Putting flyers on car windows...

To be honest those fliers do annoy me, but there must be results because I think people would stop doing them after awhile.

I personally don't even bother to look at it.

I just screw it up and chuck it.

I've been tempted to try it but it is just too annoying. Another problem is liability... If someone drives off and the paper obstructs their view and they crash, I bet they would want to sue you.

I would strongly advise against this. I am also in the crowd that just crumples it up and throws it away without looking at it, but I agree it's a liability. Not only might it obstruct someone's vision if they drive away, but to do this, you (or the paper) would have to touch someone else's property. That is NOT a good idea, I don't think. Can you imagine all the things you might get blamed for if someone wanted to?

Bad idea...

In some places this might be considered trespassing and get you into trouble.

Once in college the police were searching for some ... err, I'd better stop there before my wife kills me.

Strangely enough, we had a guy come into our print shop the other day that has one of those "cash for gold" businesses in a nearby town. He wanted to get prices on business cards, flyers, marketing materials, etc.

I asked him what had been his most successful marketing method over the years, and he said "flyers at the malls and parking lots - but it's just so hard to do anymore."

I'm one of those that would throw them away, but evidently, plenty of others aren't.

They work and they work big time.

There are ways to do it with immunity from punishment and with great success. And with the blessing of the business owners. Malls? No experience there, however, they are managed by people and people can be persuaded if there is "something in it for them." Think about it.

Just think out of the box.

George Wright

Hi MarketingMama,

Let me just say that putting flyers onto cars is such
a pain in the ass to do. The best way to leverage this
techinique is to hire a helicopter and throw a few thousand
out the window of the chopper as you fly over all the
carparks.

That way you can do your whole town in about 20 minutes
intead of doing 1/4 of 1 carpark in the same time period.

Take Care,

Michael Silvester

I can't believe there are so many litter bugs here. I hope when you say 'throw away', you mean dispose of properly and not throw on the street!

Seriously though.

My previous apartment was on a street very near the city center so it was constantly used by drivers for free parking then they'd walk into the city, always packed with cars and it was very popular for people to slip business card underneath the drivers door handles.

I assume that it worked because they were back advertising the same thing again and again in all the streets around my area.

Depending on what the free thing is, you might consider taking out a classified ad (especially if you live in a small town) or maybe an ad in a relevant magazine. If you have community bulletin boards in your area you could put your flyer there too with some tear off tags.

Our community around here get's fliers all the time and most of the time they end up on the ground. Now, I usually look at them but never respond unless it's a club or some crazy going out of business sale...then I might respond...

I personally think it would hurt your reputation vs help it.

Hi privateer,

Sorry to hear that. Would the $2k had you not had to pay the fine been worth your while?

I'm just wondering because as I eluded to above, Mall Management can allow you to pass out flyers if they want to. Also you might have needed a permit.

One more question if you don't mind. How many flyers did you pass out to make the $2,000.

(I'm assuming you made $2,000 because you said after a $2k fine you barely broke even.)

I'm guessing here, but I'd bet that what you think people would like and use and what they think after finding your flier on their car, will be two different things.

I've seen people sweep through a lot, putting fliers on cars, and minutes later it looks like a blizzard hit a parking lot in Florida in high summer. Then the afternoon rain comes, and there's a real mess that the tenants of the shopping center have to pay real money to clean up.

Not to mention the innocent flier that gets soaked in the shower and baked onto the windshield, or the ink that runs and stains a paint job.

I've had fliers come off of cars and plaster themselves against my windshield at 60 mph - NOT fun.

Can you tell I don't think much of the idea?

If you want a mileage deduction, get a post office box and/or a bank account along your normal routes. When you stop to check the mail or do your business banking, the mileage is deductible. Just make sure you keep a log of your "business" trips.

[Standard CYA - the above is not to be taken as specific tax advice - check with a competent advisor before acting.]

Flyers have literally doubled my income for one of my online businesses. And guess what?

My CUSTOMERS distribute them! I do nothing!

On one of the pages of my site, a user has the ability to write an advertisement, print it off at home on their printer, then go about doing letter box drops or what have you in their area. This means, they are promoting something for themselves, along with my web address which is marked on the bottom.

Its a win win situation, which is constantly bringing me more and more business.

Offline marketing still has its place.

By 2 cents...they might work and if you get the business owners permission (also easier if you agree to come by after the day and pick up all of the ones disguarded on the property) BUT....many cities have ordinances about this and I have known night club promoters ect to get fined $100 per postcard/flyer found on the ground!!!! It's easy to find the person because their advertisment has name and number for contact...be careful, its a hefty fine in some cities....

Done it several times with poor results. And have been trespassed and chased.

Do something else IMO.

Tisk Tisk Tisk,

I am guessing that very few here have actually tried this, but still have opinions of how effective it is because they would be offended.

There are several ways to make this MORE than worth while for you and your business.

First check with the parking lot owner (not always the same person that is the mall owner) before taking your fliers to the parking lots.

Get permission, and Paid permission is best...

While many people try the go for the windshield method, it is not the best method of placing fliers on vehicles.

Place the flier on the drivers door, either the slide it into the window, or in the crack around the door opening. There is a very high percentage that make it inside the vehicle with out the typical windshield wadding up.

Take a standard 8X11 sheet of paper and create 6 fliers per sheet, not only does this expand the number of impressions you get per page it also makes it more likely to be retained by the driver.

A strong call to action is a must.

OK here is the bonus round.

The sneaky method of getting the mall to say yes when they don't want to...

Find a merchant in the mall, and mention their store on your flier, even though it mainly is about you. The Shops that have the little kiosks in the aisles are looking for anything to attract attention are good prospects to use, also they will often also allow you to place your fliers on their kiosks.

It no longer is solicitation, its now a joint venture with a lease holder and malls are less likely to get upset.

You still want to get permission from the parking lot owner even with placing a mall lease holder on your flier.

Bonus Round Two.

If you have a business that would be something that travelers in the area would be interested in, also include cars in the parking lots of motels and hotels. Talk with the house keeping staff, (many work for tips) contact them to put the fliers on the cars for you everyday, and give them a bonus / commission for fliers that are used. Make sure the flier has to be presented for the special offer etc. You will be surprised how often these fliers will end up in the guests room right next to the envelope for the maid service's tips.


Mark Riddle

Twist the overall idea into Smarter marketing methods by focusing on particular specialty niche offerings! Joint Venture with a variety of relevant niche retailers and run a mix of win-win distribution campaigns personalized for each retailer, especially for their customers...

Don't call it a flyer! Develop it into a Hotsheet business model with an added spin on local email marketing by collecting email addresses and turn things into some Great fish bowl profits and money making opportunities for all parties involved...

Dave

Mama, there are more effective ways to do this thing. Many years ago when I had newly arrived in a mid-sized southern town, I started a new business and within a month I had six or seven weeks of work backed up.

I see you don't have enough posts yet to PM me, but reply in this thread, and I'll be happy to email you the particulars at no charge (it's legal, cheap, non-littery, extremely simple, and you DO get calls).

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

You don't need a flyer to write that off. Just write the mileage and eat with someone and ask if they have any leads for you...and quite frankly, that's about all it takes...

I hate this form of advertising. It wastes paper and people normally don't see the ad until they've sat inside the car. This immediately pisses them off because they need to get back out to remove it.

Instead, try the following:
Hire some local teenagers that can rollerblade.
Take your flyers and staple a rubber band to each of them.
Pay the teens to place the ads on door handles of homes.

There's a guy that does this locally and makes a killing.

a flyer? i'd probably be annoyed. but what if you gave a little gift instead? Drivers dont need/want a flyer, but you could find something they do need and want, like light.

I've seen places like alibaba.com where you can contact worldwide manufacturers and get branded giveaway junk...like little led light keychains that anyone with a car (read: keys) would want for in the neighborhood of .02 to .25 per unit when bought in bulk

Everyone will throw away a piece of paper, would you throw away a lighted keychain?
Keychains, Keychains Manufacturers & Suppliers

It's not very targeted. You would have to put out thousands of flyers to get any action. I laugh when I get a flyer on my BMW (wifes car of course ) looking for temp workers or "how to get your own website" .

Having spent 12 years in the Rent-to-Own business, I can say we used this method extensively. Not only parking lots, but apt. complexes and residential areas as well.

We would do our own parking lot (strip mall with large grocery store anchor) several times a day and make occassional flyer runs as time allowed.

In all of those years, we never had an issue with the police or received a ticket of any kind.

We did receive calls from apt managers asking us to come pick up the cast off flyers, which we did. This usually only happened when we used flyers instead of door hangers, didn't make that mistake too many times.

We did receive calls from property management companies asking us to come pick up our flyers from their parking lots and sometimes to even remove them from any vehicles in their lots.

We did receive the occassional call telling us that the flyers had ran ink onto their paint.

A large business can afford some of the trouble that comes along with that form of advertising, I don't know that I would want to go through some of those issues personally, as an individual business though.

I used to send a crew of 5 or six guys that could knock the job out fairly quickly. Who has time to go out and pick up a parking lot themselves? Not me.

Better ways to advertise in my opinion.

One really effective way of advertising for us was to negotiate deals with other vendors in our area.

Example: We would supply the pizza place with a tv for their breakroom and they would include our flyers on their take-out boxes.

Worked similar deals with movie rental places, apt. managers, etc..

The way to reach your customers is still there, just think about who is already reaching them and then figure out a way you can both benefit.

Offline JV's

I have another idea.....

instead of on cars make a deal with the local guy thats in charge of the free papers and because he makes cash in hand out of it, having your leaflet inside of all those local papers will be very cheap.

or find a couple of students to do it for you and outsource it. People expect things through their door and it doesnt feel as anooying as the card on the windscreen style and the results are so much better.

kind regards


sam
X

dang, lots of good stuff here!

yeah i do give up too easily sometimes, or start to second-guess myself. guess i'd better get a tougher skin and more out-of-the-box thinking if i'm going to succeed with my business!

part of the reason i was going to target mall parking lots is b/c my biz involves saving people money on their expenses: including retail purchases and eating out.

i don't think i'll be renting a helicopter anytime soon... LOL

i like the idea someone had about putting post-its on the driver side window! can you automatically print onto post-its, or do you have to handwrite on each of them? if it's the latter, it wouldn't be worth it. but if i could find a way to feed them through a printer....?? or if not, maybe invest in rubber stamps so I can just stamp the info on each post it? i could hire my daughter to do that...

however, maybe pressing a sticky note to someone's window would set off their car alarm if they had one?

i really need exercise, so i wouldn't mind walking a little bit myself to put flyers or post-its on cars.

the led light keychain thing is a cool idea too.

and partnering up with people in the mall... yeah...

i know there was other stuff mentioned, too. i'll have to go back and re-read.

hmmm, so many options now!

ultimately i want to minimize "the annoyance factor" but maximize the potential for cheap advertising. also, i don't want to be setting off everyone's car alarm!

has anyone else who has done this had that problem?

thanks for all your input everyone! you've given me a lot to think about...

Do people even do this any more? I haven't seen it since I was a kid.

A number of people have PMed me asking for details about my non-flyer method. Apparently there's enough interest in offline marketing, so I'll post it here.

- - - - - - - - -

Many years ago, I was out of work in a new city. I wasn't quite broke, but it was close, so I decided I'd start up a small part-time business while I looked around for something more substantial.

I decided on house painting. It's easy to get into because many people don't want to do their own, and some of the "professionals" in the business are not very professional. It's easy to compete and to stand out.

Art is not my strongest talent, but I spent about three hours drawing and re-drawing a simple, friendly little painter character as a logo mascot. It took me that long to get the figure looking good enough to use. Then I had an instant printer run me off a batch of business cards featuring that character as my logo. I handed those cards out to everybody I met. It said:

Charles Burke
The Careful Painter

And gave my address and phone number.

Note that catch phrase. A lot of people worry that when they hire a stranger, he'll come in, sling paint around, and make a mess. So I made a promise (literally, a guarantee) that resonated with most homeowners' concerns.

Whatever business you decide on, try to identify a fear that you can soothe, making you a hero to your potential customers.

Next, I pasted a dozen of my new cards onto a single 8.5x11 sheet of paper and had the same instant printer do up about 200 sheets, using sepia ink on buff paper - a little bit nicer and more "deluxe looking" than simple black on white. I asked him to cut the sheets back down into business card size stacks and them use printer's glue (padding compound) to make pads of the cards. I ended up with almost a hundred pads of these business cards printed on ordinary thin, buff-colored paper, with about 50 in each pad.

Next, I glued each pad onto a 3x5 index card and wrote "Take One" at the top. Dead simple concept.

About half of the grocery stores in my area had bulletin boards. I spent a few hours driving around to all those stores, and anywhere I saw a bulletin board I thumb-tacked up a pad of my cards. I figured it'd take months to get semi-busy.

I was wrong.

The phone started ringing within two days, and after one month, I was working seven days a week and had six weeks of work backed up.

People would peel off a card, take it home and hang on to it for months. In a few cases, I got calls for estimates a year or more after I stopped posting the cards. When people keep your ads that long, you know it's effective advertising.

It's interesting that my newspaper ads in the Business Services and classified sections pulled almost no responses.

Two years later, when I moved on, I sold the painting business to a friend for a nice little profit.

Moral of that story? If you want to reach real buyers with your offer, go where they go, place your ad where they actively look for ads, BUT make your ad stand out from everybody else's with original presentation and an offer that nobody else is making (I'll be careful with your home).

Don't schlock it up, though...

Some time back I told a friend about this and he thought he'd do a promotion for his own business. But he started cutting corners. Now, this is little technique is definitely not expensive, so spending less is hard to do. Instead, he cut his corners by ignoring style.

He made all his copies on an old copier. The image quality - well, everything looked like it was 10th generation. And rather than take the job down to a print shop where they could make neat, clean-cut pads, he just had his kids cut everything out with scissors and used ordinary glue to try and make his pads. It looked like crappy and cheap.

Then he came back afterwards and told me "your idea was for s**t... I got almost no calls, and no new business from it."

Gee - I wonder why.

With a little creative thinking, it doesn't take much more effort to look professional, but it's so worth that effort.

Anyway that's how I built a brand new business from zero to fully booked without ever spreading flyers in parking lots.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I had never painted a house nor hung wallpaper before in my life. I just went to the library and checked out how-to books. For other info, I asked advice at the paint stores where I bought supplies. They were happy to help me. And though I was slow at first, the work was good quality because I did take my time to do it right.

Another time, I was in a small city of about 150,000. This was well before the age of computers.

I looked around and saw that there were only two or three fairly large typewriter repair shops, and they were quite expensive, aimed at servicing the big companies. Nothing for the many typewriters sitting in people's homes. So I went to the library and looked up a supplier of typewriter parts and tools. They were only about 50 miles away in a nearby city.

The next day, I put a small classified ad in the newspaper, offering to repair typewriters.

Your Typewriter Repaired Fast
Satisfaction absolutely guaranteed
If it doesn't work right, you don't pay

That supplier gladly sold me parts in lots of one and two, and resurfaced the rubber plattens when they required it.

Again, I had never repaired a typewriter, but I managed to fix every machine, manual or electric, that came my way. My price was good, and I delivered fast.

Although I wasn't flooded with work, it paid the rent, put groceries on the table and left me with considerable free time to read and goof off.

The moral of these two stories? Finding customers has mostly to do with finding what people want and offering it to them in a way that resonates with what they're already thinking and feeling. You don't SELL them, you just tune into them and offer them what they're craving.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

In such times, you never know. If your advertisement SPEAKS to them, and connects immediately to their needs, you may just have found yourself a customer -- desperate.

stand at a railway station exit and hand out the flyer on a Friday morning, fridays most people are looking for something to do other than work

Hi
I have just read your thread and would just say be carefull when adopting this method of advertising,I had a neighbour who promoted a major health and nutrition company using this method,The shopping mall she went to is one of the biggest in Essex(UK).
She did not get any response for the products,But she did get a fine from the council for littering (from the dicarded flyers) and an insurance claim for a broken windscreen wiper, And as her name,email address and telephone number were all over the flyers she could not do anything about it.

That assumes that your offer is really different to the others that are using this method.

I would guess that the other advertisers who were using this method also think that their offer is something that the car owners would want. Otherwise why would they waste their time leafleting?

You know I read somewhere a long time ago that flyers have an average life of 7 seconds before they disappear into the flyer abyss. Maybe flyers are the predecessor of spam?

Junk mail may rank higher though.

Eric

These things are always on my car and I've only looked into 1 out of about 200. I think flyers on cars are extremely annoying, but I also hate when a opt in form pops up on someones home page and blocks me from reading the page for a few seconds. Annoying things sometimes work.

I had a few kids that attended my old high school to do it for me...I sell clothes/shoes and my target market is kids anyway.....They handed the fliers out and posted some on cars....Didnt have any problems, I made alot of money off of it in that one week I had them post stuff on the cars in the parking lot but I learned alot of other ways to promote since then....This was about a year ago

As a side note.. if you do decide to do the flyer thing, make sure you use white paper... lol..

I had an experience with this years back and I got a voicemail from some angry guy telling me how it rained and my pink flyer had stained his brand new white truck....lol...

Don't listen to people that haven't done this before. It does work. It's just that you need to track whether it works for you in your niche. DO listen to people like the person that got fined 2G's from the mall though...lol Tough break.

They are right though in that there are other better more efficient ways to market.

Also, i only read through half of the posts, but if you're looking for a way to write off your trips, why not do something simple like advertise on your car with some vinyl or some magnets.

Good fortune to you,

~Russell Prisco =)

granted i'm new to all this but as a suggestion,

stick to driving traffic from the comfort of your own computer and buy 2 coffee's while your in the mall then you can 'right it off' as a meeting or networking

You'd be better off paying a kid to stand on the corner in a funny costume and wave your URL around on a sign

Yes, I think putting flyers on car windshields would annoy people and be bad for your business.

Being a marketer...when I get flyers, they intrigue me. I like to go home and look up the website to see what someone local could be up to! It's crazy to me to think of someone local doing something like what I do...so I find it interesting and I actually do read them...but again, I am a true marketer, so I love to see what others have going on.

I totally believe that if I found something that totally grabbed my attention I would take action on it!

So on that note, I believe flyers work!

Also...I think just like online...you have to attract them...I think your offer on your flyer has to hurry up and get their attention and make them want to call, look up, go online or take whatever action you need them to take for more information!

I have been kind of thinking of doing local flyers too...if I do, I will let you know exactly what I used and how it went!

May consider doing this to my own car windows...

I believe it could work depending on what you are offering and how you set the flyer or card up. Is there a call to action with the benefits clearly shown?

I've heard people doing fantastic putting up flyers wherever, and heard of people doing terrible. Just like everything else, it comes down to your:

1) sales approach
2) ability to speak to the type of people who will be reading your pitch
3) ability of your back end to convert to those people

Do NOT put flyers on peoples' cars. That's lame. In many places it's also illegal. If I came out of the store and saw you touching my 100k car I'd punch you in the face (assuming you're not a 6'5" 230lb ripped MMA looking dude)

1. It's annoying. 2 It's very damaging to the environment. Most people throw them onto the street or the wind blows them away leaving trash everywhere. Have some respect for your community, people, and try effective marketing tactics.

Have you thought of putting a bumper sticker on your car
to promote your site/free offer?

I've seen many cars these days advertising this website
address/uRL on their fron and/or bumpers...

This method is alot cheaper and safer than doing fliers.

I wouldn't do any flyers, door hangers or any other method like this until you contact your city office. Every town/city has regulations on using flyers, door-to-door advertisments and even road signs.

I used to be an alarm salesman for a few years. And sometimes I would use some of these methods. Not the car flyers, but all the rest.

When I first started, I almost considered not calling the city. I figured, why bring attention to myself. But good thing I decided to call anyways. I found out that every town is different.

Some towns don't allow it at all. If they find any, they'll slap you with a nice huge fine. Now, some towns want you to pay for a temporary permit. Also, sometimes they require you to be bonded before getting the permit.

Each town's fees and rules are different. When it came to road signs, some towns didn't care, some wanted to charge huge permit fees and other would charge a huge penalty fee for each sign they found of yours.

Again, don't run out and do this before calling your city/town first. I'm telling you, sometimes the fees can be outrageous. Even one town I called, the police officers would pull the advertisments and give you a ticket.

Again, not all towns are like this. My city doesn't care. The only rule they have is don't distract important road signs and if you're going to flyer, make sure to secure each flyer down.

Hope I didn't put a damper on anyone's plan. I just didn't want to see anyone get in trouble.

Just my 2 cents.
Brad

P.S. Don't even get me started on what can happen if you door knock someone that has a "no solicitation" sign on their door. :rolleyes:

For a good time, make up a batch of flour-based paste and glue them to the window.

{this is sarcasm... not to be construed as real advice}

I have done it a couple times. But it was targeted. I co-own an auction company and we put flyers out at another auction company's auction (with permission) and actually had great success from it. ONLY because they were HIGHLY targeted customers that I knew for a fact would be interested if they knew about it. But advertising anything online like this would end in utter disaster I assume.

Do not use flyers...
Print laminated book marks with a nice design at the top and a hole with yarn through it and tied. They will keep that, your ad goes under the nice design seen by their friends. (their friends will also see you ad.)

I have seen several small signs around town at red lights. They state something about how to get out of debt and then have a catchy web address. I think they probably work pretty well because they've gotten my attention more than once.

It Depends on the sales copy.

If you wrote a compelling letter, then it might work. Otherwise I'd be inclined to make a flyer that was more expensive, but had a more unique look to it.

I guess I'm thinking in online terms of conversion here.

You would be better off making a classified ad in your local newspaper. Or even find a good telephone pole in the area and nail up a flier.

I know that this might not be the best of ideas but i heard once that someone had the idea of making a bumper sticker flyer, and then wait for everyone to go to sleep and basically put it on everyone's bumber sticker, and the publicity alone would be enough lol, even though I wouldn't recommend this at all, just think how many people you would piss off lol, the media just might get involved haha, as a more serious note, how many people actually look at their bumper every day?

I think that people get pissed off if they even get business cards in their window, so it's a touch situation, but i mean who likes watching commercials on their t.v., yet we are forced to watch something during a show, we own the t.v., but we don't own the station, of course this has no relation to the flyers, but just thought I would put it out there and advise against putting flyers on other people's cars...

also just be weary that if you do try to do this in malls and get caught security might ban you from the mall as it's seen as possible litter

Ok writing off you gas mileage. meet a friend for coffee, bring a survey form and fill it out with them. Then you are doing marketer research. Flyers on car windows, one you will more than likely get done for littering, because if people throw them on the street. You are responsible. Door to Door works better, but still they are better ways. Employ someone to stand and hand them out, get your local newspaper to do them as an insert. Go to the post office, they will drop for you

"Always keep in mind, you don't always know what you think you know"

Words to live by... Test test test!

Some cities have laws that can get you in quite deep, legally and financially.

I know that in Gilbert, AZ they have a litter law for this type of thing. If your promotion is found on the street or any public area due to you spamming a parking lot, they make you pay...... by the piece...

Times that by as many people that just throw them on the ground and you could be paying a pretty penny. (ask me how I know... )


Check your local laws if you're going to try this.

I'd avoid fliers... it's going to cost money and time, which could be better spent.

One huge problem I can see with this method is the "leads" arn't targeted enough...
Unless its a particular parking lot for a specific niche!

Years ago I placed flyers on windshields under wiperblades. The first call I got and they said "I just got your flyer on my windshield."

I got all excited because I was about to make a sale. What I wasn't prepared for was ... "You owe me for a broken windshield wiper".

Find out the laws in your area for this type marketing and then proceed with caution when you know that there are no repercussions.

Working in the nightclub industry for years I have so much experience in this it really isn't funny...a little embarrassing.

I admit, I haven't read the whole thread, but here are some of my applicable 'lessons learned' from this. Mind you,some aren't for the do gooders of the world.

1) - Put a fake ad/promotions agency on the flyer. If you get complaints about the flyer just tell them you hired an agency to distribute the flyers. Yup, it's crappy but it gets the job done.

2) - Don't use 1/4 flyers if don't have to. Use business cards and keep the advertising short and sweet. When putting them on the cars, stick them in the driver side window where the glass meets the rubber. This takes the paper off the windshield.

3) - Malls are good but they are a lot of work. We used to flyer apartment complexes like crazy. After I finished DJ'n we'd down a few drinks and walk over the apartment complex and flyer away.

4) - You can also post your flyers anywhere with a cork-board. Laundromats are great because have nothing to really do except read what's on the walls

5) - If you go at night, don't dress in black - you look like you're up to something.

6) - Watch out, you might get sent a bill for clean up of parking lots. If they call you, offer to personally clean it yourself. (Then apologize about your fake promo company)

I touched on this before, but there are so many ways to distribute flyers it isn't funny.
- leave one in public restrooms placing them where people 'read' the most
- leave one with your tip at restaurants
- Staple tabloid size ads to telephone poles (of course local laws would apply)
- I've even stuffed flyers in the shoes and purses for sale at JCPenny
- Around places where people congregate in malls (food court, couches, play areas)
- etc....

When I was actively promoting a forum for my local area I would keep a stack of business cards in my pocket and just place them around. Not too many to look like you were spamming the place but just so people could 'find it.'

Look around, printers are always doing $25 business card specials. Or you can try Vistaprint for their $5.95 special. For High Quality cards try PKGraphic.com.

Couldn't you just buy something related to your buisness. Ink for your printer, paper, pens whatever... as long as it's buisness releated.

I bet it would be cheaper than getting flyers printed.

In some areas, it is ILLEGAL! It is just DUMB! Few read it, few care, it is expenxive, annoying, etc... ALSO, it is LITTERING!

Steve

Get your message out using any method you can think of. I once had t-shirts made up with my website address on it. Then I took boxes of them to various homeless shelters around the city. That was more than two years ago and I still see them pop-up from time to time around town. They'll be in circulation forever.

I have a local client that I work with that gets the local newspaper boys to include her fliers once per month in their newspaper deliveries. They are already delivering the newspapers to the houses so they charge her very little to include the fliers. She gets about 1%-2% returns on these

Another Great low cost local advertisement method I have got her using is large helium balloons.
We attach a vertical banner to this like the example below. It works great to generate curiosity and is a low cost reusable source of advertisement. (except for the helium)
These are much like a mobile billboard except a hell of a lot cheaper.

96spacebuster



If you shop around a bit you can often find the Blimp types at discounted rates. Especially during the winter when they are not selling well. A little more pricey than the above method but they last a very long time and can be reused and easily relocated. Find an event, park near by, tie it off to your car bumper. Just be sure to follow the height restrictions on how high you let them fly. Causing aircraft to crash might not be good for business.

Advertising Balloons, Inflatables, RC Blimps, Searchlights - Above & Beyond

Fliers actually work if you get them to the right people in the right places. Most people will discard them, but many will respond either for more information or to actually take advantage of your offer. In most places putting fliers in mailboxes is illegal so check first before putting them anywhere else as well. I have seen people place them on and inside of doors and on (but not in) certain mailboxes particularly the ones that have the "arms." on the bottom of them or whatever they are technically called and of course fliers on windshields as well.



Personally speaking, I probably wouldn't distribute them through questionable and possibly illegal means. My business is entirely internet based so if I gave them my website it would pretty much scream "come give me a ticket if you object to this." plus if they don't have internet access it would do them little good.

I'm not exactly sure what people are offering. But based on my experience in network marketing, it works best to talk to actual prospects or people who might be interested in your opportunity and give them the fliers in person. Or mail the fliers to prospects where this isn't possible. Same with customers as well, talk to potential customers and give them the fliers and mail fliers to potential customers who you wouldn't be able to speak to in person. It really works best to tell the person about what you are offering in word of mouth and give them something physical that reinforces what you've told them to decrease the likelihood of them forgetting about it or getting the website address wrong while trying to remember it.

Its real annoying if starts raining lol you turn on your windshield wipers and you got this flier going back and forth

First of all I love this site....
I recently joined and I would love to have some input concerning an Advertising campaign that we want to try.
Reading through this tread, nobody has touched on the Legalities/Moralities of certain forms of selling tools.
I am thinking of having 2000 4 X 5 inch postcards printed to deliver from car to car outside of nightclubs and shisha lounges.
So far soo good, but when I showed the design of the postcard to some friends there was a mixed reaction. Some said they thought the card was very appealing and the others said that it was way too Sexy!

It does not show any nudity and keep in mind I want to stick them in the driver side door/window of cars parked in front of NIGHT CLUBS and SHISHA LOUNGES.

I am also not speaking of Tabacco or even showing any brand of Tabacco, we actually don't even sell Tabacco only the pipes.

I guess my question is this? Is this too much? Does it get the message across? Is it too insulting and degrading?

Let me know what you think?

Here is is...

There are tons of people who get sued for doing this. I don't just mean if you break someone's windshield wipers, but people have been known to blame an old scratch on them, and they have all of your information to pursue a lawsuit. Just not a good idea.

Put them in mailboxes instead...better chance of being read.