You will read and hear plenty of old guff about
“digital marketing”.
Funnily enough, a lot of it is written by people
who don’t actually practice what they preach. They call themselves “social
media managers”.
But they spend most of their time promoting their
businesses and acquiring new clients through more traditional methods such as
networking or advertising.
However do you realise you’re making a big mistake
if you put all your eggs in one marketing basket, especially one as overhyped
as “digital”?
Don’t get me wrong. I have built a couple of
businesses on the back of digital or online marketing.
But I have always been a contrarian and questioning
of conventional and received wisdom. And I have a fascination with the ability
of words to persuade.
In the last 5 months or so I have been using an
unfashionable and overlooked way to get new clients.
Leaflets.
Let me explain.
I got 1,000 leaflets printed-they cost around €115.
I have two Slovak friends who are only too happy to distribute them to houses
and businesses for some badly needed cash-cost around €150.
Recently I got them to “do Kinnegad”. Not in the fashion of “Debbie Does
Dallas”-they go door to door and hand out the leaflets.
I have obtained 4 new clients as a direct result.
The average spend for the new clients would be around €400 each. This takes no
account of the lifetime value of each one.
But a return of €1,500-1,600 for a spend of under
€300 is hard to beat.
The typical response rate on this type of leaflet
drop is 1-2% but that is with boring, image stuffed, “colourful” leaflets that
you usually see.
My leaflets are text heavy because words persuade
and influence. So I spend a lot of time getting the text just right and am very
particular about other details too.
Details like
§ the heading on the leaflet
§ the font used in the text
§ the call to action
§ the tone of the message
§ the image (if I use one)
§ the size of the text.
So, this strategy might not appear to be “sexy” or
very modern but it can be tremendously effective, if done right.
The most important parts by far are
1.
your message
2.
your offer.
Forget about nice pictures, fancy graphics,
colours, design, art, being clever, being sophisticated.
And finally, and this is important, insist on the
new customer/client bringing their leaflet along when they are going to take
you up on your offer. This allows you to measure exactly to the euro how
effective your leaflet drop campaign has been.
Don’t accept the “conventional wisdom” when it
comes to marketing your business and getting new clients. Much of what you read
will be rubbish written by people who simply ape what’s popular with no actual
knowledge or experience of what works.
