Heh, I wouldn't count on it working over them just not distributing them. Or not working and them giving up on the updates.
Update April 4th 2011: Sorry guys for the lack of updates. (1). We have been busy! From our last update we received 10,000 flyers from the printers. All perfectly designed and ready for distribution. The biggest problem we had was finding a reputable distributor to deliver the flyers. too many people screwed us over, too expensive, and very bad distribution channels. Due to this we have the following stats for analysis. (1). 1000 Flyers were distributed to business in a major city. (I know not a lot, but we targeted business who received mail on a regular basis. All flyers were hand delivered directly into their mailbox. Out of 1000 we received 14 calls). = 1.4% Response rate. Fairly poor for our standards, however this lead to 2 permanent contracts. Money well spent on this campaign. ROI = $14.80 per dollar spent. (2). 1000 Flyers were delivered via Australia Post PO Boxes. = 0% Response rate. (I'm sorry but Australia Post have absolutely no idea about delivering flyers. I think they have lost our entire batch. Even though this is their main business of delivering mail. :-( We have no idea what's happening with this campaign. Until this is sorted out we are not sending any more campaigns via Australia Post. We recommend trying a small test run and see if they can manage it before spending money with their Un-Addressed Mail Service. Very Poor. Thats is all we have sent out. We can't seem to find a good honest distributor. You would think the hardest part was creating and designing the flyer. However getting the flyers out seems very challenging at the moment. Next Update within the month hopefully. Sorry for the lack of updates as well.
We received a lot of PM's regarding this. Let me get this straight - so there is no confusion all around. The ROI is high because we convert the cold call into a sale. It's not like a flyer is sent out and the customer clicks on a link and buys the product at once. The customer calls our Free Call number, then are sales and customer teams work very hard to convert the call into a valuable lead. There is a lot of work done in the background which is not listed here. The flyer for us is just a means to get the customer to call us either via email, phone or online support. hope that helps.
Update April 15th 2011: Well if you live in Australia and plan to send flyers via Australia Post Unaddressed Mail Service - I suggest DON'T DO IT. Spend the money elsewhere or with another private distribution company. Since we posted our flyers Australia Post have seemed to have misplaced our entire Order. Over $1000 AUD of Graphic / Flyers / Time down the drain. What a waste of money! We only have negative things to say about this service from a corporation sole business is to deliver the mail. On a positive side we reprinted and sent out 1000 flyers to businesses. Delivered by a paper boy Got 39 Calls and 26 Emails! Mainly for small jobs and hosting requirements but well worth the run. ROI = $11.60 per dollar spent.
Updated May 17th 2011: our final campaign didn't do too well. Low amount of calls and leads. Overall we are happy with the entire process. We made some business and learnt from our mistakes. Best advice we can give is to send out campaigns in small amounts to a targeted area and audience. Example by postcode to small business. That way you can tell when the campaign is working and when you can change it for the better. Sending out large amount of flyers I think is a waste of time if the audience is unatargeted. We have around 2000 flyers left over and will be targeting these at shopping centres and flee markets. We will post the final update ina few weeks time once it's completed.
I think you guys are paying too much for your fliers, my clients ROI has to be good because they reorder. Where are you leaving them around the city?
I already did the flyer thing on one of my affiliate sites. I did get some traffic but not really significant. Aside from the rigorous physical effort, you will never match the outcome of online marketing especially SEO. So I suggest that you stick with online marketing instead of offline marketing....