Flyering?

I am starting up a new business and am currently forming a marketing plan. One of my main ideas is to go out and flyer areas in which our business wants to grow. My question is, is it illegal to flyer without a permit? Can I just go on a public street and hand out paper? can I stand in front of an establishment and hand out paper?

 

That would depend entirely on where in the world you are. Which country, state, city, even county in some instances. May help to mention that when you ask such questions.

 

dont flyer directly to a mail box that as you know is wrong and the mail man will remove such items ! ( when we started 4 years ago we did the same thing. Its best to door hang depending if you are a service busness or not!

 

I run Flyerstarter.com. We sell flyer designs and art on behalf of independent artists.

Although we stay away from more mainstream business themes with our flyer art (plenty of sites that do this quite well, like stocklayouts.com), we deal with distribution and marketing plans on a daily basis. The basic marketing principles of flyering are the same across all business sectors.

The previous poster is correct, you should consult your local chamber of commerce or similiar entity for local bylaws. A town can create whatever kind of wacky bylaws it wants and stick it to you with a ticket (or worse! You don't want some judge sentencing you to community service cleaning up garbage for 3 months, it's happened!), so you need to doublecheck.

I really don't suggest against hiring an untrusted third-party flyering service, for the reason that you should always ensure your brand name is not garbage on someones yard, business property, car, etc.

If you are getting someone outside your firm to drop the flyers, make sure it is an established company that is responsible, and even better, has established distribution points, such as kiosks in a shopping mall.

I don't know what your business type is, but personally delivering the flyers is not the way to go. Although people like to talk with the actual business proprietor, and you make personal points, in the end it cheapens your business because people figure 'if this business is any good, why is the owner standing around like a panhandler passing out flyers'. Sad but true.

It's better to put some big sign promotions around your own business property, sit at your desk, and talk peoples ear off if they are proactive enough to come in. Even if business is slow, turn the microsoft card game on the computer monitor AWAY from the public and LOOK BUSY.

Flyering is quite misunderstood, in that its cheap production costs make it seem like printing money in terms of return on investment: it ain't, 90% of most flyer runs end up as garbage littering the steets. You need to come up with a guerilla marketing tactic, such as offering a freebie if someone brings in a flyer.

Think of it like a Google adwords campaign, you need to track the effectiveness of each ad group and see who 'clicks' from where, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

 

Again, depends completely where you are. This is perfectly legal and accepted in Ireland -- Remember not to assume everyone is from the US as there are a LOT of "Other" members here.

Welcome to the forums Dove!

 

You need a permit most places here in CA. They are easy to come by - just run by city hall and fill out a form.

 

You guys are great! thanks for your help.

Yes, the business is in the US, New Jersey to be exact. Sorry I wasn't so specific.

What i am trying to do is advertise for a website for restaurants, both offline and online.

I figured flyering was a good place to start, as it's a way many restaurants traditionally advertise, as well as the low costs associated with flyering.

 

Check and see if you need permits, etc. A good place to do that is in parking lots next to the restaurant, or at colleges/universities in the area.

I personally find them annoying if they are on my car and I don't look at them, but when I was in college, I generally at least checked out places that left stuff on my door.

good luck

 

Personally:
80% of online traffic comes through search engines from what I have read... therefore if you want to get people to your website flyering is not a great idea (you are competing against TV, national press etc).

Flyering would be good for the restaurants directly, but as a return on investment you are probably better hiring someone from DP or buying PPC or something.. use your "offline" marketing methods to generate "offline" sales tends to work better from my experience..

Just a thought

 

I agree Rounde, although it does depend on what kind of restaurant.

If the restaurant does take out/delivery services, then flyers could work to boost the traffic. I don't have paper menus, just online ones.

i'm also kinda geeky though

 

Wendy, Flyers have their place... I just don't think they are much use for generating traffic to your site.. clubs, bars, restaurants, delivery, shops. They are all useful but just not to get someone going to your www

 

Thats good timming for me, as I was about to order 20,000 flyers!!

so,

Newsletters
Submit Articles
Links, including directories
Press releases (pr web ....)
A Blog
Adsense

are the main stay then for an online buisness then.

 

Yeah, I think so generally.. I had a client send out 20,000 last year and almost no discernable effect on visitor counts. Although a slight increase on the phones..

 

mY bad,I suppose a trip to the local govt office should clear that up in a jiffy!

 

That leaves 20% of 20,000 flyers = 4,000 and if only 10% of that business was generated from a flyer
And you sold a service (house cleaning, lawn care at $50.00 a whack)
Figuring 20,000 flyers cost about .02 a copy (expensive)($400.000 cost)
You would have a $19,600 return ($50.00 x 400=$20,000) for a $400.00 investment.

Hum I suppose flyers work for some businesses not others of course you could spend $400.00 on direct mail with a coverage area of 20,000 people and get better results, especially if you used a demographics based mailing list.

 

Your maths makes no sense...
1. The 20% has nothing to do with flyers.

20% is the amount of traffic avaiable from other sources... TV Radio, word of mouth etc..

Flyers - cost much more than 2c each. Design, Print AND ACTUAL flyering cost the money.
Also,
$19,600 in return? I don't see it. 20,000 flyers - 1%-2% response rate - = 200-400 customers - take away the cost of flyering, printing + design. Then take away the cost of actually providing the service ($50) - as you choose.
So, you are left with quite a tight margin.

Oh AND this is for flyer response NOT for getting people to the actual website.

 

Although I agree in general, there are cases where this doesn't hold true. The key is to have a local connection. A website I know that gives away free coupons for beer and movies throught the UK and Ireland for going to their site, playing games, gaining points, etc did a major flyer campaign. Because they could tie the site into a local product they did very well, getting people to go to their site.

We did a general flyer campaign and saw near nothing...We then did a product based campaign and did brilliant.

The other thing to keep in mind is that someone has to normally see something 7 times before acting. So a one time flyer blitz will most likely fail and end up just draining your funds.

 

Yep.. seems flyering is worth it, if
1. You know exactly what you are targeting.
2. You are not really trying to get people online (let alone to buy online)
3. You want some brand recognition.
4. You want to target locally.
5. You have money to burn

 

Flyers are a asset to most small businesses they are a physical ASSET(not virtual)
They can be saved, held onto for future use.
Like a website the flyer is only as good as its content
If you flyer a target group with a junk flyer you get junk!

Note most printing company’s in the states will print black and white flyers for .02 cents
In addition, if you can run a website, computer etc most likely you can typeset and print out a copy so the print company can copy.

Vs. $1500.00 for a radio spot or a TV add that runs 2 times a day for a week on a channel you hope someone did not use your commercial break spot for a bathroom break.
It’s a great return on a little investment

AS FAR AS TARGETING LOCAL well thats the down side . yes you do target local ,but keep in mind not everones website is for global domination .
what good is google ranking if your neibor who will use you dont know you exsist.