When deciding on using a marketing method, two basic questions should be asked. How effective is it and how much does it cost?
We believe that leaflet distribution is effective as it’s been used by many successful businesses in London for decades. But how much does leaflet distribution cost?
Introduction
Leaflet distribution costs are calculated on a per 1000 basis.
At The Private Postman we charge £52+VAT per 1000 leaflets for shared distribution.
In general the accepted minimum drop is 5000 leaflets. There might be more that goes into the cost of a leaflet distribution campaign than just the per 1000 delivery cost.
Let’s have a look at this in more detail and discuss the individual elements that will impact your costs.
Learn more about us and our services here.
| Service | Number of leaflets | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Delivery | 1000 leaflets | £52 + VAT |
| Shared Delivery | 5000 leaflets (minimum) | £260 + VAT |
| Solo Delivery | 1000 leaflets | £85 + VAT |
| Flyer design | £200-£500 + VAT |
How are your flyers delivered?
The way your flyers are distributed will have an impact on the cost of your campaign.
The two most common types of deliveries are Solus and Shared.
Solus delivery cost
Solus distribution means that your leaflets will be the only leaflets delivered through each door that day by us. Find out more about how the deliveries themselves work here.
The cost for this kind of delivery tends to be higher as each distributor is carrying and delivering only your leaflets.
The cost for Solus distribution with The Private Postman starts at £85 per 1000 leaflets +VAT.
How much does shared leaflet distribution cost?
This is in contrast to the more common Shared distribution where your leaflets are delivered together with one or two other non-competing clients.
This means that if you are a real estate agent your leaflets will be delivered together with a local restaurant and a high quality hair dresser for example.
This allows us to minimise the distribution cost for each client.
Shared distribution will start at£52 per thousand leaflets +VAT.
In a place like London, shared leaflet distribution is what we recommend. Many types of marketing materials and post in general get delivered through each door every day. This means that even if your leaflets were delivered on their own, by the end of the day they will be laying on the doormat with other letters and flyers.
At that point it makes no difference if your leaflet was delivered as a part of a shared leaflet distribution drop or not.
How much does the format of your leaflet
affect distribution cost?
When you are printing and delivering a single page 200gsm, A5 leaflet the cost for distribution will most likely be predictable and aligned with the prices mentioned above.
Sometimes, you might want to deliver a larger A4 gatefold leaflet, booklets or folded menus.
Any extra complications like larger size, folds or multiple pages will have an impact on the cost of distribution as well as production and print.
There are specific instances where a more unusual format can be beneficial. However, we mostly recommend sticking to the good old A5 leaflet on decent quality paper.
It is a robust and rugged format. Even if the distribution is done carefully a multi page leaflet is simply more prone to sustaining some damage during delivery.
Many letterboxes in London are not of the ideal size or construction. Many homes have rusted metal letterboxes and some might be overly tight. These things that have minimal effect on an A5 leaflet can have an impact on a gate fold A4 flyer.
Design
Design is an incredibly important part of your campaign planning.
It doesn’t matter how well you plan your drops, targeting and timing. If your flyers do not deliver your message clearly, your campaign might fail.
A good quality custom leaflet design made by a professional will cost you somewhere between £200-£500.
Given the fact that you can keep using this design for as many campaigns and deliveries as you want, this tends to be money well spent.
Professionally designed flyers are also likely to increase the effectiveness of your drops.
In some instances a single extra client gained due to the quality of your flyer design can cover the whole design cost for you.
When you are delivering tens of thousands of leaflets as most companies do, this benefit only multiplies.
Your flyer delivery company should be able to help you, whether you are looking to design your flyer from scratch, or just to tweak your existing design.
At The Private Postman we can help you with either. If you are running a campaign with us and we believe there are elements of your design that need improvement, we can also offer you suggestions on what to do.
You can then take this to your own designer or make the changes yourself.
How much do leaflets cost to print
If you want to deliver flyers you must first print them.
We’ve already discussed how the format you choose for your flyers will heavily impact the cost of production.
Let’s have a look at the costs for printing a regular 170gsm, A5, double sided flyer to establish a baseline.
The print of 5,000 flyers of this type will likely cost you approximately £149.
The more flyers you print, the less you will pay per unit. To print 25,000 of the same flyer will come up to something like £581.
This is a considerably lower price per leaflet compared to printing only 5000.
Should you print larger quantities then?
Depending on your plans, it might be worth for you to consider printing larger quantities that can sustain you for a few drops, instead of multiple smaller print jobs.
A good leaflet distribution company will be able to store your flyers, if you explain the situation to them.
Storing your flyers for an extra couple of months is likely to be a non-issue for a professional distributor with a warehouse.
If you have a good relationship with your distribution company, also ask them for their printing contacts.
Most distributors will be able to get you a better price for print than you will be able to get on your own. Distribution companies tend to have good relationships with printing houses and have better leverage than you on your own.
Campaign example
Here is an example of the costs for a common campaign that a local business might run in their London area.
| Service | Number of leaflets | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Leaflet design | £350 | |
| 25,000 A5, 170gsm leaflets | £581 | |
| Shared Delivery | 25,000 leaflets | £1200 |
| CAMPAIGN TOTAL | £2131 + VAT |
B2B flyer delivery cost
B2B flyer deliveries tend to work differently to residential door drops.
Due to the fact that business addresses are spread out differently to residential homes, the time required to deliver the same amount of leaflets tends to be quite a bit longer.
The distributor will also often say hello to the manager or receptionist while making each delivery.
As such, costs for B2B flyer distribution might very much depend on the details of your campaign. It’s best to contact your leaflet distributor with a plan for your B2B campaign and see what the cost of delivery will be.
Extra charges and what to look out for
A good professional flyer distribution company will not hide extra charges for their services.
You can expect some charges to apply if you need your flyers picked up from your location. However, beyond that all you should be paying for is distribution itself.
Unless otherwise stated, your quoted price should include reasonable storage, GPS tracking and delivery updates as well as delivery itself.
We hope that this summary of leaflet distribution costs in London has been helpful. If you have any questions or if you’d like to book a campaign with us please feel free to get in touch here.
