The Benefit of Leaflet Distribution vs Digital Marketing

The changes through GDPR rules on email marketing in 2018 meant this route of contacting customers became more challenging. Leaflet distribution has therefore become a great way to market to your client base without any restrictions.The negatives of course is that it tends to be a localised form of marketing but there are distributors you can utilise. We can put you in touch with them and ensure your message gets out there. Let’s firstly weigh up the pros and cons of leaflet versus digital marketing.

What does GDPR mean?

We’ve all heard of GDPR which stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It has seven key principles:

• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality
• Accountability

GDPR is a framework that gives guidance on how we collect and use personal information from people living in the EU. With the advent of so much emarketing, the EU came up with a set of data protection laws that would affect all member countries. With so much information stored online, people wanted to understand how their data was being used and held. It gives people a set of rights over their information as follows:

• To be informed 
• The right to erasure 
• The right to restrict processing 
• The right to object 
• The right around automated profiling

When the new rules came into force, many businesses felt overwhelmed and worried about storing data. Whilst  e-marketing campaigns have an opt out feature, businesses were still wary of marketing electronically with historic data.

The benefits of leaflet distribution

The beauty of leaflets through doors is that it is not subject to GDPR rules and regulations.

This means you can utilise a great form of marketing and hit large areas of people with information on your business, it’s services and products. With well thought out and conceived design or incredible offers and discounts that will tantalise recipients, leaflet marketing can certainly have an impact. The disadvantage of course is it can be hard to know whether you are marketing to the right people, so how effective is direct mail in a digital world?

Well there are some surprisingly positive stats, whilst you may not be able to target an audience it seems the vast majority consumers will recall door drop marketing compared to email marketing. When we are deluged with email marketing to our inboxes daily, it can be quite refreshing to get a colourful leaflet through the door. We don’t have time to read 10 to 15 emails a day but one or two leaflets would definitely at least get a glance.

So why do leaflets work?

When you’re allowed to read something in your own time without feeling pressured, you’re more likely to take the message on board.There’s something about an email into your inbox that feels invasive whereas a harmless leaflet through the door will be received with less animosity. Adding the word free or discount to a leaflet, and you’ve got your recipient’s interest for sure!