The death knell of colour printing as a medium for delivering sales and promotional messages has been heard several times over the past few years.
Colour television adverts were going to make all colour printing for selling obsolete.
The development of the video was going to kill the need for colour brochures.
Neither of these two supposed threats has stopped people from using printing as an effective way of getting their sales and promotional messages to their customers and prospective customer.
The latest threat to the print medium is of course the internet.
The thinking behind the internet was that people would no longer need any printed information, as they could just click onto a web site and order the goods and services they require.
There would be no need for leaflets, catalogues or brochures. That is what we were told, but that is not what has happened.
Find the hidden customers
Here we are well into the 21st century and advertising using ink on paper is still with us; and despite the internet, door drop leaflets are still considered as one of the most effective ways of getting your company’s message into people’s homes.
However the internet is not going to go away, and rather than looking on it as a rival for your business, why not use it as a lever to obtain more sales from your door drop leaflet.
There are people out there who enjoy perusing a web site and responding to a “call to action”.
Several companies in the direct mailing business e-mail their customers a copy of their catalogue prior to mailing out the printed copy.
Despite receiving an early electronic version of the catalogue, the orders just trickled in.
However, when the hard copy hit the mat, the order rate shot up.
It appears there are people who are willing to respond to a web offer, but only after receiving a printed offer.
Now it would be impossible for you to e-mail your leaflet to prospects before delivering them.
But there are ways to you could encourage to those people who would like to buy from you, but would like to do so online.
Invite your customer over
I know those of you who use door drop leaflets and also have a web site, do put your address on your leaflet.
However, you should give the prospect a reason to visit your site online.
If you have a showroom, put it on your site, and ask the prospect to visit it.
If you have other products or services to sell, ask them to log on and see them.
Perhaps just a simple “for more information please go to” message will do to encourage them to log on and receive more detailed information.
Brainstorm for ideas
There are plenty of things that can be done to engage a prospect and hold their interest.
- A detailed sales page that elaborates the message from your leaflet
- A Frequent question and answer page regarding your company
- A list of testimonials from satisfied customer
Anything that will bring your prospect to a call to action that ends up in a sale is worth trying.
It doesn’t matter how a sale is made, either on the telephone or on lineman, an order is an order.
And you could make a few extra sales from your door drop leaflet if you can grab the attention of those people who like to order online.
