Door Hanger Advertising works great. So why aren’t you doing it more often? For many businesses the problem is distribution costs. If this is your problem, consider sharing the distribution cost and logistics with other businesses. Here’s how.

Plastic Door Hanger Bags Can Reduce Distribution Costs

Instead of using regular door hangers, print flyers instead and then insert your flyer along with other businesses in a clear plastic door hanger bag. Go to www.BlanksAndBags.com for prices and ordering information.

This door hanger promotion method is a great way to promote an entire shopping plaza. By including offers from your business neighbors, the door hanger bag will contain more value for your prospects, and additional traffic will be created which can increase your response rate.

Another approach is to include businesses that you’re not in competition with, but are related to your product or service. For example, a Realtor may include a mortgage broker, insurance agent or home repair specialists. A chiropractor, might include other health care professionals such as a dentist, optometrist or medical office.

One final thought. Who’s going to be on the outside of the plastic door hanger bag? There are 2 sides.

Here are some suggestions:

1- You could rotate the prime positions.
2-Your distribution costs could also be reduced by charging a premium for those spots.
3-You could print an index page that might feature the theme and list all of the businesses inside the door hanger bag.
4- You could always just keep the best spot for yourself, after all it was your idea!

Door hangers are a great way to advertise, but you’re busy running your business, so how will you get them distributed?

Professional door hanger distribution companies are available in some cities, but they might not always be available when and where you want them.

One idea is to get a local organization like the Boy Scouts, A Church Group or Little League Team to distribute your door hangers as a fund raiser. You help them and they help you.

You can always distribute your door hangers yourself or with a friend or loved one. Walking is great exercise, and if you spend an hour at the beginning or end of the day distributing door hangers, imagine the shape you’ll be in at the end of a few months.

Plan your distribution area in advance using Google Maps and count the houses on each street.

Here’s another more aggressive plan. Hire a full time employee dedicated to door hanger distribution. Sounds expensive but consider this:  an adult with a plan can easily distribute 500 door hangers in a day in most suburban neighborhoods (more in a city environment).

Figure a 7 hour day with and hour for lunch. In today’s job market, there are plenty of able bodied workers who would be happy to have the job for lets say $9 per hour (this type of wage may vary more or less in different parts of the county). That would work out to be .126 cents per door hanger. That’s a lot less than a .44 cent stamp!

Whichever way you decide to distribute your door hangers, be organized. Google maps are great and are very detailed. Figure out your distribution area in advance. Count the number of houses on each street and pay your workers by the street, not by the number of door hangers you give them to distribute. Even good kids, may start hanging more than one door hanger on each door as they get tired. In this way, it’s easy to spot check and make sure your distribution is accomplished.

Planning out your distribution area in detail may sound like a big homework assignment, but remember, you only have to do it once. You’ll be all set when it’s time to distribute your door hangers the next time. Good luck!

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.

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.