Leaflet Promotions: Rudimentary But Effective

10/9/2012 8:14 AM EST

A teenager from Richmond this year spent his summer raising money that he then donated to a local charity shop which aims to help disadvantaged children. The Mary Portas Living and Giving shop received the donation after Alex Bloom, aged 16, had spent weeks handing out promotional leaflets advertising his services, which ranged from babysitting to car washing. Alex’s advertising tactics were the most basic and rudimentary imaginable; he simply stood on the high street and handed out his leaflets to passers-by, but the method has clearly seen huge success on a small scale for Alex; he raised enough money to save the lives of four children from disadvantages backgrounds. This story is one of many unreported incidents which help to reinforce the fact that printed leaflets are still hugely effective, not just for teens looking to contribute to the community or donate to charity, but also for many large companies and big-name businesses who utilise them in their marketing schemes.

Alex’s method was incredibly simple, and though it worked for him, businesses looking to boost their profits might find a need to hone the process a little. The target audience for Alex’s scheme was as wide as possible, and his services were so broad that anyone he bumped into could find a task for him to carry out on their behalf. With more specialised services, there needs to be more co-ordination in the distribution of such leaflets. For example, a beauty business handing out leaflets on a local high street, complete with price lists and information about their salon, might be primarily aiming to promote their services to teenage girls and young women. Handing out high-quality promotional flyers about beauty salons to pensioners or teen boys completely misses the target demographic of the salon, and wastes important resources in the process.

Similarly, a plumber or a joiner who decided that doing door-to-door drops was the most effective way to promote their services would be advised to avoid areas they are not willing to travel to for work, or areas that might already be saturated with similar businesses offering similar services. Unless prices are extremely competitive, breaking into this market is unlikely, and these types of promotional schemes are best coordinated so that they are used in areas which will have the highest impact.

As Alex’s story shows, using high-quality printed A4 leaflets to promote a service is still one of the most successful ways to spread the word. There are many ways to present the leaflets to ensure that they convey the right message, from one simple fold, to three folds which will be able to separate sections of information more efficiently without the leaflet seeming too cluttered. While Alex might not have had access to such sophisticated printing equipment, his method demonstrated the worth of using printed leaflets, and businesses can improve on his rudimentary example in order to capitalise on this simple, budget-friendly and effective promotional scheme.

To find out more about CardsMadeEasy and its leaflet printing services for any size of business, visit http://www.cardsmadeeasy.com or call 0845 166 4478.