How Viable is Leaflet Distribution as a Business Idea?

In this article on setting up a leaflet distribution business I’m going to provide some statistics, which should help those of you who’ve been considering this business opportunity.

According to the latest (at the time of writing this article) ‘DMA Door to Door Council’ report, total expenditure on leaflet distribution topped £1bn. This was made up of door to door distribution £350 million, with an estimated £701 million expended on the actual print and production costs of the leaflets themselves. Door drop leaflet volumes increased by 5.7% to 12.560 billion items.

For someone starting a leaflet distribution business, the figure of 12.560 billion items delivered door to door is the key, and represents a healthy market for any new business start-up. Again the DMA states that, “Door to Door’s somewhat unique ability to offer mass coverage as well as sophisticated geo-demographic targeting has made it increasingly attractive to a wide range of advertisers”…

An example of a leaflet distribution business is Direct Letterbox Marketing are a Family run business, located centrally within the UK in Worcestershire.Direct Letterbox Marketing are a specialist door to door leaflet distribution Company, providing an array of professional, reliable and accountable door to door distribution solutions to meet any Business Marketing requirements.

To you and me mass coverage simply means being able to deliver to every house within a postcode, and sophisticated geo-demographic targeting means you can select the postcodes you deliver to.

If you give this more consideration, and then ask yourself this question; what other forms of advertising can actually accomplish specific, or indeed blanket coverage marketing, you’re really left with non. This makes door to door leaflet distribution somewhat unique as an advertising medium.

The DMA also states that “Door to Door is used by 80 of the top 100 UK advertisers, and for many it’s become a substantial part of their overall marketing mix”. This is very strong evidence indeed that leaflet distribution works. They also state that during the previous ten years expenditure had increased by 205%; more than twice the rate of total advertising expenditure in general.

These figures make starting a business in leaflet distribution sound like a good idea, after all it’s a business idea you can start from home, it costs very little to set up, all it needs is you, your car and a telephone. The downside, and there’s always a downside with any business, is, you really have to do the footwork yourself in the early days, or at least share in it. There are several reasons for this…

You’re able to target business prospects that rely entirely upon leaflet distribution for their survival, and, who always have leaflets ready to go. You can offer them a more competitive price, and service, than your larger competitors can. This means you can cherry pick the best customers to get your business off to a flying start.

You can start this business part time, and go full time, whenever you’re ready. The risk you’ll be taking is minimal, and if you don’t like leaflet distribution you can just quit and do something else. Launching into leaflet distribution seems like a no brainer for anyone who wants a business with little capital outlay.

All in all leaflet distribution as a business opportunity looks good, the only downside being, it may appear hard at the start, just until you’re employing leaflet delivery people, with the upside being you can start part time; and it costs next to nothing to start.

The chances for rapid expansion are also favourable, because you’re dealing with a market which is always in demand. Businesses must advertise in order to maintain customer awareness, and based on actual evidence most appear to be strong supporters’ of door drop marketing.

If you like the idea of starting your own leaflet distribution business, you might want to take a look at: www.start-a-leaflet-distribution-business.co.uk it’s a complete business plan and manual on starting and operating a leaflet distribution business.