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Failed offline marketing attempt.....

by Dycan
14 replies
With the economy in a recession, I thought promoting a "way to make money online" product through door-to-door fliers would convert well.

In the end.... it did not. Not a single sale and the flier was placed on 200+ houses.

Things I thought I did right: Registered a domain exclusive to the city I advertised in.
Made the offer exclusive to the city I advertised in.
Had the sales pitch convincing and based around a LOCAL man learning to earn money online.
Created a really catchy flier and stuck it on 200+ doors.

It didn't work at all so I'm just curious to hear your thoughts and opinions.
#attempt #failed #marketing #offline
  • Profile picture of the author Gclunis
    Did you get any leads from the fliers? I know you said that they did not convert but did they even visit? If not then your problem lies in the sales copy of the flier. Re think your approach and give it another try.

    If you did get visitors then it could be the sales copy on the site. Perhaps you could post the link here so that we can critique it? You'd be surprised what some of the warriors here can catch on a website that you would never think of.

    Or perhaps the website just seemed too much like one of those "google cash link" scams.

    Just my ideas..maybe you can give more information on what aspects of your method worked rather than only what failed.
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    Cheers,
    Gregg

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    • Profile picture of the author FredFarnes
      How did you target the 200+ houses? Randomly?

      Target marketing could be much more productive. If you used your budget to place an ad in the jobs section of a newspaper or website, you would have more targeted readers.
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      So, you want to sell me another way to easily make "X" dollars in "X" days? ROFL too funny! IM success requires hard work and lots of time. Most newbies do not survive the steep learning curve. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling you a fantasy.

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  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    200 houses isn't enough. You need 2,000. Actually, you probably need 10,000 to really get a feel of how it will work.

    I applaud your efforts though, it is nice to hear of people trying something besides writing articles all day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy Trump
    If you have already put that much work into it... why not try another couple hundred houses in different neighborhood? Think of it like Adwords. Just because the first few hundred "hits" didnt work out doesnt mean you cant turn it around. Hang in there!
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  • Profile picture of the author digitalproductreporter
    holy cow that's a bunch of work for nothing.

    you could have tested 25 online ppc campaigns to a super targeted audience in the time it took you to test 1 random offline campaign.

    I don't understand the offline hype.

    Plus, you could have geotargetted the same people on facebook/myspace while sitting in your boxers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Suthan M
      Originally Posted by digitalproductreporter View Post

      holy cow that's a bunch of work for nothing.

      you could have tested 25 online ppc campaigns to a super targeted audience in the time it took you to test 1 random offline campaign.

      I don't understand the offline hype.

      Plus, you could have geotargetted the same people on facebook/myspace while sitting in your boxers.
      Offline campaign can be quite lucrative when done right, especially if you throw in seminar/workshops..

      That said- you will be surprised at how many more targeted prospects you can get from all this internet noobs!
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      Whats the latest movie you watched? Anything good?

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  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    Like someone mentioned above, did you track how many visitors actually came to your website?

    Did you have some sort of lead generator to collect the information of leads?

    i.e. Did you just try to sell them a product right away or did you offer them a free report?


    Keep in mind that your marketing needs to clearly answer this question:

    What's in it for ME?


    If your "target houses" didn't see anything of benefit to their current situation other than some random flyer promising them riches, then you can't be too surprised.

    At the same time, if you are promoting a way to become wealthy from home...and printing it off in a way that reflects a cheap at-home approach of creation the material...then how credible do you expect to look to those people?

    Perhaps glossy, full-color flyers, with professional graphics, would get better results.

    Hard to know without seeing your marketing piece, so why not take a picture or screenshot of the document and post it here so that you can get feedback on it?

    Though really, if you are going to just target regular people, then you are better off with paid advertising on Google, FaceBook, YouTube instead.

    Companies spend millions of dollars sending out direct mail to houses, but they know their profit potential makes it worth it...if you are trying to sell a $27 - $47 ebook through that method, I doubt you'll get mcuh ROI for it.



    ~Dexx
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  • Profile picture of the author duncanb
    As someone with a degree in marketing and several years experience in offline marketing i can tell you that distribution to 200 houses is way to low.

    In order to even hope of having any response you would need to drop to 4000 houses. Even better if you could target 10,000 houses.

    And that is not even taking demographics into account (I could write all night about the demographic reasoning behind the drop - but wont )

    Response to flyers is between 0%-1%....So you will need to seriously up your efforts.
    The better you flyer design/quality the more chance of a responce. (obviously)
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    • Profile picture of the author perryl
      I agree with the 10,000 number at the minimum for local mailouts.

      Online marketing may be the way to go, at least it does narrow the target market somewhat. Or, if you do want to go non-computer, maybe try a business newspaper ad? That will get into the hands of at least a few thousand.

      Good luck, you do sound like a motivated individual!
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    • Profile picture of the author docmatt
      I think the OP is probably starting to get the message by now, but I'm hallucinating that the OP's premise, taking the absolute "shotgun" approach that he did, was his assumption that EVERYBODY out there in the country/world today is looking for extra ways to make money- And he would be correct in that assumption to some degree I think we would all agree-

      But you also need to look at the buying habits and general level of receptivity of the people you are targeting - Most people by nature are extremely SKEPTICAL, so blasting the general public with "flyers" (and again, we don't know the quality of the flyer, the copy on the flyer, etc.) even if it promises the ultimate money making magic pill/silver bullet, will just plain not be effective-

      Think of it this way - If someone offered you a list of the general public for free to mail a biz opp to, or you had to pay for a list of already PROVEN individuals who have responded to an ad, flyer, direct mail piece, etc., THAT is what you are looking for- You know that the interest is there to learn how to make money in their spare time, etc., BUT they also have PROVEN that they are ALREADY COMFORTABLE with receiving direct mail, flyers, responding to classified ads, buying items off of the phone, pulling out their credit card to order something from a TV infomercial, etc.- You get the point-

      THIS IS THE TRUTH-

      You have to go after the people who have already proven that they are responsive to the medium, just as importantly as the message- Some people will buy from a direct mail in a heartbeat, but still feel that everything advertised on TV infomercials is a scam- And the person who IS willing to rip out his credit card at 3:00 in the morning and order might possibly throw away any direct mail piece, no matter what Dan Kennedy/John Carlton/Frank Kern-inspired salivating teaser copy is on the front of the envelope-

      O.K. point made I think- My hat's off to you though not only for your pioneer efforts, but also the fact that you got up out of your easy chair and just took some darn action!

      Good luck to you-

      Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author TheDebtEliminator
    Hello Dycan,

    The size of the test was too small

    Plecing an ad in a local paper

    Posting in your local Craigslist

    or increasing you test to 10-K would give you the answer

    All the Best
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    I also agree that unfortunately your audience was not targeted. Without picking a certain demographic or section to target, response rates can really plummet.

    Also, with these flyers being placed door to door, they were only seen most likely by the residents.

    I think you'd fare better placing the flyers in places like college bulletin boards, supermarkets, and such. At least you'd get more visibility for the flyers.

    Don't give up, the important thing is that you took action! You've just got to keep going. Take note what didn't work, and get back up on that horse

    Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author Rocketbidz
    Welldone for trying,try posting out some flyers at your local post office ,ask them to even send them to other post offices and mail your flyer to as my homes as possible.just make sure your offer is "top notch"
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