Many people will tell you that advertising flyers are no longer an effective medium to generate leads for a business. However, numerous lawn care business owners are still having a great deal of success with this method. You really don't want to write off any low-cost marketing opportunity until you have tested it for yourself.
You will find a great deal of information online about what a well designed flyer should look like and how you can go about having them printed. This article focuses on distribution. Once you have that big stack of freshly printed flyers in your office, how are you going to get them in front of the eyeballs of prospective lawn care customers? Here are ten ideas.
1) Your Existing Clients
If you do already have some lawn care accounts, start by giving a few flyers to each of your customers. Just tell them that you are currently doing a promotion to drum up some new business. Ask them politely if they would be able to pass on a couple of flyers to their friends or neighbors.
2) Hand Them Out
Walk the streets in your target area and look for people who are out in their yards or walking down the street. Hand them a flyer and politely ask them if they would be interested in receiving a free estimate to do their lawn. This approach gives you a chance of making a personal connection and possibly an appointment. Your flyer will stand a better chance of being read as well.
3) Door to Door Delivery
Select houses in your area with decent sized lawns and drop off a flyer to them. In some countries like the US it is illegal to put unsolicited mail into mail boxes so you must check with your local post office first so that you know what is permitted. You may be better off having door hangers printed as these can easily be slipped over a door handle. You can always do it officially and purchase stamps and a mailing list from your local post office.
4) Insertion into Local Publications
Many local newspapers and magazines will insert your flyer into their publication for a small fee. This will usually give you better exposure than purchasing ad space.
5) Waiting Rooms
Think of some businesses that people go to and spend time waiting around. If you can get a flyer onto the wall or notice board at a fast food restaurant, laundromat, dental surgery or hair salon then you may benefit from some free or low cost exposure. Your flyer will have a better chance of being read if people in the room are sitting around with nothing to do.
6) Parking Lots
One common approach to flyer distribution over the years has been to put them under the wind screen wipers on car windscreens. Be careful with this approach though as it does bother some people. If your flyers end up blowing all over the place in the wind then your reputation may suffer as a result.
7) Community Notice Boards
Many buildings in your community will have notice boards. Churches, schools and other organizations may let you post a copy of your flyer if you are polite and seek permission first.
8) Busy Events
Look for busy events in your local area like fairs, carnivals, garden shows or even garage sales. If you have permission to attend and hand out flyers you may meet some local prospects.
9) Direct Mail
Purchase a mailing list of targeted prospects in your area and mail them a copy of your flyer with an accompanying letter and business card. Some printing companies will handle this for you. They will take your flyer hot of the press and mail them out to a targeted address list.
10) PO Box Drops
Some post offices will arrange to have a copy of your flyer inserted into each one of their PO Boxes. A small fee is charged for each flyer. Many box holders will be business owners so this approach may be effective for securing commercial lawn care accounts.
It is ideal if you can have flyers made up with different coupon codes on them. Or you can put separate stickers onto them. Then you will know which of the above methods is more effective for you and you can focus more on that method. If a method is not effective in generating leads for your lawn care business then you can drop it all together.