5 Reasons Why You Should Finally Test Flyer Marketing in 2021

But we marketers are humans too, we can tell. We’re a bit fed up with looking at screens ourselves. And the feeling seems to be here to stay.

That’s why it’s time to break through the noise and try something else. Not necessarily new, but perhaps different: I’m talking about flyer distribution campaigns. Here are 5 reasons why this year is the year you should add flyer marketing to your channel mix.

1) Targeting is becoming more difficult online

If you follow the tech news, you have certainly heard of the radical change Apple is applying to its privacy rules through iOS 14. If you’ve been out of the loop here is what you need to know: it will become a lot more difficult to track digital marketing accurately. As a consequence, reaching your specific target audiences will become even more of a challenge. This is undeniably throwing a spanner in our marketers’ works.

However, this is maybe a sign that it’s time to step away from digital channels – at least partly. There is a common misconception about offline marketing: the belief that it’s difficult to track and target. At Oppizi, this is how we make sure the messaging is reaching the audience targeted by the brand:

• We brief and quiz our ambassadors about the brand and offer they are about to represent
• They receive a bonus for each conversion, meaning they put double the effort in spreading the word towards potential customers

2) People are at home more often than not

We noticed a steep interest increase in door-to-door distribution in the past months. And for good reason: people are spending a lot more time at home, meaning they are more likely to pick up their mail daily. And read it. Carefully.

In France for instance, 52% of people say they have read at least one leaflet that came in the mail in the past week. On average they read 2.7 over the same period (source: Balmetrie). And we can expect these trends to increase the more we stay at home: in the UK, it has already been confirmed with an increase of +33% in online interactions that were prompted by advertising mail, like visiting the company’s website for example, compared to before the pandemic (source: JICMAIL).

Gone are the days of throwing away all the leaflets and flyers piling up in the mail during a two-week trip (we’re sad about it – the traveling part we mean ).

At Oppizi, we developed door-to-door distribution services that can spread your message in the neighbourhoods you choose and track the conversion of the leaflets in real-time.

3) People are seeking more physical experiences

A consequence of what I just highlighted above: people pay attention to different things than they used to. Things they used to take for granted and boring can now seem very interesting. Think daily walks, coffee with a friend, but also a friendly Brand Ambassador sharing with them an unbeatable discount offer or a nicely designed flyer landing in the post.

Real-life interactions and physical messaging are becoming more impactful than before. That’s because whether in the streets or at home, in times of hand sanitisers and social distancing, we are craving haptic experiences a lot more.

4) The digital ad space is saturated

As touched upon earlier in the intro, lots of brands have jumped at the chance of expanding the reach of their online campaigns since the beginning of the pandemic. It has even been very successful for some. But in the long run, it means:

• An increase in CPA as more and more brands compete to be seen in the digital space. Looking at current trends, the digital CAC could increase as much as +60% in the next 5 years (source: Profitwell)
• A decrease in the attention span: yes, people probably see a lot more online ads but they also gradually feel like interacting with them less and less

Any seasoned marketer would agree that less impact at a higher cost doesn’t sound like a recipe for success.

So instead of bleeding our marketing budgets dry, it seems like a good time to diversify our channel mix. Trying something new can be daunting. But what if we take an old school channel and infuse it with the best of digital? That’s where flyers and leaflets come into the (marketing) mix. Thanks to our tracking solution, we can pair the impact of offline marketing, be it hand-to-hand or door-to-door flyer distribution, with what we love best about digital channels: flexibility and data-driven optimisation of costs. Get in front of untapped audiences at a low cost.

5) You have all the tools to A/B test & optimise

Infusing a traditional marketing channel like flyering with technology unlocks numerous possibilities. Beyond making it more transparent, you can optimise it like a digital channel.

Here are some concrete examples:

– A/B testing distribution times

– A/B testing discount offer

– A/B testing location types

Whether you have set top or bottom of the funnel OKRs for the upcoming quarter, you can measure your performance and reduce your costs, just like online. Directly Access more than 14 KPIs on our platform.

The key takeaway here isn’t that digital channels are dead due to the pandemic, but rather that it’s time to mix the old and the new. Your prospects’ habits and the marketing landscape will carry on evolving in the upcoming months, so should your marketing mix.

Curious how flyer distribution could help you reach your marketing objectives in 2021? Get in touch with our team of experts to discuss how we could assist. And don’t forget to follow our Linkedin page if you don’t want to miss any new insights on offline performance marketing.

Nicolas de Resbecq

Author