Monthly Archives: July 2009
Door Hanger Distribution: Results Are A Matter Of Timing
In order for prospects to respond to your door hanger marketing campaign, you need to distribute them at just the right time.
It’s easy for a Pizza Shop. I can always be convinced to order a pizza, especially when I have a special offer in front of me.
For other businesses, it’s a bit more challenging. For example: A Realtor needs to have their door hanger distributed when a homeowner has decided to sell. The best time for a Travel Agent to put their advertisement on the door is when a family is planning their vacation.
How do you know the perfect time to distribute? You don’t. So the next best thing is to pick a neighborhood and distribute your door hangers on a regular basis. In other words, it’s better to distribute 1000 door hangers five times to the same homes than to distribute 5000 door hangers one time to a larger area.
Even though your prospects may not be ready to buy when you do a distribution, you are still creating a “top of mind” awareness. Over time, when they need the product or service that you provide, they are going to think of you first.
So don’t be discouraged, be consistent and you will see your sales increase in the long run.
Include Prices On Your Door Hangers
I’ve seen lots of business people who are reluctant to include prices for their products or services on their door hanger advertising. They give lots of reasons: I don’t want my competition to know my prices, I don’t want to scare off the prospect, my product or service has too many options to include a price, etc.
Door Hanger Advertising is not the same as directory advertising, like in the phone book. In a directory ad, the prospect has already decided that he needs your product or service and he is looking for someone to provide it. In a directory ad you want to include an entire “laundry list” of products and information about your company.
Door Hanger Advertising is different. In most cases the prospect isn’t thinking about your product or service. So we want to get his attention. Including a price on your door hanger is a good way to do it.
Let’s take a painting contractor as an example. Which of the examples below do you think would work best?
A) PAINT YOUR HOUSE THIS WEEK AND SAVE 10%
B) PAINT YOUR HOUSE THIS WEEK AND SAVE $100
C) PAINT YOUR HOUSE THIS WEEK FOR ONLY $899 (plus paint)
Great response is not necessarily generated by a discount. In offers “A” & “B”, the client has no idea what the cost to paint a house is, so the discount is meaningless. Some homeowners have never hired a painter and therefore have no frame of reference for pricing. They may read between the lines and think they know the price, but it may be too high or too low, not a good thing in either case. By including a price, the prospect may be surprised and have this reaction: “I didn’t know I hiring a painter was so affordable. Painting the house is within my budget. I’m going to call.”
By including the price, every call you receive will be pre-qualified.
If you are concerned about variables that may effect prices, include a disclaimer. For example: Most Houses In This Neighborhood Painted For $899. Some restrictions apply. Call for a FREE, no obligation Estimate.
Include Your “Claim To Fame” On Your Door Hanger
To set you apart from your competitors, it’s a good idea to include your “Claim To Fame” on your door hanger advertising. But, first you have to determine what is your “Claim To Fame”.
For businesses that offer a one of a kind product or service, it’s easy. Claims of best prices or best service are usually not very effective as many other businesses are making similar claims.
A realtor, insurance agent or travel agent usually offer the exact same services for the same price. Even tradesmen, like painters, plumbers and contractors often charge about the same price. So what sets them apart?
Consider that your “Claim To Fame” may be you. Your unique background or experience may be the one thing that no one else can copy. Promote yourself! Put your picture on your door hanger and provide a brief profile of what you can offer that makes your company the best choice.
A picture on your door hanger also sends a message that a person, not an organization is standing behind your offer. And if your product of service requires an on site visit to someone’s home – a photo will go along way in building the trust needed to be invited in.
So don’t be bashful, promote your self with a photo on your door hanger and watch your business grow!
Make Your Business Card A Multi Purpose Card
A professional looking business card says a lot about an individual and his company. These handy inexpensive cards can also help your business in other ways. Use the back of your business card as a promotion.
Here are a few examples:
1- COUPON CARD
Put a coupon offer on the back of your business card:
FREE Slice of Pizza or
FREE Tire Rotation with Oil Change, etc.
2- JOB ESTIMATE CARD
Leave a spot to write in an estimate:
Wash & Wax This Car
License Plate: _______ for $________
3- APPOINTMENT CARD
We Appreciate Your Business. Your Next Appointment is:________________________
4- POLITCAL ADVERTISMENT
Put a picture of the candidate and election day on the front.
Use the back to profile the candidate or his cause.
Use your imagination and everytime you hand out your business card you could be promoting additional business. Here is a link to our Business Card Page where you will find some examples. Prices start at just $99 for 1000 full color business cards including custom design, printing and shipping.
Give Your Customers An Incentive To “Come Again”
It’s true, your best prospect for a new sale is the customer that just left! As part of your sale, make sure you invite each customer to “Come Again”.
A good way to do this is to use flyers or door hangers with a special offer. Here are some examples of how to do it.
1- A Lawn Service completes his mowing and leaves a door hanger on the front door that says “We Appreciate Your Business” and goes on to offer a special deal on an additional service – perhaps Fertilization.
2- A Pizza Shop puts a “Box Topper” flyer on every pizza to go order. The flyer offers a discount on the customers next order. Maybe a different product like a pasta meal.
3- A Swimming Pool Service leaves a door hanger confirming that chemicals have been added to their swimming pool and offers a discount to the pool owner if he refers friends or family in the neighborhood.
You get the idea. You can use door hangers and flyers to target your existing customers to increase sales.
By the way we also have a flyer printing site that offers 1000 Flyers, designed, printed and shipped for only $89.
Door Hanger Distribution Idea: 5 To The Left and 5 To The Right
If you have a business that involves going to your customer’s home, such as a lawn service, painter, air conditioning company, etc., consider using each service call as an opportunity to distribute door hangers.
After completing the service call, hang door hangers on five homes on either side of your customer. If you make 3 stops a day and distribute 10 per stop, that’s 30 door hangers a day and 150 each week. If you make more than 3 stops and/or have other employees, this type of door hanger distribution can really add up.
If you decide to use this suggestion, personalize your door hangers with a headline that says something like this:
“WE JUST FINISHED SERVICING YOUR NEIGHBORS HOME – CAN WE OFFER YOU A FREE ESTIMATE WHILE WE ARE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD?
Mentioning the neighbor serves as a recommendation.
How To Target Homes With Door Hangers In Gated Communities
Gated communities with security guards or neighborhoods with city ordinances prohibiting solicitation are usually off limits to door hanger distribution.
In these situations, direct mail advertising may be an alternative option. Although direct mail will generally cost more than a door hanger distribution campaign, there are some advantages:
1. Communities that prohibit distribution will have less advertising and residents may pay more attention to your offers.
2. Direct mail offers more precise targeting using demographics (i.e. income age, etc) as well as geography.
3. Direct mail is reliable, not subject to weather or distribution irregularities.
If you decide to go the direct mail route, use a post card rather than a letter, so your message is visible as soon as the resident picks up their mail. Use the same offers and design that you’ve already tested with previous door hanger distributions.
Here is a link to our direct mail department .
We offer an affordable, one stop direct mail advertising solution. Prices start at just $388 for one thousand large postcards, including: custom design, printing, neighborhood mailing list, labeling and postage. Direct line is 866-594-3069. Check it out.
Door Hanger Coupon: The Same Offer 5 Different Ways
A coupon on your door hanger is a great way to generate create traffic for your business. Keep in mind, how you write the coupon offer can make a big difference in the response rate.
In the following example, we have taken the same offer and shown it 5 different ways. Lets say that a restaurant wants to offer a 25% discount to customers during dinner hours. Their average entree is $20.
Which offer do you think sounds the best?
1. 25% OFF Any Dinner Entree
2. Half Price Dinner – Buy One Dinner Get One 50% OFF
3. FREE Dinner – Buy 3 Dinners Get One FREE
4. $5 OFF – Any Dinner Entree
5. $10 OFF – The Purchase Of 2 Dinners
In each of the five offers, the restaurant will net $15.00 per entree after the discount.
The right offer will depend on what you are trying to accomplish. Offer #3 will result in a higher sale but requires a party of four, which may result in a lower coupon redemption. Some think that a “dollars off” coupon, like in offers #4 and #5, is better than a “percentage off” coupon, as shown in offer #1. Test your ideas on family and friends and get their opinion. You can also do a split run – where half the door hangers have one offer and the other half another.
Whichever offer you use, always keep careful track of responses and try to improve your next door hanger campaign by fine tuning the coupons.
Use A Headline On Your Door Hanger To Pass “The Glance Test”
In a previous post we discussed the importance of making sure your door hanger passes “The Glance Test”. The person who removes the door hanger from the door will glance at it for just a few seconds before deciding to keep it or discard it.
One method used successfully on many door hangers to pass “The Glance Test” is a powerful, comical or interesting headline.
Here are a few examples of Door Hanger Headlines:
RENT MY HUSBAND!
Used by a neighborhood handyman
LET YOUR NEIGHBOR CLEAN YOUR HOUSE!
Used by a cleaning service who was soliciting business in their own neighborhood
FREE LAWN CARE SERVICE!
Pay for 2 cuts at our regular low price and get the 3rd cut FREE
This offer amounts to a 33% discount – but the word “FREE” is very powerful
LOSE WEIGHT…RESULTS GUARANTEED!
Used by a personal trainer. If you follow his exercise and diet plan.
NEVER PAINT YOUR HOUSE AGAIN!
Painter offers a new process guaranteed to last 50 years or more.
Have you got an example of a headline that works? Please reply to this post with
your door hanger headline idea.
Distribute Your Door Hangers And Answer The Phone!
Door Hangers are an affordable and effective way to generate sales leads. Everyone wants a better response rate from their Door Hanger Marketing, yet many wind up losing sales because of the way they handle incoming phone calls.
Problem #1 – Voice Mail (a.k.a. The Answering Machine)
The internet has spoiled potential clients. On the internet, information is available with the click of a mouse. If they don’t find what they’re looking for, it’s on to the next website. The same reasoning applies to inbound phone calls from your door hanger distribution. You can create a lead with your door hanger, but If you’re not answering your phone, the prospect may hang up and dial your competitor.
Answer :
If you’re not in the office during regular business hours – forward calls to your cell phone. If you must use voice mail, make sure your message clearly informs the caller that you will get back to them promptly, ideally in 30 minutes or less.
Problem #2 – Your receptionist is probably not a sales person.
Taking a message for a call back is almost as bad as voice mail. Worse is having an untrained worker (who probably has other responsibilities) handle the calls from your door hanger campaign. If the person answering the call feels interrupted from their regular duties, they may be abrupt or impatient and chances for a sale are greatly reduced.
Answer:
Make sales calls a priority. Put them through immediately to someone who is trained on the products and services featured on your door hanger campaign. Make sure they have a copy of the door hanger at their desk. If you don’t have full time sales people, offer a financial incentive to your employee(s) for each call that is converted to a sale.