Residential Advertising Question!

10 replies
I'm new to advertising, so I thought I'd ask ya'll for some feedback.

I'm going to be distributing door hangers to 10k homes in a particular city each month for, say, 4 months. The city I plan to deliver to is fairly large - well over 10k homes...

Some of the advertisers will stay the same and some will change. My first thought was to distribute to as many different homes as possible (that the advertising pieces applied to), but I've also heard that I should deliver to the same 10k homes every month...

Any ideas/suggestions/input/advice would be greatly appreciated... I'm kicking off a home based, part-time, low cost start up business! I'm my own worst enemy because I think too much and act too little!!

Thanks!
#advertising #flyer #hanger #question #residential
  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    by door hangers you mean catalogs / sales material in plastic bags hung or dropped near a door, ? returning on a regular basis will result in more sales as people will see you are a regular and decide to buy from you / the more you stay there the more the sales you will make.

    4 weeks seems like a fast turnround and 6 - 8 weeks might work better but bring it back up to 4 weeks when you get close to Christmas to maximize customer exposure.

    now if door hangers means you sell hinges ? / sorry
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    • Profile picture of the author scott g
      Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post


      now if door hangers means you sell hinges ? / sorry
      Sorry for not being more specific - I knew I was hitting POST too quickly!

      Actual 14pt 27" long Door Hangers (that go around the knob). The hangers are plenty long enough to have multiple, perforated advertiser's coupons for local restaurants, services, etc. I want to start small, so that I don't overwhelm myself, and eventually increase the number of monthly deliveries as things progress...

      I understand that delivering to the same homes each month will help build the brand for MY advertising business, but I'm advertising for my advertiser's... if that makes sense?! I was thinking that every home is an opportunity, and that by limiting deliveries to the same homes every month would be limiting the advertiser's reach to potential customers...

      I've tried to piece these paragraph's together coherently! LOL!
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      scott g
      "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    ok, well ask your self does the pizza / kfc / burger flier come to your house once a year or about every 4 - 6 - 8 weeks ? and why would big companies work this way ?
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    | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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  • Profile picture of the author Digital Traffic
    Are you going to be delivering to all 10,000 homes a month, or is 10,000 homes just your market area and you plan to hit only 1,000 homes at a time?
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    • Profile picture of the author scott g
      Originally Posted by Digital Traffic View Post

      Are you going to be delivering to all 10,000 homes a month, or is 10,000 homes just your market area and you plan to hit only 1,000 homes at a time?

      10,000 delivered per month. My idea was to not miss any potential customer's by only delivering to the same 10,000 homes every month.

      I think that I should go with the same delivery routes, and eventually over time, when I increase monthly deliveries I will hit the areas that I was not delivering to before...

      Sorry for the redundancy.
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      scott g
      "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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  • Profile picture of the author Digital Traffic
    Redundancy is how you will make it in that business. Hitting the same 10,000 houses and businesses on a scheduled basis.

    How much you charge your clients, the type of products they sell, and the sales cycle of those products, will determine the frequency of your ads.

    How many advertisers do you have currently, and what kind?

    Another old school idea along those lines is placemat advertising, not as much distribution work on your end.
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  • Profile picture of the author Angelita
    It really depends on what you are marketing and your source of distribution.. Door hangers are easy for independent distributors to distribute but if you're going with a postal service (which is very costly) ... you would save money by printing on regular 100lb paper or postcards..

    Depending on your offer is what would work best.. calendars work well in some markets, coupons for others.

    I've never personally done door hangers but I would imagine they work well with home renovations and other 'home' or even health services.

    And yes, delivering to the same house 3-5x is great, but again, it depends on your market and offer.

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Etak
      Potential customers will start to feel a connection with you if they see your business name/logo a few times. They will remember your business (or your advertiser's business) better this way.

      I would go every 4-6 weeks with the door hangers, but I would definitely be doing another form of advertising to these people in between. Do the hangers have a website where the potential customers can go and opt in? Do they have a reason to opt in?

      Start building the list with the door hangers and send them email updates regularly. That will keep the company right under their nose and, let's face it, that's what successful marketing is all about!
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    • Profile picture of the author scott g
      I got the idea from when I was visiting a friend out of state. A big, thick 27" long door hanger was lying across his kitchen table - that he took off his front door. It was glossy and element impervious, and only bent at the perforations.

      I've never seen one like this in my area, so I did some research and couldn't find anything like it being distributed anywhere nearby. I figure I would help advertiser's create their advertisements based on their specifications, logos, and perhaps pre-existing marketing materials.

      Targeted advertisers will be home improvement, restaurants, cleaning services, sales, etc. All local stuff so customer's can present the coupons to the advertisers.

      I'm in the process of finishing the web site and creating a sales letter that can be mailed and hand delivered to potential advertisers. I've already figured all the expenses, it's just a matter of filling the rest of the spots on the door hanger with advertisers!
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      scott g
      "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."

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      • Profile picture of the author Digital Info Diva
        I did this for one of my offline businesses over 10 years ago.

        Basic rule of marketing - person must see your ad 5 - 7 times before they
        take action.

        So to get the biggest bang from your $$ and efforts, you'll want to hit the
        same neighborhood every month. Once you start getting work from the
        door hangers, you can start getting referrals. Someone will ask their
        neighbor if they have ever used you (referring to the door hanger) and
        eventually the word will get around.

        Once you have work and referrals you can expand to a new neighborhood.
        It's the rinse and repeat idea.

        With door hangers, you need to make sure you use a high quality piece
        on heavy paper. You can expect it to convert around 1%. So that's
        1 call per 100 door hangers.

        You can increase conversion by knocking on doors on the weekend to
        put a face with the door hanger.
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