Direct marketing

Leafleting is probably the simplest and cheapest form of direct marketing. It may be worth considering unaddressed leaflet drops and street handouts if you want to promote your business in your local area, particularly to consumers. For example, if you:

• offer services locally - such as food delivery, taxi services, gardening or double-glazing installation
• want to attract people to your shop's sale or the opening of your new restaurant

However, leafleting brings significantly lower response rates than direct mail. It's less targeted - you don't know the characteristics of the recipients and you can't personalise your message. As a result it's often best to use leaflets for products or services of universal appeal, or when you need a large number of leads.

Decide whether you need to get your leaflet into every building in the area - called blanketing - or if it's more appropriate to hand information to people in the street near your business.

If you're blanketing, using a postal service is a possible alternative to organising your door-to-door distribution and may make it more likely that recipients will read your leaflet. 

If you want a return on your investment, you need to prepare your materials carefully. Make sure materials look professional and have clear, useful information.

To find out how effective your campaign has been, it's a good idea to include some incentives for feedback. For instance, you could provide a small discount or special offer for the first 100 customers who bring in your leaflet. As with any such offers, make sure they're priced into your overall budget for the campaign.