Direct Mail , Leaflet Distribution , Marketing Direct Mail versus Leaflet Distribution

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Do you feel totally baffled when choosing between Direct Mail or Door to Door (D2D) leaflet distribution for one of your direct marketing campaigns?

Let me tell you a secret. You're not alone!

Direct mail often sounds alien. But, because the door-to-door leaflet distribution is self-explanatory, many people presume this is the best option for their business.

This blog takes us on a little journey to understand direct mail and D2D/leaflet distribution, and how both marketing methods differ. After reading the article, you will feel confident choosing your next direct marketing campaign.

Let’s start with Direct Mail

In simple terms, direct mail involves sending promotional material directly to your customer’s mailbox.

Examples often work best at explaining things, so you can find a few couple and see if any of those resonate with you and your business.

Example one: Your business specialises in selling furniture, and you have tried email marketing with little or no success. However, you have all these existing customers who you could turn into repeated ones. That’s where direct mail marketing comes in.

You create a visually appealing catalogue or a brochure of your products. Then, together with a personally addressed letter to a customer with a no-brainer deal, you post it out.

Example two: You have an estate agency, and you want to send out promotional letters to either homebuyers or home sellers. That’s where geographically targeted direct mail comes in handy.

Your letter is enclosed in an envelope and sent out in bulk to potential customers. As a result, competitors cannot see your marketing strategy as they would if you had chosen leaflet distribution.

Direct mail marketing methods might be more costly, especially if you are targeting a large audience, but they can surely reap sweeter rewards.

Read our blog on Ten Reasons why Direct Mail is Still a Powerful Marketing Tool to get a better understanding of Direct Mail Marketing.

So many of us get bombarded with personal and work emails daily. Unless it is something important, it goes straight into the bin. However, with addressed mail, it will be opened ten times out of ten!

There is something different when you can touch the paper, visually browse products by turning pages or read a letter without looking at your screen.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct Mail

  1. Highly targeted: it allows you to target specific individuals or households based on demographics, geographic location or purchasing behaviour. This means you can tailor your marketing message to a specific audience and increase the effectiveness of your campaign;

  2. Personalisation can increase the likelihood of your message being read and acted upon;

  3. Measurable using conversion rates, response rates and ROI;

  4. But it also can be expensive: data, designing printing and posting costs;

  5. Perceived by some as less sustainable than email due to greenwashing.

Hopefully, direct mail now makes more sense to you and the phrase no longer sounds alien. However, if you are still unsure, don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss your marketing campaign plans with one of our consultants.

Familiarise yourself with Direct Mail response rates in our blog post: What is the response rate from Direct Mail?

Moving onto Door-to-Door Leaflet Distribution

Door-to-door leaflet distribution delivers promotional materials such as leaflets or flyers directly to households or businesses. You don’t need to know the full name or even address to be able to promote to homes with leaflet distribution.

Example one: You have a new store opening up, and you have a leaflet to raise brand awareness. You don’t want your flyer posted to everyone in the town, so you choose an approx mile radius of households and post the leaflet to each one introducing your new store.

Example two: You own a hardware store and want to send an existing offer on your deals; as you know, DIY is in trend now. But you don’t have experience in flyer distribution. So you find a distribution company that can design, print and post your flyers to targeted households.

Get some tips on how to design a killer flyer for your next direct marketing campaign.

Advantages of Leaflet Distribution:

  1. Cost-effective strategy to reach a large audience quickly;
  2. It can have an immediate impact on potential customers;
  3. Demographic targeting on a postcode sector level;
  4. Measurable both by unique links and our bespoke MatchBack software;
  5. A great addition to your marekting mix.

Note: Many companies mention low cost as an advantage to door-to-door leaflet distribution. But to challenge this myth - remember, if it looks too good to be true, most of the time, it is. By choosing a reputable distribution company and paying a little more, you are much more guaranteed of a strong return. In other words: by cheap, buy twice.

Disadvantages of door-to-door distribution:

  1. Less targeted than direct mail;
  2. Ineffective for B2B as it rarely reaches the relevant decision maker;
  3. When does as a one-hit-wonder it isn't usually very effective (but nor is any other marekting!).

If you are in the SME business, you will want to read this article on The Power of Leaflet Distribution for SMEs: Why it is more effective than you think.

The choice between direct mail and D2D leaflet distribution will depend on budget, marketing goals, and target audience.

To determine which marketing method is better for your company, consider the following:

  1. Door-to-door leaflet distribution may be a better option if your business is located in a densely populated area, whilst direct mail may be a better option if your target audience is scattered over a wide geographic area.
  2. If you are limited by budget, it is known that direct mail campaigns tend to be more expensive than door-to-door leaflet distribution.
  3. Consider Direct Mail campaigns when you can personalise your promotional material.
  4. Choose D2D leaflet Distribution when you want to reach a local audience. This can be effective for businesses that rely on local customers.

And whichever marketing method you choose, we always encourage multi-stage campaigns because they allow businesses to engage with their target audience over a more extended period, increasing the likelihood of converting prospects into customers.

You can find more information in our blog post about Direct Mail Drip Marketing.

Think of commercial TV ads, first time seeing the ad might not make you want to buy the product or service, but seeing it on the 10th, you’ll start thinking about it.

Hopefully, this blog has been helpful to you, and you are now ready to launch your direct marketing campaign.

If you need help with ideas, design, print or postage, please Contact Us Today. We specialise in both direct mail marketing and leaflet distribution.