How do you plan a leaflet distribution route?

[Runninground]

I was just going to go out with a map (when I get my first client).

But then I looked at google maps and it's a bit more complicated. I'm not sure I would remember which roads i've done and I may miss some roads or houses.

What is the best way to do it? (Ideally, an app on my phone that logs accurately in detail which roads i've been down, and I can really zoom in to see which side of the road I was on )

Planning it may be a bit tricky too for a large round.

Or maybe i'm just over thinking *sigh*!!

 

[Rico Plymouth]

Personally if it was me I would look at paying a leaflet distribution company. They can be very cost effective and good for targeting areas.
Being honest have you worked out how time intensive it is? You will be out for hours, walking miles and miles, in whatever weather is thrown that day, and depending on the industry you are in could be a very large chunk of your time best used elsewhere.
Unless you are planning on making a business from delivering leaflets? In which case you will find that you need multiple clients targeting one area to start. I think where I live it is about £40 for 5000 leaflets delivered! work out how long that will take you, and then work out if you can make it profitable. Leaflets I personally think are not as effective a media as they used to be. You can target many more people through the web these days. If I get a leaflet through the door, it has 2 seconds to grab my attention before going in the bin. Unless of course it is a new menu from my favourite takeaway.

 

[Runninground]

Personally if it was me I would look at paying a leaflet distribution company. They can be very cost effective and good for targeting areas.
Being honest have you worked out how time intensive it is? You will be out for hours, walking miles and miles, in whatever weather is thrown that day, and depending on the industry you are in could be a very large chunk of your time best used elsewhere.
Unless you are planning on making a business from delivering leaflets? In which case you will find that you need multiple clients targeting one area to start. I think where I live it is about £40 for 5000 leaflets delivered! work out how long that will take you, and then work out if you can make it profitable. Leaflets I personally think are not as effective a media as they used to be. You can target many more people through the web these days. If I get a leaflet through the door, it has 2 seconds to grab my attention before going in the bin. Unless of course it is a new menu from my favourite takeaway.

I'm thinking of the latter. It's about 8 hours to distribute 1k leaflets. I plan on paying distributors (which will be myself in the early days) £50 per 1000 leaflets. I will charge about £75 for solus delivery (for 1k leaflets) and about £35 for shared (for 1k leaflets). That's about £15 'profit' (excluding any smaller expenses) per 1k solus distribution, and about £55 profit per 1k of shared distribution (3 leaflets per letter box).

 

[Rico Plymouth]

I really hope it works for you, but to give you the best chance can I point out some basics, which I hope to have correct! I am not trying to 'knock' your plan, merely give you things to consider.
you say 8 hours to do a 1000 leaflets, i presume to 1000 addresses?
In which case 8 hours = 480 mins. 1000 leaflets in 480 minutes means 1 letter box EVERY 28 seconds, without stopping at all during the day.
£75 for solo delivery, £35 for shared. So if you have 2 clients, the delivery agent has to do MORE work, and ensure 2 leaflets per door for less revenue to you? I do not see the logic, and I would be shocked if I went to a shop and it was £75 for one or £70 for 2? Surely your discount incentive if they want to share and reduce cost should be over 50% of solo value?
Have you researched the cost of other similar services in your area? Are you competitive where you are as here I would think the pricing too high.
Would it not benefit to find a company doing a daily / weekly delivery and get them to put it with there product, EG the free weekly paper.
I hope that gives food for thought, and wish you every success with whichever direction you choose to go in.

 

[Runninground]

I really hope it works for you, but to give you the best chance can I point out some basics, which I hope to have correct! I am not trying to 'knock' your plan, merely give you things to consider.
you say 8 hours to do a 1000 leaflets, i presume to 1000 addresses?
In which case 8 hours = 480 mins. 1000 leaflets in 480 minutes means 1 letter box EVERY 28 seconds, without stopping at all during the day.

Yes, this is correct. It depends on the type of house. I've heard some people say they can do 1000 in 4/5 hours. I guess it depends how fast you walk! When you think about it, walking from one letter box to the next would probably take 15 seconds or so if the driveways aren't too long.

£75 for solo delivery, £35 for shared. So if you have 2 clients, the delivery agent has to do MORE work, and ensure 2 leaflets per door for less revenue to you? I do not see the logic, and I would be shocked if I went to a shop and it was £75 for one or £70 for 2? Surely your discount incentive if they want to share and reduce cost should be over 50% of solo value?

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at here. £75 for solus means the distributor has to take one leaflet from the bag and post it. They get £50/1000 leaflets. For shared, I charge the client £35 and I get three clients who want to cover the same area at the same time. This brings me in £105. The distributor simply has to take out three leaflets from the bag to post through the letter box. It's not increasing the difficulty or time because they can take out the leaflets as they walk to the next letter box. They walk the same distance to the same houses for £50/1000 leaflets.

Have you researched the cost of other similar services in your area? Are you competitive where you are as here I would think the pricing too high.

Yes. Most charge around £30-£38 for shared, and £70+ for solus.

Would it not benefit to find a company doing a daily / weekly delivery and get them to put it with there product, EG the free weekly paper.

No, because people are much less likely to read the leaflet when it is stuffed inside a free paper. Plus if I did this it would defeat the point of my business!

I hope that gives food for thought, and wish you every success with whichever direction you choose to go in.

Thanks for the post. Hopefully I answered your questions well

 

[Daxo]

Firstly I would ask if you know how many properties are on each street? In other words, before even taking to the streets with a map, how will you go about planning a route which contains 1000 properties? Do you intend to simply walk the streets "randomly" until all 1000 leaflets have been delivered and note down which roads you've visited as you go along?

 

[Runninground]

Firstly I would ask if you know how many properties are on each street? In other words, before even taking to the streets with a map, how will you go about planning a route which contains 1000 properties? Do you intend to simply walk the streets "randomly" until all 1000 leaflets have been delivered and note down which roads you've visited as you go along?

I can use Zoopla to find out how many properties there are on each road. It's basically the same as the Royal Mail postcode checker thing, but it's unlimited use. Basically I type in the road or postcode and it brings up all the properties in that road/ postcode. At the top it says 'Displaying 12 out of 43 properties', so I know there are 43 houses on that road (This includes flats).

 

[ethical PR]

Running Ground

From your posts it sounds like you are going into the distribution business but don't actually have any experience in it. (Apologies if I have misunderstood).

It would probably be worth getting some leafletting experience working with other distribution companies so you can get a better understanding of how it all works before setting up on your own.

As well as actually deliveries, have you factored monitoring, insurance and marketing costs in your pricing?

Will you have a viable income once you have paid third parties to deliver on your behalf.

Just some issues which I am sure you have already researched and through through, but thought it might be worth raising.

 

[Daxo]

I suspect that it would take an eternity to plan a distribution route using such a manual process. But one has to start somewhere I suppose.

If so, then is it not possible to simply print off a map with the streets you intend to visit highlighted as well listed in a table. The table with 3 columns; "street name", "odd", "even". Then as you go along you simply tick off the streets via the "odd" or "even" column, then you would know not only which streets you had visited but which side of the street you had done.

There is of course specialist software which takes the manual labour, pain and tedium out of planning a leaflet distribution route, though it does cost circa £2k.

In the absence of such software I would suggest the above unless I've misunderstood you in some way.

 

[Runninground]

Running Ground

From your posts it sounds like you are going into the distribution business but don't actually have any experience in it. (Apologies if I have misunderstood).

It would probably be worth getting some leafletting experience working with other distribution companies so you can get a better understanding of how it all works before setting up on your own.

Unless a paper round when I was 14 counts, then I don't. But the two distribution companies around here only employ people over 21, an i'm not over 21.

As well as actually deliveries, have you factored monitoring, insurance and marketing costs in your pricing?

Marketing: I plan to email local businesses and follow up with a phone call. I'll also rely on word of mouth. And a website too (along with Twitter and Facebook). Not expensive methods. Insurance (Public Liability Insurance?) is about £60 so I can cover the cost of this in a few distributions. For monitoring, I will buy a GPS logger for ~£40, which will be covered in one shared distribution. I will do the distribution for the first few rounds, and I will be putting the £50 (or majority of it at least) back into the business, so I can pay for the GPS & insurance quickly.

Will you have a viable income once you have paid third parties to deliver on your behalf.

This depends on the amount of distributions. I will make a profit on each distribution, so it's just a case of increasing the number of clients & distributors to earn more (Easier said than done I expect ). I have a P-T job so this isn't my only source of income.

Just some issues which I am sure you have already researched and through through, but thought it might be worth raising.

Thanks for raising them. It's good for me to answer the questions, to make sure I've not forgotten anything

I suspect that it would take an eternity to plan a distribution route using such a manual process. But one has to start somewhere I suppose.

If so, then is it not possible to simply print off a map with the streets you intend to visit highlighted as well listed in a table. The table with 3 columns; "street name", "odd", "even". Then as you go along you simply tick off the streets via the "odd" or "even" column, then you would know not only which streets you had visited but which side of the street you had done.

There is of course specialist software which takes the manual labour, pain and tedium out of planning a leaflet distribution route, though it does cost circa £2k.

In the absence of such software I would suggest the above unless I've misunderstood you in some way.

Sounds like a good idea (It sounds better the more I think about it ). Hopefully after a while I will get to know the areas and will be able to ensure i've covered the houses.

 

[LeafletsInLincs]

If you were going to set up a leaflet distribution business you would of done it by now.

This question is totally invalid as it depends on areas, types of property, whether the client wants every property covering.

You just print off maps and follow them round. It's simple.

 

[LeafletsInLincs]

You just print maps and use a pen to mark where you've been. If you're using GPS also it shows anything you've missed.

You should really go and walk with a map before getting your first client and my advice is to join another company to gain experience before setting up on your own.

I walk around 60 hours a week, you're being very naive if you think this is easy work.