To think most people don’t look at flyers posted in their doors?

[Afternooninthepark]

I’ve been a SAHM for 10 years and am really struggling to get back in the workplace. I have been applying for jobs for sometime but I’m not having much luck and desperate to start earning again. I have been doing a spot of very part time dog walking for a while now and have decided to focus on expanding that and also offering a pet pop in/sitting service and home help service for older people etc.
I have had some flyers printed off but not sure how to get them circulated in my area?
I want to put the ad in our local magazine which is circulated to residents in a 4-5 mile radius from where I live. A four month long, small ad will cost £90.
However, dh reckons it’s cheaper and most effective if I purchase around 5000 flyers at a cost of £50 and spend some time popping them in letterboxes all around our area.
However, I’m not so sure this would generate much interest. We get lots of leaflets/flyers through the door and tbh half the time I don’t even look at them, just plonk them in the recycling bin but I do browse through the local magazines each month.
Apart from Facebook, I can’t really think of other cheap(ish) ways to get the word around.
Which one do you think is likely to generate the most interest?

Our cat likes laying on them on the doormat. Most just go in the bin, but when we moved in and were doing a lot of renovation we'd hired a skip filled it, had it taken away, but then accumulated more junk and debris into a pile in the garden we called it bin Nevis. We would've had to hire another small skip or van and it had rained and we had so much else to do we just couldn't be bothered, but it needed dealing with, then a flier came through the door and a lovely chap called Johnny came, cleared it all took it to the tip in his van, swept and then cleaned the patio for £75, that flier is still on our fridge and we've recommended him to friends who've needed removals or other of jobs. So very glad for that one!

Mine go in the bin. If I'm looking for someone to do a job of any kind I'd try my local FB page

I read them. Sometimes they are useful.

I do holiday cat feeding myself, and when I started up I put business cards through doors. I got some clients that way, but memorably I also had one man come flying out of his house, angrily waving my card at me and shouting “I don’t believe in cats!”

I get more business from the little pile of cards I leave in my local deli - they have a windowsill where local businesses can leave their cards.

But most new clients come from word of mouth and personal recommendations.

There is lots of research about what are the most cost effective methods of marketing businesses. I’d do some google searching.

Mass leaflet drops get about a 1% response rate but this is skewed because food take-away leaflets get a much bigger response rate than anything else so you probably won’t get 1%.

Targeted marketing gets better results. For example, for your pet services, a poster at the vets will get a better response than a poster at the doctors’ surgery.

Generally, the cheaper the marketing method, the lower the response rate, but a bit more investment in marketing could possible lead to more responses. It’s always a gamble but some research in advance reduces the risk of wasting your money.

For me it very much depends what the flyer is advertising.

Something like the pp who said she put flyers through doors when her cat went missing, that I would keep for a while in case I did happen to come across the cat.

A couple of activities at a local community centre took my interest for example.

But anything that involved paying for someone to do work in my home or someone coming into my home for anything, I wouldn't reply to a flyer so for me for the services you're offering OP it would be a definite no no.

If you have a laser printer you could buy your own nice paper and print a few hundred leaflets for less than £50. Maybe not for inkjet as the ink would be more expensive?

Try asking friends and family if they can put a flyer or card on their workplace noticeboard. A relative of a colleague has just done that for her fledgling dog walking business. If it's a relative or friend of a friend, people might be more likely to use them than a complete stranger.

I bin all flyers without looking at them, they go straight in the bin. If I was looking for something like a pet sitter I would be very most likely to have a look online, Facebook groups, that sort of thing.

When I opened my vets surgery my lovely local milkman offered to deliver my leaflets to all the houses with dogs!

We always put up leaflets like yours in our noticeboards because clients are always asking us about services like yours, so definitely speak to your local vet. Good luck!

I think your response rate will be low as it is not a service everyone needs.

What about shop notice boards, Facebook, gumtree, vet notice boards etc?

If you're using a vehicle having something sign-written on it can be useful, although the vehicle needs to look fairly professional - obviously properly kitted out for carrying dogs safely. I wouldn't be impressed by an old hatchback sketchily equipped with a dog guard and a couple of blankets in the boot.

As a side note to this, I was recently behind a dog walker in her nicely signwritten vehicle at traffic lights. I was pretty when I saw the window go down and a fag butt get lobbed out.

The littering pissed me off to start with, but if I had a dog, I wouldn't want it walked and transported by someone chuffing away on cigarettes at the same time.

(Ditto any people who behave badly when driving round advertisements for the business)

I don't really trust leaflets, probably because they make me think of all those scam tree surgeons etc.

Facebook is definitely the way to go - word of mouth ideally so that current clients recommend you in local groups etc. but also well targeted Facebook advertising - you have to read about how Facebook adverts work and how to target the right local audience for them though.

Definitely create a FB business page. Fliers are a complete waste of money

We are looking for home help for my elderly parents.

They read everything that comes through the post!! (Well dad does!) I am sure that if you can find the right local area (usually an area with lots of bungalows!) with older people, you will get some responses.

I always read them.

business cards posted through letterboxes are less likely to get thrown away than a flyer/poster

Thanks everyone. I’ve put my the leaflet on Facebook and all the local spotted, gumtree and will pop them in the local shop windows. Still unsure about the flyers through the door, it won’t cost too much but I’m still in two minds if it’ll make much of an impact, definitely split opinions, some look at them and some throw them straight in the bin but I suppose if I were to deliver 2-5,000 of them and only get 0.5%-1% interest that’s still business I didn’t have before and I’ve got to start somewhere then hopefully from that point it would be more word of mouth?!

Just a thought about your home help service for older people OP. If you've had all the relevant checks that would be required what about asking if you can put leaflets in your local doctors' waiting rooms, libraries and community centres etc.

And the same for dog walking - people might want a dog walker when they're unwell - as well as vets of course.