Local Advertising, leaflets and ideas

[Justin]

Cheers Ian, just trying to get some darned inspiration! Before I go and get someone else to design it!

[Ian M]

Justin, didn't Xpres have something from their marketing department that can be over printed? Might be a good source for some inspiration.

[Mattie]

This was the back of my last flyer i designed and had printed, can't find the front design but it was just logo and shop details etc.

[ASLCreative]

I always find marketing is the hardest part of any business.

What I have learnt in the past is:

You MUST have AIDCA.

Attention - grab the reader's attention, normally with a good headline.
Interest - get the reader interested in your product, features of the product.
Desire - make the person really want it. (People often want things if they think other people they respect or look up to have them already - hence film stars and footballers get paid a fortune for being associated with a brand).
Conviction - reassure the reader about your company and product - use customer testimonials.
Action - ask for the order or tell the reader how they can order - use a time limit to create a matter of urgency or offer an incentive to order there and then (first 20 people to use this code will get 10% off the retail value).

LISTS
Customer lists are very important, ensure you keep in contact with your customers.

FACEBOOK
Facebook is great for getting new customers if used correctly. Where else have you the chance to obtain access to your customer's friends. Plus you can get your customer to tell all their friends about your products - personal recommendations are regarded highly by people.

[Justin]

Brilliant advice there, many thanks, thanks also to other responses, some good food for thought

[Sedg]

Hi - I always use print24 when it comes to getting the final design printed - in September I had 7500, DL size, 135 gsm, one-side, glossy paper, delivered for £50.57 - I really don't know how they do it, given that it's shipped from Germany.

http://print24.com/uk/?sid=4ee109fcae86 ... 922864c5a2

[printchesco]

Perhaps you can try coordinating your online and offline marketing schemes so that they would complement each other and fill up the gaps left by the other. If you can, have a professional make the necessary changes and upgrades to your site, and then spread the word both through social media marketing and through your leaflets.

[Charlie_]

I'm new here, but a veteran at marketing. I can only say what I have found over the years in a different nitche.

Flyers....I have had many designs over the years, but only one worked cost effectivly, that was one that I carefully targeted at the target audience I wanted to grab the attention of. I did this by actually giving away product to world champions then had pictures of them using it on the front of the flyers, and ordering details on the back, this produced a conversion rate of just under 1% by far my best ever return on flyers.

Local/national papers...... People do still look at articles and eye catching adds, I have used this a few times, but on each add I use a different offer, so as to judge the respones.

Word of mouth........ This is worth a million flyers/adds, I get 60-70% of business by this method.

My list........... this is a list of all buyers going back years, I keep in regular contact with all customers from the last 10 years plus by way of a news letter (far cheaper now 98%ish are on email) from this I get 20-25% repeat business, and every one on this list is a happy past customer who bought from me. Hence I want to get into mugs just to give each one a mug with my details on so its a constant reminder of me and my business.

I hope I havnt waffled on to long here, and I can't say they will work within this nitche but they work in 100's of others.

Charlie

[WorthDoingRight]

I have found that a number of companies deliver a large number of flyers through your door. For example locally we get a lot of estate agency flyers and the usual wad of fast food takeaways. I was therefore able to find a guy that delivers all the estate agent leaflets locally and he charges a very reasonable rate for delivering other leaflets at the same time. So might be worth finding out if someone is already doing this and see if you can 'piggy back' your leaflet delivery with the other leaflets. Also some newsagents will let you put up a postcard sized flyer for a small sum per week on their windows.

[Charlie_]

Now the ad in a shop window is a cheap and quite effective short term way of getting your name out there. But how effective it would be can only be found out by trying it. For my other (main business) it wouldnt be worthwhile, as it is a quite small but mony spending nitche.