Deliver flyers door-to-door

This is a very inefficient way of getting positive attention ... if any. There must be a better way of targeting your customers.

Anyway, if you insist on doing this, consider employing only people that are mentally challenged.

A company here distributing leaflets & free newspapers found that these people are very reliable in doing this repetitive task and are happy for the income. Plus they do not put loads of it in the trash and lie to you about having done the work, like students are apt to do. This is boring, repetitive work and most people will not do this for peanuts. They will look for short cuts.

Since so many people put stickers on their mailboxes to refuse unaddressed mail, they now have resorted to combining several offers together in a folded colour "cover" that is printed like a magazine cover, complete with headlines of the offers, pictures and a small quizz / competition. Inside this cover - which changes weekly - are the different flyers. If they go one step further and enclose it, it can be mailed as printed matter ...

If you want to attract positive attention, why not do something remarkable? You could get a couple of students together on a weekend and go and do something to help the community and then have a table with eats & drinks for those that helped - and invite the press. If you let the helpers wear your t-shirts and have brochures and a good angle to your story, you will generate positive mentions. The helpers will do it for free. Your cost will be the treats.

I have seen small companies jump on a current problem issue and do something and shine in the press, because of it. Cleaning up a park, getting garbage out of a town stream, carrying shopping bags for the aged, removing graffiti etc.

You might have a better idea that suits your business ... If you can find something that is closely related to your business and you have an opportunity to repeat it regularly, you will "own" that promotion in your town and that will bring repeated benefits.

As an example - as a fundraiser, a sports club here organises to race plastic toy ducks down the river. They buy in bulk and then get people to decorate theirs. They get schools and companies involved and fan the competitive spirit a bit. They charge 5 bucks a duck - which goes to a non-profit cause -or their club fund. On the big day some local bigwigs - plus some beauties - are involved to get it started. The right to fire the starting gun is auctioned off. Anyway there are prizes for the fastest, the nicest, the ugliest, the slowest - whatever. Everyone has a lot of fun. The press love it. The local cable station is there. Sometimes even others - depending on their angle that year. The participants love it. And it is repeated yearly.

Plus nobody can steal that idea locally - they "own" it. Might be a bit limited for you purposes, but I guess you get the idea ...

Thanks, gang.

Great info and insight. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Robert J.

Thanks, gang.

Great info and insight. Thanks for sharing.

Another idea you could actually hire a local mail man to tape flyers on the outside of each mailbox in his route... A local mailman I know has 600 homes he delivers mail to everyday, I am sure he would like the extra income for handing out flyers... You could pay him like 0.10 cents or 0.20 cents for each flyer he distributes, alot cheaper than regular mail, or you could do the same scenerio of hiring local school kids to do the same, but to tell the truth I would trust the mailman before I would any kids.

The quote below is from:
http://www.usps.com/receive/mailboxstandards.htm

• Advertising on a mailbox or its supporting post is prohibited.
• Our regulations cover what can and can’t be placed in a curbside mailbox or mailbox outside of your house, which generally includes only mail that has been sent through the USPS. However, our regulations don’t govern what can be placed in a mail slot on your door.

The advice I gave happens alot where I live LOL.. I would still try it.

Just following up with many thanks to all for their thoughtful responses. Always good info available from the sowpub gang!
Many kudos ...