I need some ideas/ Advice for my city project...

Hi, all!

I am doing the age-old thing of passing out flyers & would value & appreciate your advice as well as any tips you might pass along.

I have just picked up the phone & called businesses & told them I am thinking of starting an "advertising flyer delivery" business & simply asked if they are interested. (I have a map made up where I show them areas in our city where the incomes are between $35,000 - $250,000.) So it is targeted to the upper income areas ONLY & I tell them this. If they are interested, I go by & show them the map. I charge $120 for the legwork to deliver 5,000 flyers/coupons (provided by them).

Now the rub, if there is any, is this:
I want home owners to be excited & think "bargains/coupons" = "money savings" when they see this bag hanging on their door, BUT...so far, the business owners almost ALL want to put a brochure or advertisement in the bag rather than a COUPON. I think that is what it will take to make our bag successful & generate excitement in our targeted market. See?
How do I get the biz owners to get this vision, & go more for coupons, vs. just an advertising flyer?

Also, a smaller question I have is, my daughter keeps telling me, Mom, people in that higher income bracket don't have to worry about saving money! I say, though that "that's how they got the money, by saving it!" Who's more right? I want your honest opinions. Thank You.

Business owners can have tunnel vision sometimes. Coupons have a cost not only in their production but also in their redeeming. Many times business owners don't get what they expect from using coupons. Show them how to track their coupons so that they know which ones draw people to the store, and the average amount that is spent by the customer when redeeming the coupon. Many don't know how to do this. There is a great advantage to you in having those stats, too.

You might also consider letting them select demographics and charge a little more for having their coupons only go to zip codes with certain profiles. Also consider letting them select only the zip codes in their service area. Based on the product/service of the business, that's a pretty wide range of incomes that you mentioned in terms of the liklihood of each household:

• redeeming the coupon
• redeeming it PLUS making additional purchases at the time
• becoming a repeat customer for the business.

The above ideas may take more work, but it could make the project more appealing to the business owner. Re-visit your fees for any of these ideas that add to your cost.

You might also think of other ways that a business owner can have an impact on the home owner. If what they put into the bag is something that the homeowner will keep for awhile as reference, that makes the placement in the bag more valuable.

For example, what about having a theme for each time you deliver the bags? Although you don't say how often you plan to make-up and deliver the bags, for the sake of discussion, let's say you do this on a quarterly basis.

Let's say your first theme is the holidays (it could be "healthy living" or "children" or anything with wide appeal that you choose).

Set a standard for participating in your program. This gives you more control and it helps to establish the program as not just a brochure give-away.

To participate, each business must provide one item from a list of selections. You might include on your list:

1. coupons
2. tip sheets
3. informative articles
4. guides
5. how-to instructions
6. samples
7. appointments for free demos
8. mail-in cards to receive brochures (or anything, the idea being the the business can now generate their own list of warm leads)
9. free-drawing (the business would provide the announcement and instructions for participating in a drawing that they were having)
10. other items you add to this list

Notice that nothing on the list is a plain brochure.

So, in our holiday bag example, there might be a holiday recipe brochure or party planning guide from the grocery or specialty store, a tip sheet from the florist or nursery on preserving holiday floral arrangements, a coupon from the vet for a free night's stay with a one week reservation for pet boarding, a decorating guide from the craft store, a list of suggested children's toys with safety ratings from the toy store and a coupon for candy from the drug store among the many items in your bag.

Don't overlook the opportunity to contact product companies yourself and ask for give-aways for your bag.

I once contacted several major companies from a variety of industries and asked for items I could include in a gift bag I was giving to participants in a class I was teaching (I told them the class topic and gave a good idea of what I was seeking). I got all sorts of full-color, information-packet booklets, brochures, coupons and other goodies. Boxes of stuff arrived - even though I told them exactly how much I needed, it was easier for them to just send the box rather than count out individual pieces. It was great for me because I had enough for more than one class.

I was an excellent outlet for getting these things directly to their market and they were happy to provide them. Think about it, they already have these things on hand for their own promotional use. Getting coupons into the hands of targeted potential customers is their goal. If you are credible, you are a free and easy distribution channel.

You might consider adding something inexpensive to the bag that you develop to help tie together all the items that were provided. For example, a letter with a personal interesting note about the theme and a list with contact information of all the participating businesses...along with a line about how if they own a business, they can participate next time.

Top it off with a Media Release with a great angle (human interest about some of the contents, human interest about delivering the bags, or a profile on your business and what it took to put the bags together along with happy responses and the benefit to the community, or some other unusual twist - find a great writer, include photos and you will get the coverage). Arrange to have the story hit the papers at the same time you are getting the bags out to the community.

Make your bag anticipated and exciting to receive, add a way for businesses to measure their return on investment - insist on it - and you will have a winner.

Take care,
Business Development Coach Dianne

Hi Bea,

Have your daughter read the following and there's more on the subject in the SowPub Archives of 2000 or so.
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5542
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/search.php

Don't mean to change your business idea But Consider "Twisting" or Adding a Demographic Co-op Discount Club card system into the Swing of Things...

Where customers get a variety of Discounts from Specialty businesses through a Membership type System...

Which could be Marketed individually to particular Niche groups of People who have similar interests...

Exactly the way the Online world Does it.

Give ideas... businesses and customers Added Value to Peak their interests...

And Maybe Tie in a little of The Millionaire Next Door into the overall concept!

Phil

Thank you both - - those are excellent ideas! I appreciate it!

Phil,
Your second link didn't work...I wonder what it could have been, or did you mean for it to come out on the search page??? hmmm...

I value your opinions,
Thanks much,
Bea

Bea...

Yes... the second link was just the Search feature as there's Too much Not to Checkout including some Good stuff on your idea.

Now that Dien is using this new software for the Forum...

The Search Feature works much better with those Niche Keyword phrases...

And Hopefully in the near Future we'll see the Balance of the SowPub Archives.

Maybe if Dien's reading...

He'll give us an Update on Things.

Thanks Dien!

Phil

"GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!"

If they WANT their Flyers delivered....DELIVER THEIR FLYERS!

Apparently they DON'T WANT Discount Coupons delivered!

Offer a "Flyer Delivery Service"...charge a fair price and go do it!

Don Alm...."cutting thru the clouds"

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Bea

Also, a smaller question I have is, my daughter keeps telling me, Mom, people in that higher income bracket don't have to worry about saving money! I say, though that "that's how they got the money, by saving it!" Who's more right? I want your honest opinions. Thank You.

Hi Bea,

I would agree with what Don said - if they just want to put out a flyer, then go with it. After all, you're still performing a valuable service for that business. And if people are looking for that product or service and they're not sure where to get it, then you're doing a favor to those who you deliver to as well.

Now, as for your question, do those in a higher income bracket use coupons and worry about saving money? I think is the answer is... (drumroll)... Yea and Nay!

Some wealthy people do make their money by not wasting money. They see where they can make a saving, and they do it. J. Paul Getty (who was once the richest man in America) was famous for his "penny-pinching". I read that he even installed a pay phone in his house for guests to use - so he wouldn't have to pay for his guests' phone calls!

However, on the other hand, you have people who make money other ways. For example, those who get paid very large fees - like many specialist doctors and lawyers. Many people in the finance industry also make a lot of money without worrying too much about their "costs". Because they made money NOT by cost-cutting, but by charging high fees and getting paid large salaries, they're probably not as "sensitive" to those money-issues as the first group, and they may be more likely to "splurge" their income.

If you haven't read "The Millionaire Next Door", then I highly recommend it. It points out how many "millionaires" are in fact ordinary people, who DON'T spend a lot on a house, and live "next door" - that is, in "ordinary" areas, and in "ordinary" houses.

On the other hand, you do have "high income" folks who may be spending all their money on their expenses. They may feel they "have" to spend a lot on their house and car, because it's what's expected of them in society and among their peers. For example, this behavior would describe many highly-paid lawyers. Can you imagine a high-income lawyer driving a 15-year-old beat up car? I can't. However, can you imagine a millionaire-plumber driving such a car? I can.

So, the answer, I'd say, is "both". However, if an area is known to be a "high wealth" area, then I'd GUESS that people living there want to be KNOWN for their "high wealth". That would suggest that they'd be more willing to SPEND BIG than rich people who live in "ordinary" areas, in "ordinary" houses.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,

Dien

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Phil

Maybe if Dien's reading...

He'll give us an Update on Things.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your query! Sorry for the delay in getting the rest of the archives back up... Don't worry, I still plan for that to happen (though it still may take a couple weeks or so, due to other things "on my plate"). Many other things should also be happening in the upcoming week... I expect the Entrepreneur's Hotsheet to be resuming very soon too...

- Dien

Yes, Thank You all for all the help!!

There is a lot of excitement in the community about this...Don, lol, that comment does truly "cut through the clouds"! lol Good. Thanks.

So, everyone agrees that I shouldn't "push" the businesses in the direction of coupons if it's not THEIR idea??
You don't think that the community will get tired of just a bag of flyers hanging on their door every month?

One problem I'm having is this, also: As I said, I just picked up the phone & called the businesses...I spent two weeks doing that...& only got to the C's - D's!! I have a lot INTERESTED & 6-7 signed up (which tells me there's a LOT more $$$ left in that phonebook!) BUT...it takes me away from sales when I have to quit & "go show a map". Thats why it took me two weeks to get through 20 - 30 pgs in the yellow pgs. Despite having the ABILITY to make those calls - - I HATE to! lol, & I end up doing only about 2 hrs of calls per day. I thought about hiring somone to do nothing but call...what do you think?

Well, again, thank you for your ideas & opinions, it's all appreciated!