How to Get Better Results From Your Flyer and Direct Mail Advertising

Flyer and bulk mail advertising can be very effective if done right. On the other hand when you compare the cost per thousand to other forms of advertising such as newspapers or radio, flyers and bulk mail can be a much more costly form of advertising. Here are some tips on how you can get the best results from flyer and bulk mail advertising while maintaining control over the costs.

In spite of the cost flyers can be the most effective form of advertising for certain types of businesses. For example, if you have a small mom and pop store, your trade area is probably in just your own neighborhood, extending perhaps only a few blocks. A newspaper ad would reach a lot of prospects outside your trade area -- prospects who would probably never come into your store. You're wasting money to go for this type of reach. A flyer can be delivered right in your own neighborhood and targets only the prospects you need to reach. Likewise bulk mail can target specific zones or demographic groups instead of the entire population.

How many flyers should you print and deliver? I recommend you do as large of a print run as you can afford, at least 5000 flyers and preferably 10,000, even if there are only 1000 prospects in your target area. Why? Two reasons. First of all there is a comparison of the printing costs. Printers charge a fee for setting up your printing job and this makes the cost quite high if you do a small run. The first thousand flyers may cost you more than the next four thousand because of this set-up cost. For a few dollars more you can have a lot of extra flyers.

Advertising surveys have shown that most prospects forget an advertising message almost as soon as they read it. The good news is if you repeat that message a few times, it does begin to sink in. These surveys have shown that customers usually buy after multiple exposures to the same advertising message. This is your second reason for printing more flyers. You should distribute flyers to your trade area and then a couple of weeks later deliver the same flyer again, and repeat at least once a month after that. If you print 10,000 flyers and you have only 1000 prospects in your trade area, you can make ten deliveries. If, on the other hand, you printed only 1000 flyers, and did it ten times, the cost would be considerably higher.

Now let me ask you a question. When you receive an advertising flyer on your door, or a piece of bulk mail in your mailbox, what do you usually do with it? If you're like most people you probably toss it away, often without even reading it. Now let me ask you another question. Did you read the cartoon at the beginning of this article? You probably did. Most people are attracted by cartoons. The cartoon got you started reading even though this cartoon had absolutely nothing to do with the subject of this article. If you had seen a page of solid type you would have been less inclined to read this article. The same thing happens with advertising flyers and bulk mail pieces.

Here's something else you should know. The placement of the cartoon or other graphic on the page is important. People read from left to right, from top to bottom. If you want them to read your advertising message the best place to put the cartoon is at the top left hand corner. The reader will immediately read the cartoon, then continue reading your advertising message.

Keep in mind, cartoons are copyrighted and you can't use them, especially in advertising, without the artist's permission. The artist will usually charge you a fee for the use of his cartoon. If you were a large advertiser, like Wal-Mart, and you were targeting thousands of prospects, this cartoon license would be quite expensive. For a small business, however, targeting only a few hundred prospects, the fee is more like pocket change. Most cartoonists have an inventory of stock cartoons and will license one to you for next to nothing. Whatever you pay, the cartoon will probably earn it's money.

Try some of these tips on your next advertising campaign. Good luck with your flyer or bulk mail advertising.