How do I Repeat my Leaflet Distribution?

Repeating your marketing message by distributing leaflets to the same areas more than once can improve your response rates and brand recognition.

Following our article “Should I Repeat my Leaflet Distribution in the Same Area?“, here we give you some ideas on how to apply this strategy in using leaflet distribution campaigns.

Distribution Timescale

We recommend that you work to a timescale of between 4 and 8 weeks for repeating your leaflet distribution.  The exact timescale will depend on the size of the area into which your leaflets are being distributed and the quantity being distributed, as well as the product or service that you are promoting.

In general, you should work to a timescale that is short enough that people receiving your leaflets will remember receiving them before but not so short that they will feel that they are being bombarded with them.  A six-week schedule would probably be ideal for most products/services but as discussed this can be as short as 4 weeks and as long a 8 weeks.

There are, however, no hard and fast rules to this so the best way to understand the frequency with which your leaflets distribution should be repeated is to test the response rates and find the timescale that works best for you.

Leaflet Design

As with all leaflet distribution campaigns, the design of your leaflet is critical to the success of your leaflets distribution campaign.  This is even more critical when running a repeating leaflet distribution campaign as you need to vary the design to ensure that it stays interesting while keeping the message relevant to your target audience.

If you have more than one product or service then you can focus on a different one with each distribution while keeping the overall ‘look and feel’ the same.  Alternatively, if you have the ability to create new products or services or to vary the ones that you already have then you can use each repetition of your leaflet distribution to introduce the new products or services.  A work of caution here – do not go overboard with the new products and services as you do not want people to think that you are a ‘jack of all trades’.  There is noting wrong with using your repeating leaflet distributing to introduce a few new products and services and then revisit ones you have introduced in the past.

Make it memorable

When running a repeating leaflet distribution campaign you should ensure that each leaflet is memorable in some way – so that people will remember that they have received a leaflet from you before.  This can be done by simply distributing the same leaflet over and over again but this is likely to be less effective because people will get bored with it.  It is better to create a different leaflet with a recurring theme – e.g. same general design characteristics, same colour scheme, same logo etc.  This will mean that people will recognise who it is from but will generate interest due to differing content and offers.

Offers

As with any leaflet distribution, offers or some other form of call to action are important to eliciting a good response.  Offers should be unique or ‘special’ to encourage people to respond.  This is even more important when running a repeating leaflets distribution since you will have to plan it well in advance and ensure that your offers are fresh – in a similar way to the leaflet design that we discussed above.  If people see the same offer on each leaflet then they won’t perceive it to have value and the response rate will suffer.

Distribution Areas

The same criteria for selecting the areas in which to distribute your leaflets applies to repeated distribution campaigns as it does to a single leaflet distribution campaign.  The main difference is that a repeated leaflet distribution will allow you to track response rates over time.  This can be highly effective if the results are tracked and measured properly as it will allow you to identify areas where the campaign is more effective and those where it is less effective, thereby allowing you adjust the focus of your campaign over time to ensure the best results and giving you the best return in  your investment.