Leaflets in goodie bags at events

[DuaneJackson]

Hi all,

I've had an offer to include my leaflet in a goodie bag that's handed out at an exhibition. It's perfectly targetted at our audience.

The cost is £1000 for 10,000 leaflets.

Has anyone done anything similar? I'm curious as to whether this is a good price or not.

[LindseyMHC]

Hi Duane,

One question to consider ...

How many times have you been to an event/exhibition, been given a goodie bag and thrown away the leaflets inside just keeping any goodies?

If I'm the only one who's done this (or am in the minority) then this is a route to market you should be considering. If I'm not the only one who does this then your investment could have a low return (How much business do you need to gain to cover the cost of printing 10,000 leaflets + £1,000 for them to be included in the goodie bags?). Also, can the organiser back-up their visitor figures and clarify that 10,000 goodie bags will be taken?

Not the hard and fast answer I am sure you are looking for, just food for thought.

All the best,

Lindsey.

(P.S. If you do go ahead with this opportunity I'd be intereested to hear whether you think the exercise was worthwhile)

[MinuWeb]

if it is targeted audience and you would be happy with a responce rate of 0.5% - 1.5% then go for it

[DuaneJackson]

Thanks Lindsey,

Good food : )

We only need 12 subscriptions to our service to cover the costs. So even at the conversion rates vshosting suggests it could be worthwhile.

We will go ahead with it, I was just hoping to find out if the pricing is competitive so I know if it's worth trying to get it down any more.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[directmarketingadvice]

Duane

You could go back and tell them you've got an unlimited budget for this kind of advertising.

No matter how many clients they get you, you'll pay them £50 per client.

If goodie bag marketing is effective, why would they want to turn down a money spinner like that?

Steve

[DuaneJackson]

We've tried that a few times with various advertising opportunities. None of them ever want to take it up - shows the faith they have in what they do, or sometime, when dealing with a big publishing house they just don't have the authority to do it.

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Duane

In this instance, I think a lot depends on whether their choice is:

(a) your leaflet or someone else's leaflet

or

(b) your leaflet or not your leaflet

In (a), there's a limited availability of space and including your offer on a performance basis would mean giving up cash up front (unless you offer to do it on a stand-by basis where they'll include you if the place in the bag hasn't been sold) and they could be out of pocket by a grand if the leaflet doesn't generate any business for you.

In (b) the only potential downside is only the added the time, effort and cost of putting your leaflet into the bags along with the other stuff.

So, this could be a form of marketing where they might consider such an arrangement.

Of course, this depends on whether they have faith that you'd expect to get 20 clients from this. But, that begs the question why you should have more faith in them that they have in themselves. What exactly do they know?? :wink:

Steve

[DuaneJackson]

Good points Steve I hadn't looked at it that way.

In terms of magazine advertising it'd be a) if theres a long time left before the mag goes to press or it'd b) if it's unsold space and the mag is about to go to press.

I'll try to find out that info next time I try to get a contra deal in place.

You've got me worried now though. They said they'll be a max of 10 leaflets in each bag.

We've now called their bluff and said we'll do it for he 1k is thats inc. of VAT, they said no so we've left it as "OK, call us if you do this again as we'll be able to afford 1k+VAT at another date. We're now hoping to get a call later today saying OK to 1k inc VAT. If not we'll be calling them at 5 to say OK to 1K + VAT.

But what if our space is sold to someone else? A big event this focued on our market doesn't come around very often. Damn all these silly games to save £150! We'll go for it.

[DuaneJackson]

But, that begs the question why you should have more faith in them that they have in themselves. What exactly do they know?? :wink:

It's a good question. I think usually it comes down to the individual we are dealing with not having the authority rather than the faith in their reach.

There is also the fact that they may have 100% faith in their ability and reach but they don't know wether we are capable of converting the enquiries.

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi Duane

If you end up in the goodie bag, would you make a note in your diary for a few weeks after the event to post on here and say how you got on.

I'm sure there are a lot of people here who'd like to hear how it went for you.

Best wishes

Steve

[altyfc]

I would say you need to couple the response rate with the value of a sale. If you just need one sale out of the 10,000 leaflets to cover the £1000, then it might well be worth a shot.

Aaron

[DuaneJackson]

OK, here's an update for those interested.

My partner was dealing with this and we agreed to go ahead and he signed the contract with them.

He's since left and I reviewed everything he's done in the past couple of months. I came across the contract for this and discovered it was absolutely useless. We'd basically contracted to have a stand called "carrier bag inserts".

No mention of how many, when, or anything.

I phoned them up to try and get this all sorted but they were more interested in getting payment immediately.

Obviously I've refused to pay and they are threatening to sue. I doubt they will though.

As I already have the leaflets printed I am instead having them handed out outside the venue by a different company at 10% of the cost of having them put in the bags.

I'll let you know what kind of response we get after the event.

[fastfences]

Hi Duane,
As I already have the leaflets printed I am instead having them handed out outside the venue by a different company at 10% of the cost of having them put in the bags.

Don't want to sound patronising, but THAT's marketing!!
Cheers, Nigel

[DuaneJackson]

Not sure what you mean. Can you clarify for me?

[Rob Holmes]

We only need 12 subscriptions to our service to cover the costs.

Or 4 customers that keep the product for 3 years ;)

Raises another question of Customer Lifetime Value - how long will people stay with your product? Will they purchase any other products?

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

Yep, that's something that's only dawned on me in the past monht or so. I've been looking at the instant return, not at the lifetime value.

And yes, there will be the opportunity to sell in other products and add-ons.

Also, the degree of enthusiasm from our users is pretty unbeliveable. At the moment 9users = 1 new user based on a recommendation.

[Bullit Promotions]

Hi,

I used to run Flyer Bag UK and we are in the process of re-moddeling our services, we used to specialise in leaflet marketing at conferences exhibitions, univeristies and town centres across the UK.

We would have charged £300 for 10,000 flyers based on £30 /1000 flyers

I wish we were fully operational in order to help you out, but i would suggest you search in your local area for other companies offering the service.

NATHAN

[cjd]

I'd like to hear how you got on too.

Generally I'm deeply suspiscious of all things conference - they're just tools to drive income for the convention holders. I also take no notice of anything handed to me unless I'm researching competitors offerings!

[fastfences]

Not sure what you mean. Can you clarify for me?

Huh?

Just stating that your marketing ploy distributing the leaflets outside the venue at a fraction of the cost for what will most likely be a similar return is excellent lateral thinking. Doesn't anyone ever congratulate you for something?
Cheers, Nigel

[DuaneJackson]

Ahh, gotcha. It was the comment that it might be patronising that threw me : ) Thanks. I'd like to take the credit for lateral thinking but I more stumbled across that solution than planned it.

The big day is tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's actually in a seriously dodgy part of London so if anyone has any stolen goods they need to get shifted quickly I'll point them in your direction

[Fingers In Pies]

Interesting post. Duane - did they ever come back to you... did you pay the 1k inc vat... what was the response.

1k for 10k leaflet dist sounds incredibly expensive. What were you inserting... a book?

>>> have since read full post / replies etc.... SO... how much work did you get out of it? <<<<

Cheers


Jim

[wilfredw]

Heh, this is a 3 year old post :) :)

[footballshirts]

Heh, this is a 3 year old post :) :)


i've just sat reading through a 3 year old post and only now realised, doh!