Should you ditch the promotional flyers?

Photo by Ivan Samkov© from Pexels

Restaurants are probably the one exception where take out menu’s as flyers are a good idea and are a great form of advertising. But for the rest it is a by gone era.

Now before you accuse me of being a tech-savvy millennial, let me give you some factual reasons as to why:

The environmental impacts

With climate change, global warming and piles of rubbish clogging our seas, more and more people are trying to be more sustainable in their consumption. This includes flyers. Yes, some of them may be recyclable and even compostable, but they are single use items. And this is one era in which more eco-conscious people are moving away from.

The ability and reach of video

Pictures are so 2015. With the reach of video on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and more, you can reach a much bigger audience with a video than you can with a flyer. For example, I recently ran a promotion for a local SA company, we reached 2,430 people with an ad cost of R100.01. These people were all targeted based on area and job title.

If you can have the same reach with R100, I would be happy to look at flyers more closely.

The community of social media

The last reason is probably one of the biggest. If you use social media as opposed to handing out flyers, you have the ability to answer questions and engage with your potential customers. This is due to the fact that customers can ask questions easily without having to pick up the phone.

This allows you to create a FAQ section in the comments with real questions that people are asking. Furthermore, it gives your brand more authority through your answer on social media as the potential customers can see that your brand is active, attentive and provides good customer service.

While there may be some room in the market for flyers, I have found that businesses are better off looking into online media options. As most of the flyers I get end up in the bin.

As the world evolves and changes, businesses need to adapt and grow to have better marketing in both efficiency and environmentally.