Starting my own business. Leaflet design,print and distribution

[OliverLuke]

Hi everyone,

My name's Oliver, I am 20. I had a thread a while back about opening a bar, you were all very helpful; It was a long shot and it is something I may consider in the future.

I am here now because I am in the process of starting a new business.
Basically, I needed something with reasonable start up costs that can grow in a pace I am comfortable with.

I decided to start a small marketing business which specializes in leaflets/flyers.
We design, print and distribute as well as do separate design work as well.
I have a graphic designer who I forward work onto and pay him a fee per design and I have a printing company that gives me trade prices.
I built my website last week and currently have a few thousand leaflets being printed advertising myself which will be posted around my busy local town.
My site is: oglmarketing.co.uk

I would love some general advice and your opinions.

Thankyou for your time!

Oliver

 

[GraemeL]

currently have a few thousand leaflets being printed advertising myself which will be posted around my busy local town.

Presumably you will use the success, or otherwise, of your leaflet drop to promote your business?

G

 

[OliverLuke]

Presumably you will use the success, or otherwise, of your leaflet drop to promote your business?

G

Yes, my leaflets will be delivered to every business in the town I am targeting

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Hi everyone,

My name's Oliver, I am 20. I had a thread a while back about opening a bar, you were all very helpful; It was a long shot and it is something I may consider in the future.

I am here now because I am in the process of starting a new business.
Basically, I needed something with reasonable start up costs that can grow in a pace I am comfortable with.

I decided to start a small marketing business which specializes in leaflets/flyers.
We design, print and distribute as well as do separate design work as well.
I have a graphic designer who I forward work onto and pay him a fee per design and I have a printing company that gives me trade prices.
I built my website last week and currently have a few thousand leaflets being printed advertising myself which will be posted around my busy local town.
My site is: oglmarketing.co.uk

I would love some general advice and your opinions.

Thankyou for your time!

Oliver

You need someone who can write sales copy as well as design.

The text is always more important than the graphic design.

If people get a good response you'll get repeat business. If their leaflet doe snot perform well it is most likely because of how it was written not the design-its tough getting that through to people sometimes though.

next time some come through your door look at them and think which are more likely to get read.

The answer is quite simple.

 

[OliverLuke]

You need someone who can write sales copy as well as design.

The text is always more important than the graphic design.

If people get a good response you'll get repeat business. If their leaflet doe snot perform well it is most likely because of how it was written not the design-its tough getting that through to people sometimes though.

next time some come through your door look at them and think which are more likely to get read.

The answer is quite simple.

thankyou, that is very helpful mate

 

[Mattlock]

I take my hat off to you mate, i wish i'd had that sort of vision when i was your age.
I'd say you've picked a good one. My only advice would be:
1 Forget everything you were ever taught about being generous, you now have to watch every penny
2 look to build up to getting people to deliver the leaflets for you (thats what a friend of mine does) ,you would initially have to do the leg work yourself for 2-3 yrs
4 Learn how to build websites and offer this later also
5 get a second job to help you along

Best of luck
Matt
Oakhurst Carpentry and Locksmiths Ltd

 

[OliverLuke]

I take my hat off to you mate, i wish i'd had that sort of vision when i was your age.
I'd say you've picked a good one. My only advice would be:
1 Forget everything you were ever taught about being generous, you now have to watch every penny
2 look to build up to getting people to deliver the leaflets for you (thats what a friend of mine does) ,you would initially have to do the leg work yourself for 2-3 yrs
4 Learn how to build websites and offer this later also
5 get a second job to help you along

Best of luck
Matt
Oakhurst Carpentry and Locksmiths Ltd

Thanks Matt,
1. I am already tight as a ducks...
2. Thats my plan.
4. I built the website that I have now, its not the greatest but its a skill I will improve.
5. I work around the business at the moment, working weekends.

Thanks for the advice! appreciate it

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

what's you url

You don't need to know any code you know to have nice looking site with decent content on it.

have you thought of advertsising in the back of marketing journals?

Put an offer code on so you can monitor response rate.

May be expensive though £350 for a 1/4 page

 

[Christine Hough]

I had a look at your website and it made a good impression on me.

I picked out the relevant information quickly and liked the map area showing where you operate.

Its simple and easy to understand.
I like it.
Hope it goes well.

 

[90DC]

Congratulations OliverLuke,

Hope it all goes well for you.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

I had a look at your website and it made a good impression on me.

I picked out the relevant information quickly and liked the map area showing where you operate.

Its simple and easy to understand.
I like it.
Hope it goes well.

That is the only sort of website you should ever build.

Intuitive navigation as well is good.

may I know the url?

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Oh I found the url

There are some more statistics you can use on the direct marketing association's website.

 

[OliverLuke]

Oh I found the url

There are some more statistics you can use on the direct marketing association's website.

Wow, thanks very much for the support! Just had a nightmare, my computer with my site and my designs has blown up. This is via my phone. Another expense tommorow! I will sort it out

 

[Christine Hough]

My site is: oglmarketing.co.uk

I would love some general advice and your opinions.

Thankyou for your time!

Oliver

this was the site I looked at

 

[neildigital]

Oliver

If you ever wish to have any printing questions answered, or jobs priced, give me a shout.

Neil

 

[OliverLuke]

I want your advice,

At the moment, I am having a few thousands leaflets printed that advertise my business, I am also writing up a short letter explaining our business services.
I am going to attach the letter in a closed envelope to the leaflet, wake up early in the morning and post them to every business in my town.

I want to know.. If you walked into your business premesis and seen an envelope with an attached leaflet, what would your reaction be?
Would you want to see what is in the envelope or consider it rubbish?

Thanks
Oliver

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

I want your advice,

At the moment, I am having a few thousands leaflets printed that advertise my business, I am also writing up a short letter explaining our business services.
I am going to attach the letter in a closed envelope to the leaflet, wake up early in the morning and post them to every business in my town.

I want to know.. If you walked into your business premesis and seen an envelope with an attached leaflet, what would your reaction be?
Would you want to see what is in the envelope or consider it rubbish?

Thanks
Oliver

Try and address the envelop to a person if you can get some contact names.

Put the leaflet inside the envelope.

 

[OliverLuke]

Try and address the envelop to a person if you can get some contact names.

Put the leaflet inside the envelope.

Thanks Mike

 

[swiftpete]

Just a small thing but your logo etc on your website moves around depending on which page you're on. I always think that looks unprofessional so you should probably try and ensure it's consistent as you browse through the pages.
I am not sure that I would have the '70% of consumers have acted in response to a leaflet' thing on there. I think everyone knows that response rates to leafletting is something like 1% and it looks a bit misleading. That's my opinion anyway.

 

[OliverLuke]

Hi Pete,
Thanks for making me aware of the moving logo, I will get that sorted.
and I used the statistics of here: http://www.ukpages.net/dor2dor/statistics.htm

& Thanks jovkovicgdi!

 

[OliverLuke]

I am re-building the site due to my computer blowing up.
Could I have your honest thoughts please?
www.oglmarketing.co.uk

Many thanks
Oliver