Whether messaging friends, catching up on the news, tracking deliveries, or shopping for the latest deal, more and more of our interactions now seem digital, not physical. This includes how we communicate with one another, but it also includes how we interact with brands and choose to spend our money.
Many businesses base their marketing strategy around digital channels and getting their products in front of users online. However, while there is clear value in digital marketing, companies should not forget the importance of offline advertising and reaching real people in the real world.
In particular, the tried and tested method of handing out a physical flyer has helped businesses advertise themselves for a long time. Even in this digital-first age, flyers still have a considerable impact. Whether:
You’re opening a new business and want to introduce your brand to the local area
You’ve got a special event planned and want to attract interest
You want to offer discounts and grow your customer base
With the right design and distribution strategy, flyers can create a lasting impression.
Why your business needs space for flyers in the marketing budget
Flyers are a simple, low-cost, effective method of reaching future customers and letting them know about your business. Plus, they can be delivered directly to the people you want to target. This could be handing flyers out in person to the foot traffic near your store or delivering flyers to a specific neighborhood that would benefit from your services.
Flyers allow you to tap into previously unseen audiences. Perhaps ones you wouldn’t have even thought of as part of your target audience. Through a real-life, more personal interaction, you can find new consumers and help build strong, lasting relationships leading to improved customer retention and greater brand recall for smooth re-engagement.
Low cost, high return
Compared to other channels, flyers can deliver results at a fraction of the cost. All you need to do is:
Design an eye-catching flyer – you can either find professional designers or do this in-house using various tools or premade templates.
Printing – plenty of professional print services can deliver great-looking flyers, or you can invest in a printer upfront and reduce future print costs.
Choose your channel and target audience – for example, hand-to-hand, door-to-door, or direct mail, each of these channels allows you to target people in a specific location.
Deliver the flyers – simple as that.
In the time it takes to get a low-cost flyer campaign up and running, you might still be searching for a web designer to overhaul your site or trying to figure out the Google/Facebook Ads ecosystem.
Flyers vs online advertising
While everyone seems to be spending most of their time on the internet, online advertising has become so ubiquitous that many of us tune it out, scrolling past and barely taking it in. That’s before you even consider the people using adblockers to prevent them from seeing the vast majority of online marketing.
Given that most websites and apps are often filled with intrusive advertisements, popping up out of nowhere or starting a video without request, it is no wonder people are turning to adblockers to clean up their online experience.
In comparison, it is much harder to ignore a real person handing you a flyer. Even people that start off disinterested are still going to take a glance, and that’s the window you have to grab their attention with an eye-catching design or a great deal.
Plus, many customers just like having a tangible object in their hands, something that distills the company or its special offers into a concise and clear message. It differentiates your company from everyone else trying to reach people online.
Also, a physical object feels inherently more believable than an online ad. Given the number of online scams, a “great deal” seen online feels too good to be true. While scammers are unfortunately everywhere, a company that’s taken the time to pass on a physical flyer is more likely to be genuine, leading people to investigate further and hopefully become customers.
Reaching offline markets
While it may not feel like it, there remains a sizeable audience, often older in demographic, who aren’t active online. They don’t use social media, and they don’t use google to discover new things.
These people are unreachable through digital channels but still exist in the real world. They walk the streets like the rest of us and still have addresses to mail flyers to. These are the same people making in-person purchases who prefer brick-and-mortar stores, the businesses ideally positioned to take advantage of advertising with flyers.
So not only can flyers tap into a market difficult to reach through other channels, the audience you reach is precisely the sort of people more inclined to use your service.
Still not convinced flyers are suitable for your business. Here are 13 stats showing just how effective they can be.
13 stats demonstrating the effectiveness of flyers
Flyers make a bigger impression
We’ve gotten really good at ignoring TV and online advertising, but a tangible object in your hands will make a more significant impression on you. You’ll remember where you were when it was handed to you, and with the right messaging and design, you’ll remember the business.
1. 89% of people remember receiving a flyer, more than any other form of advertising. (DMA)
Flyers are a hugely popular form of advertising, reaching almost 9 out of 10 people. Because they target people in the real world, not a specific medium (i.e., TV, online, radio, etc.), they are the most prevalent form of advertising.
2. 79% of consumers keep hold of flyers they receive, pass them on, or at least look at them. (DMA)
3. 45% of people regularly keep flyers they receive for future reference. (DMA)
4. 38% of flyers are kept for at least a few days & 13% are kept for over a week. (DMA)
A significant number of people hold onto their flyers, pass them on to friends and family, or take in some of the information they contain. If it doesn’t convert someone into a customer there and then, it at the very least, increases awareness of your brand. Even if they end up stuffed away in a draw, they can potentially get rediscovered in the future and help generate sales down the line.
5. 62% of people mute or change the channel during tv adverts & 81% skip advertising in the press (i.e., newspapers, magazines, etc.). (DMA)
6. 42.7% of internet users worldwide use ad-blocking tools at least once a month. (Hootsuite)
Other forms of advertising, both online and offline, are easy to ignore. They get in the way while trying to do something else, like watching a show, browsing the internet, or reading the paper. Flyers, on the other hand, are a tangible object, not a passing moment, and therefore help produce a longer-lasting impression on consumers.
Discount flyers
The most popular reason to incorporate flyers is to offer recipients a discount with the hope of turning them into repeat customers.
7. 33% of customers keep flyers with money-off coupons or in-store deals. (DMA)
8. Flyers offering a discount code are 50% more likely to be kept for at least a week. (DMA)
9. 71% of consumers think free samples, special offers, and coupons help them to find services that suit their needs. (DMA)
Great deals and free samples are hard to deny, and discount flyers drive engagement. Getting people to make the purchase is the hardest part of the sales cycle. Once they’ve tried your product, getting them to try it again is much easier.
Flyers’ impact on the bottom line
What businesses really want to know is how flyers impact their bottom line.
10. 88% of companies polled said flyer distribution increased the company’s services and products. (DMA)
11. 42% of companies state that door drop campaigns are critical to their overall marketing strategy. (DMA)
Flyers increase business, and delivering them directly to people’s doors is a vital part of almost half of companies. Plus, this number is across industries, including those less suited to door drop campaigns, for example, B2B transactions.
12. 48% of consumers visit the shop advertised, seek extra information, or buy the product after receiving a leaflet through their door. (DMA)
13. 48% of consumers have responded to flyer advertising. (DMA)
Flyers get results, with almost half of consumers responding and taking action in some form.
Who should use flyers?
While flyers are an effective form of marketing, they may not suit every business. What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of flyers? There is a strong chance it is related to grocery shopping:
- Market Basket Flyer
- Shaw’s Flyer
- Stop and Shop Flyer
- Price Chopper Flyer
- Hannaford Flyer
- Walgreens Flyer
These are the most well-known because they target something all of us buy in an industry still dominated by in-person purchases.
But, flyers apply to many other businesses, particularly local businesses that want to target customers nearby. This could be:
- Hospitality – bars, restaurants, food takeout, etc.
- Tradespeople – contractors in the local area
- Community groups – charitable organizations, homeowners associations, sports clubs, etc.
- Financial services – local accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, tax agents, etc.
All of these and more can achieve actual results using flyers, and just like most other industries, the key to efficient flyer marketing is technology.
Using tech to run a modern flyer campaign
Offline marketing doesn’t stop you from tracking or monitoring your campaigns. Modern flyer advertising is at its best when it is powered by data and targeted for maximum impact. Define your target audience like any other marketing, then design the perfect flyer to match.
Using offline marketing platforms like Oppizi, you can get the advantages of real-world interactions while retaining digital marketing tools to optimize for the most significant impact. So get in touch today, and learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals and take your business to new heights.
