I can't put a flyer THERE can I?

Whenever I talk to people about the importance of marketing their off line consulting business, the conversation normally steers toward fliers at some point.*

And why not? They're generally low cost ways to get your message in front of the kind of people who would pay to know more about you and what you have to offer.*

But there in lies the problem - with a limited budget (and therefore a limited number of flyers to hand out), how do you ensure your marketing efforts are effective?

People normally try and hand flyers out, or drop them through letterboxes. The problem with that is that most of them go in the bin, and so you're spending a lot of money on paper that's not going to take your message anywhere.*

But here's an idea I stumbled across this week;

I missed a parcel drop at home and had to go to our post depot to collect. As I approached the counter, I noticed a bunch of flyers sat on my side of the glass. As the lady went out back to get my parcel, I read one of the flyers. It was for a local person who makes speciality cakes (think Ace of Cakes only nowhere near as cool!) It was a neat flyer - I actually took one away with me for my sister to look at (she makes cupcakes)

When the lady returned with my parcel, I asked her what I'd have to do to be able to put my flyer there.*

"Just ask me nicely" was her response.*

Turned out the only reason the cake person got their flyer in there was because they'd asked a question nobody else bothered to ask!

Then it got me thinking. How often do business owners miss a delivery and have to go pick a parcel up? Fairly often in small companies, especially ones that don't have a reception or regularly work away from the office (mobile salon, driving instructors, consultants, construction etc)

So I returned the next day with my flyers, which now have pride of place next to the cake ones. I'm confident I will get some calls from them.*

But that's not all. I then went out to the local DHL, CityLink, UPS etc etc and again, I just asked the question. The friendlier you are the better, and I found it particularly effective to tell the person that they'd be doing me a HUGE favour. People like doing favours!

Think about where you could do this in your town. Then just give it a go!

Mark