The Private Postman has been in business for more than a decade now. With hundreds of clients of various sizes and types we have identified a list of questions that are often repeated and come from companies and individuals across the spectrum.
Let’s have a look at some frequently asked questions about leaflet distribution.
Reading time: 9 minutes
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- 1. Is leaflet distribution legal?
- 2. Is leaflet distribution effective?
- 3. Can I design my own leaflet?
- 4. Differences between national and local campaigns?
- 5. Should I do my own leaflet posting?
- 6. Are catalogue and leaflet delivery companies the same?
- 7. How much leaflet posting should I do for my business?
- 8. How do I know my leaflets have been delivered?
- 9. How much does leaflet delivery cost?
- 10. How many leaflets should I print?
- 11. Is being a leaflet distributor a good job?
- 12. Do leaflets get delivered during lockdown?
Is leaflet distribution legal?
Yes, leaflet distribution in London and nationally is legal. There are some limits on what and how can be delivered at different times through London’s letterboxes (this has certainly been the case in 2020 and 2021).
It is generally a good idea for a professional leaflet distributor to do the actual deliveries.
Is leaflet distribution effective?
Leaflet distribution has been used in London and nationally for decades with great results by companies of various sizes. This spans from one-man-band type operations to multi-national chains. However leaflet distribution is effective only when done correctly.
Check in with a professional leaflet distribution company that specialises in London or the area you are looking to target nationally to see how your campaigns should be structured.
Can I design my own leaflet?
You can but there is much that goes into leaflet design to make it as effective as possible.
We at The Private Postman run a free design consultation service for our clients to check their existing designs for issues. We also have a design team that can build your leaflet from scratch.
Are there differences between national
deliveries and London-only campaigns?
Each area of the UK brings its own unique challenges for leaflet posting. There are companies that specialise in one city or area and others that are willing to do leaflet distribution nationally.
You always want to make sure that the door drop company you are looking to work with has a good knowledge of the areas you are looking to target.
Always ask for distribution maps and about the demographics you can find in each area.
National leafleting campaigns can be challenging as getting detailed knowledge about every place in the UK is very difficult for any door drop company.
Larger national door drop campaigns that cover more than one city are possible but will inevitably bring some level of inefficiency with them.
Should I do my own leaflet posting?
As pamphlet distribution is ultimately about putting flyers through letterboxes you might find yourself considering doing your own leaflet posting.
In principle putting pamphlets through letterboxes is not a difficult task. However, many things can go wrong if you don’t do your deliveries correctly. You can waste a great amount of resources.
If you spend a considerable amount of money designing and printing your leaflets you want to make sure that you use them to their maximum potential.
Delivering leaflets for hours is a physically demanding job. It is easy for a worker to start skipping houses when tired and otherwise compromise the quality of deliveries.
You need to make sure that you are using a professional distributor that cares about their job rather than just paying a family friend or a student looking to make a bit of money.
At The Private Postman we build relationships with our workers over years. Many of our workers have families and are serious people who want to do good work.
The Private Postmen and women are the best paid workers in the industry. Thanks to our relationships we can rely on them doing a good job.
We also keep a tracking system in place to monitor any issues and provide a proof of delivery to our clients.
On top of this we’ve developed a detailed mapping system that allows us to eliminate undeliverable or problematic addresses while targeting specific demographics all over London.
A reliable and targeted delivery service with no waste is something that takes years to build. If you don’t want to waste resources, don’t deliver your own leaflets.
Are catalogue distribution companies
the same as leaflet delivery companies?
Delivering a catalogue and a flyer is technically the same thing. A catalogue or a brochure is technically just a few leaflets stapled together into a booklet.
The fundamental difference between catalogue and flyer deliveries is in the logistics. Catalogues are heavier, more expensive and trickier to handle.
As such the deliveries of catalogues are more expensive and run a little slower compared to standard pamphlet distribution.
How much leaflet posting
should I do for my business?
In general 5,000 leaflets is the smallest campaign you can run locally. Larger campaigns go into the hundreds of thousands and even millions of flyers. This is both for national leaflet distribution and London only campaigns.
When deciding on how many pamphlets you want to print and deliver it is good to first examine your goals.
Do you want to boost sales of a specific product? Do you want to develop brand recognition in a specific place?
You want to make sure to keep your goals very specific and narrow for each campaign. If you have multiple things you want to achieve you can always run multiple campaigns over a period of months.
Some goals like boosting gym memberships in January require a single drop near your location. Such a campaign requires fewer leaflets than a brand building campaign with multiple drops for an estate agent with a number of branches.
How do I know my leaflets
have been delivered?
Most leaflet distribution companies in the UK will run some form of a tracking system that ensures that you know when your deliveries are taking place and that you get some proof of delivery.
We at The Private Postman run a live tracking system that lets you know the exact timings and locations of your deliveries in real time and a GPS system that operates at high resolution to provide with your proof of delivery.
How much does leaflet delivery cost?
This depends on how your leaflets are delivered. In general we recommend a shared distribution system which should start at £40+VAT per 1000 leaflets delivered.
How many leaflets should I print?
In general it is a good idea to print pamphlets at most for 3 months of deliveries in one go. You want to make sure you don’t overprint pamphlets in case your marketing plans change.
At the same time you want to take advantage of the fact that printing larger numbers works out considerably cheaper.
How should I print my flyers?
Printing with an industrial printing house can be confusing. There are many options to select from and pricing tends to scale quickly.
It is a good idea to ask your door drop company whether they have a good relationship with a printing house. Not only are you going to get a recommendation you might get a better price for your print.
A door drop company will be able to get a considerably better price for print compared to an individual customer.
As far as the technical details of your print go you want to keep your pamphlets in a single page A5 format and between 150-250gsm.
Is being a leaflet distributor a good job?
It is at The Private Postman.
We pick our distributors to work with us long term and provide them with the best pay and working conditions in the industry. Our distributors tend to deliver close to where they live and get great training to make their distribution rounds as effective as possible.
Do leaflets get delivered during lockdown?
Yes, leaflet distribution runs uninterrupted during lockdown.
However only professional leaflet distribution companies were able to deliver during this time in some parts of the UK. This is just another reason to work with a professional and well established company.
We hope that we’ve answered some of your questions in this list. If you have any more enquiries or if you’d like to book a leaflet distribution campaign in London please feel free to get in touch with us here.
You can also listen to some audio about leaflet distribution in London here.
