Introduction
When you start looking into flyer distribution you will inevitably run into many different ways leaflets and flyers can be delivered to potential clients.
There is handing out of flyers outside of tube stations and other busy parts of London. There is door to door distribution or even placing leaflets on the wind-shields of parked cars. So what is the best flyer distribution technique in London and how does hand to hand distribution rank in this?
Hand to hand
When moving through London, it is not uncommon to encounter people handing out flyers on the street. A group of 1-4 workers will stand outside of a tube station at a busy time of day and hand out leaflets to people passing by.
There are multiple issues with this. Handing out flyers this way will result in fewer flyers being delivered/handed out, per unit of time, compared to standard door-to-door drop. Simply put you will be paying more money for fewer leaflets delivered.
Depending on which areas you are looking to use for your hand to hand campaigns, you might need to ask the relevant authorities for permission. No such thing is needed for standard door to door deliveries.
Hand to hand campaigns also have a harder time targeting a particular demographic. Door to door campaigns can be structured in a way where you are significantly favouring a particular demographic.
This is generally done on the basis of the geographical location of the homes being targeted, types of properties the leaflets are being delivered to and sometimes the approximate value of the homes in a given area.
Going through all these difficulties might be worthwhile if the results hand to hand campaigns generated were considerably better compared to other ways of flyer distribution.
This is sadly not the case.
When clients come to us with the request to run a hand to hand leaflet distribution campaign, we first try to understand their goals. After that we generally recommend using door to door deliveries instead as it is the more effective option for the majority of businesses.
With that said, there are some instances where hand to hand distribution is the appropriate technique to use.
Hand to hand campaign case study
Let’s discuss an example that illustrates how a hand to hand flyer delivery campaign in London can work. This example could be a company offering “healthy packed lunches” looking to target office workers in EC4 on their way to work.
In this scenario, we would definitely recommend looking at hand to hand as an effective leaflet distribution strategy.
No other distribution method can reach the potential clients a company of this kind is looking for with the same level of precision as hand to hand.
On the other hand the same logic doesn’t apply to a campaign aimed at giving out flyers to people coming home from work in NW3.
As we’re already targeting a particular residential area, we can reach the homes of our target demographic with door to door deliveries considerably faster and cheaper than by handing out flyers.
If you’re considering using hand to hand distribution we would recommend getting in touch with us and discussing your plans with one of our experts before committing to the idea.
If you’ve decided that hand to hand distribution is what you need below are the elements that will effect how well your campaign will succeed.
Location
We need to define the location we are looking to target carefully.
Targeting office workers is a good plan but which specific areas is your company able to reliably service when your campaign is successful? Which authorities need to be approached in order to allow for hand to hand campaigns in your chosen part of London?
These questions need to be answered as your campaign is being planned.
If you want to make sure you can handle the influx of new business from your campaigns you can always choose to run multiple hand to hand campaigns spaced out over a period of time. Each campaign can target a different area over time.
Timing
The type of service you are looking to advertise will determine not only the location but also the time of day the campaigns should be taking place.
Any effective hand to hand distribution strategy needs to take this into consideration. If we stick to our example with office workers in EC4. Is it better if your target customers receive your flyers on their way to work? On their way to lunch?
As you can imagine this depend largely on the service you are offering.
Design
The quality of design plays a huge role in any leaflet campaign. Flyer design for hand to hand campaigns has some specifics one needs to consider. In hand to hand we are often looking to initiate an action from the recipient of the leaflet rather than build a brand over a longer period of time.
This means that some design cues need to be tailored to this goal. In general it is a good practice to contact your leaflet distribution company and craft the design of your flyers with their in-house designer.
You want to make sure that your design is tailored to the goal of your campaign as well as to the distribution technique being used.
Other delivery methods?
As you start exploring the world of leaflet distribution you will find that different techniques are available. If hand to hand is not the best delivery method for you, what are some of the others?
Wind-shields of cars
Some companies still offer this service to their clients. We absolutely do not recommend you use this technique.
Leaving leaflets on the wind-shields of cars is one of the worst things you can do a with a flyer. London is a rainy city. It is famous for it. What happens to paper when it gets wet?
Leaving flyers in the open on people’s valuable property in London works only if you want everyone to hate you. Please do not leave your leaflets on the wind-shields of cars parked in London. It is a terrible idea.
Door to door
And finally we get to the most commonly used flyer distribution technique in London. Door to door means delivering leaflets to people’s homes through their letterboxes. This is what we specialise in at The Private Postman and what we recommend to almost everyone looking to use flyers for advertising.
When we deliver your flyers through people’s letterboxes we can help you target specific demographics in London. We can focus on very well defined areas.
We can guarantee that every household in your selection receives your leaflets.
We can use GPS systems to track our deliveries and share this information with you. As such you have a proof of delivery and you can be sure that all your flyers have been delivered properly.
Door to door campaigns can be repeated in the same areas and thusly used to develop mind share, build a local brand and effectively take over your local area.
We hope that this article has provided some clarity in regards to hand to hand distribution campaigns in London . If you have any questions or if you’d like to book a flyer distribution campaign with us please feel free to get in touch here.
If you are interested you can have a look at various types of leafleting campaigns and how flyers are used in them here.
