers
in our website (www.dclgraphics.com) CODE: (DCLX2)

All prices include design, printing, and Free shipping!

David C. Lopez
DCL Graphics
www.dclgraphics.com

[Steve]

--> David,

Have you had much of a chance to talk to your customers and get an idea of how much they spend based on a % of their income on marketing?