When you guys and girls are out in the lovely sunshine racking in all that cash when also doing marketing do you find flyers work best or door hangers?
I have used mainly postcards for mailing and flyers but thinking of trying out door hangers for that extra speed of delivery and the fact its much easier to hang on the handle than rolling up a flyer and finding a spot to place it in.
Any of you who do use door hangers, do you tend to make your own on your printers at home or use a certain website and if so, who would you recommend. Plus do you typically print in color or black n white.
I have been doing postcards from expresscopy.com, 2 sided color, but instead of mailing I pass out in dorrhanger baggies and hang on door/mailbox (dont put INSIDE mailbox, youll get a call from an angry mailman,opening someones mailbox is a federal offense i found out…).I pass them out when Im in a neighborhood doing windows, youd be surprised how quickly you can get rid of 200 postcards.
Ive done quite a few door hangers… in the process of dumping 6000 right now.
I like door hangers because:
They’re cheap, less than .08 each shipped.
They’re cheap to deliver too, I pay .07/each
They get directly into the hands of the homeowner, and occasionally do so without being surrounded by mail (and hence other ads)
But, as CFP said, it isn’t super quick to get them out. I can do 200/hour pretty consistently but I don’t really like doing it. I feel like I’m doing something wrong, to be honest. I deliver them between 11pm and 6 am and I rarely see a soul but I’m still uncomfortable. I hang them on the flag out of the window of my work van.
I have not tried postcards yet. I think they are undoubtedly a better way to go but they are much, much more expensive to get in large numbers for someone just starting out. Plus, they are pretty small @ 4 x 6 and larger sizes mean much more in postage. I would recommend doing 2000-4000 door hangers, get them professionally designed and printed and see how it works out. Use the proceeds to begin sending postcards.
Regardless of what type of print advertising you use, I strongly recommend PrintPlace.com they have awesome quality products at great prices, with a very thorough website thats easy to price with. Their customer service is top notch too. Their door hangers are heavy cardstock which makes it much easier to carry and hang without bending, and keeps them planted on the mailbox (or door) even in wind.
You’ll spend twice as much time actually putting hangers on the doors as putting them on mailboxes, but like wndwgirl said, do NOT put them inside… just hang em on the flag.
I went on a bit of a rant… but hope it helps. I’m getting a pretty consistent 10:1 ROI (gross) on door hangers. Happy to answer any other questions.
Also, I would definitely go full color. It’s cheap at PrintPlace anyway. Attached is the one I’m currently using.
It’s not my favorite design. At all. Actually, I don’t think it’s even close to targeted enough and the checklist thing didn’t quite turn out how I wanted. Still, I put out a test run of 1000 and got $1350 in business [U]completed[/U] in ten days. And my prices are too low. 1000 cost me $131 shipped. Full color, great looking.
Come up with a design you like, throw in an offer and expiration, get it professionally laid out, and give it a try. I bet you’ll like it.
Didn’t think it was legal to put anything in or around a mailbox. So there is no legal reason why I can’t place a doorhanger or whatever outside the mailbox, behind it, on flag etc long as its NOT inside, correct?
Hell in future I rather do that, I have often walked up drives with nasty barking dogs to get my flyer to the door (life or death) when having known this I could simply of put the flyer between the flag and mailbox (tiny space) instead of having my ass bit, although in future there might be a lawsuit there although doubt i would get their window cleaning buisness afterwards ha ha ha
I can’t get a straight answer on this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s illegal anywhere on or in the mailbox. Regardless, I’ve done a ton now and never heard anything from the mailman. I try to put them out on Saturday nights so there’s an extra day before he gets there… if you get a call, apologize and start leaving them on door. Until then, I’d go for the mailbox.
It’s much, much, much quicker to leave them on the mailbox when you’re doing it in bulk. If you’re just leaving them for the “five around” neighbors, walking it is no biggie… but walking up and down a driveway 1000+ times adds up quickly.
Some of the nicer hoods have matching mailboxes with built in paper boxes, so I leave them in there whenever I can. Just leave your hanger half sticking out so it’s easy to notice.
