This interesting premise was raised at a recent seminar on direct marketing.
It transpires that Domino’s Pizza asked their franchisees for their opinions on door drop leaflets. They collectively replied that given we were in a digital age, they could not understand why the medium of leaflet distribution should be necessary to sell their products.
It would appear that the holders of Domino’s franchises have not bought into the thinking of a large proportion of the chattering classes and some of the so-called experts in direct marketing -who like to think themselves progressive and trendy by condemning ink on paper-based direct selling.
These lofty thinkers give several sound reasons why leaflets should no longer work as a sales medium. They remind me of the learned people who proved that despite all the evidence to the contrary, it should be physically impossible for bumblebees to fly.
Why stop?
So, what are the reasons given by those people who believe selling and promoting goods and services no longer require the services of door drop leaflets?
Many individuals in the marketing world think unaddressed mail is archaic and has been superseded by more modern, and in their view, more sophisticated methods.
They look to digital and online channels as the way forward. However, they ignore the fact that all the successful marketing people will happily admit that printed material will drive traffic to their websites.
Door drop leaflets have been condemned as junk mail by certain consumer groups. They claim the leaflets are barely glanced at before being consigned to the recycling bin.
This belief flies in the face of evidence that door drop leaflets are kept in the house for an average of 38 days.
Let us go back to all those Domino’s Pizza franchisees who refused to swallow the erroneous line that digital advertising was the way forward, and they should abandon door drop leaflets.
Domino’s national marketing department are no fools, and they know on which side their bread is buttered;
They distribute 270 million leaflets to UK homes every year at a cost of £10 million.
Leaflet distribution is second only to TV advertising in successfully promoting their brand and their franchisees unhesitatingly declared ‘don’t ever stop sending out door drop leaflets’.
They work, and that’s why you should keep using them.
You cannot blame those people who believe the myth that door drop leaflets are a thing of the past and should be consigned to the dustbin (or recycling bin) of history. They are taken in by those who claim to be experts in direct marketing and base their findings on un-researched and sometimes flaky data.
Just like those experts who claimed bumblebees were breaking the laws of physics and it should not be possible for them to fly. This was also a myth.
This myth was also based on flaky data. It is alleged that an eminent mathematician wrote some figures on the back of an envelope (perhaps after a long lunch) that were said to prove that it should be impossible for a bumblebee to fly.
He was wrong! Bumblebees can fly, and they make honey as door drop leaflets do work and they make money.
