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What is the process? How to prepare in advance?

Ilko Tsanev
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Leaflet Distribution Explained
 All you want to know before you start advertising with door drops

What is the process? How to prepare in advance?

4 minutes read

If you are planning a leaflet drop and you have done your research but this is your first order, then there are few things you need to know in advance. Understanding them will help you not feeling overwhelmed with the process.

Brochures distribution

In this article, we try to give as many details as possible about four essential parts of the booking – time frames, quantities, postal sectors and printing. Hopefully, you will find them helpful!
 
Leaflet distribution in the UK
 
Time frames
 
A crucial thing to know about leafleting is that typically distribution companies are working with week commencing dates. If you imagine that you will call today and have your door drop flyers distributed tomorrow or in the next two days - forget it.

Logiforce week commencing, for example, always starts on Mondays - this is due to our proprietary planning software specifics. To have your leaflets distributed in a specific week, you should book and hand over your materials at least two weeks in advance. I.e., if you want to distribute your flyers between 22nd (Thursday) and 25th (Sunday) of August, you should book latest by 7th August (Wednesday) and supply the materials in the depot by 16th August at latest. You need to know this in advance to make your marketing timing right and not be late for a seasonal promotion. If you are distributing a large number of flyers, you should also consider that your leaflet distribution company might divide the distribution into two or more weeks. 
Typically with Logiforce, this could be the case for weekly bookings above 50K to 60K items, simply because we have many regular clients that have pre-booked their work with us for the whole year and availability is limited.
 
 
Flyer distribution
 
Numbers

Another vital thing to know about your leaflet distribution concerns the quantities. Some postal sectors might be larger than you initially thought. For example, you want to distribute only 1000 leaflets, but to cover your chosen area and to have any significant result, you will need 20K items. Depending on your budget, we would recommend aiming for a minimum of 5000 flyers, while on average most clients book around 20K per order. Your return on investment (ROI) will be higher with higher distributions. The standard ROI for the industry is 1-3%, so there is almost no point of distributing less than 5000 leaflets. You will cover a much more significant area. Who will turn away 600 new possible visitors to their new restaurant? You have a better chance to find a leaflet distribution company that will do the job professionally and with care providing a standard size leafleting order. 
In any case, check these details with your leaflet distributor when you choose one.

Logiforce

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Postal Sectors and Quantities

The total number of the leaflets you want to distribute is based on the number of households in the specific areas you want to cover. Some postal sectors could require a higher number of items than the one you initially projected. If that is the case, you can decide on ordering more flyers for print, or you can choose only some of the sectors. The second option can work for you if you or your leafleting company have information on the demographics of those households. In our Distribution Management Platform, you can instantly see how many homes you have in the different postal sectors and what quantities they require. You can give it a try with a simple email-only sign up here.
 
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Printing is an integral part of the process. There are several things you should keep in mind if you don't have your printed leaflets before you make a quote. If you haven't printed and even designed your leaflets yet, you will need to allow additional time for this on top of your distribution booking.

Most probably you will be asked to deliver the leaflets 3 to 4 days before the actual distribution happens. That is because of organisational and logistics reasons, accuracy and success of the planned leaflet delivery.

All items will have to be boxed in even numbers so that the packages are no more than 10kg in weight. Boxes must be labelled according to specifications, and larger quantities need to be palletised. Your printer should be able to follow these instructions easily, and Logiforce also offers complete service including design and print of your leaflets, so you will not have to worry about any of those details if you choose these additional services by Logiforce.

 In any case, knowing the above in advance will help with not feeling overwhelmed.

 A good strategy is to prepare materials and artwork well ahead of all planned distributions for the quarter or for a whole campaign (that involves more than one weekly drop) and then have these printed or delivered as needed.

 When distributing two or more variants of the same item (i.e. you have two locations, and the addresses on half of your items are for location one, and the other half has location 2 for address) you might need to send the artwork to your leaflet distributor in advance to ensure they are aware which version goes where and in case labelling is not done correctly by the printer.
Hopefully, the information above has made you feel more confident in booking your leaflet distribution. 
 

Did you find this article helpful? If so, please share it with your friends or colleagues on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.

Do you need help with arranging your leaflet distribution or perhaps additional advice? Book a meeting or a demo here. 

If you are ready to take the next step and book a leaflet distribution – sign up for our instant booking platform here. Booking takes no more than 10 minutes, and approvals are usually within two working hours with live chat support.

 

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