Flyers

Delivering your flyers

• DO NOT pay a company or someone else to do your flyers initially. Most companies make their money by bundling so your flyer won’t get seen most of the time. They also do mostly on weekends which is when people do not check their letterboxes. When you pay other people go with them. If you leave it to them you will likely find that half the flyers end up in a garbage bin somewhere. If you want to get more done in less time hire people to assist you. Hire 4 people to assist you and you will get 5 hours worth of flying done in one hour.
• US Franchisees: In most countries you are free to place advertisement into people’s mailboxes but in the United States you cannot generally place advertising material in people’s mailboxes without a permit. You basically have 2 options. A) Use the door hangers which seems to be the most effective and lowest cost. B) In some areas depending on local laws you might have to pay a registered company who have a license to deliver to advertising material to people’s mailboxes. In this case the company will generally want to do the artwork to meet their specifications. 
• Printing Door Hanger: You can print and deliver door hangers which is widely practiced in certain states. If you would like a door hanger please contact support. You will need to take these to a professional printer. In some cases they will want to redo the artwork. If they require the pic (G4 logo, boy with guitar and QR code) they can be downloaded via the pic folder in the Teacher Downloads. If you need help please let me know. In the US the door hangers can be printed by http://www.ladyprinting.com/.

The power of flyers

• The flyers work in several ways. Firstly we know from doing literally hundreds of thousands that 1 in every 1000 directly results in a new student based on our design. But there is more to the story. At least 1 in 5 of those who sign up will refer a friend. Delivering the flyers raises local community  awareness and gets people talking. In the areas where we initially did a lot of flyers the flow-on effects are evident even years later. Even if you are skeptical make sure you deliver at least 10,000 or more to see the results. This requires about 80 hours of walking and will result in 10 student inquiries.
• My success with flyers. I have built several million dollar music and guitar schools from the flyers so I know they work. My parents also had successful businesses that were built off the flyers which I would do as a kid. if you are in any doubt its good to chat to other teachers in our Facebook group to get an idea of those who have been at it for a least a few months. For example one of our teachers in Australia announced he had delivered 6000 flyers and has enrolled 6 students but 3 of them enrolled just in the last week. A few weeks ago he was worried it wasn’t working because he had delivered 5000 and only had three students and felt it wasn’t happening quick enough. he can now see how it is averaging out and is more confident to do more flyers knowing that one in 1000 will result a new student.
• The delayed effect. Another less obvious effect is the delayed reaction. When someone sees a flyer in their letterbox they may not be looking at guitar lessons at that point in time but the flyer itself plants a seed. It could be months or even years later when they suddenly decide they want to learn guitar and the flyer they saw in their letterbox reminds them that there is a guitar teacher in the area. They will then jump on their computer and search for ‘Guitar Teacher Suburb’ and G4 GUITAR will often appear on the first page which they are more likely to notice because they have seen the name before via the flyer.
• Friends and neighbours. There is also what we call the friend/neighbour referral. Let's say person A gets a flyer and knows their friend or neighbour recently purchased a guitar. They will often pass it on. Now because we are a growing network of teachers this will be extremely powerful. One teacher might drop a flyer in a local letterbox and that person may have a cousin who lives in another suburb/city who passes on the information.  The more flyers we all do the more powerful am message becomes spreading across suburbs, states, the country and even internationally.
• Doing the footwork really pays off. The flyers are very important and will bring students to you both short term and long term. I can absolutely guarantee you that the time spent delivering flyers will be well spent. When I first did flyers I was motivated mostly by fitness. I realised as a guitarist I spent too much time sitting so doing a few hours a day delivering flyers was a good balance. So I was exercising and building up my student numbers at the same time.

Frequently asked questions

• Q: How often can I do flyers in the same area? A: About every 3 months would be my recommendation but its not to say every 6 weeks wouldn’t work. I have never really tested it because it took about 3 months for me to cover my surrounding area.
• Q: What distance from my location would be the best range for flyer distribution? A: Its more about travel time and convenience. If someone has to travel more than about 20 mins you are probably too far. Its not to say some students won’t travel but the odds are reduced. I think its better to focus in your area and your reputation through your students will naturally spread if you are a good teacher.
• Q: If I am to include another business on the back side of my flyer what rate do you think I should be charging that person at?  A: Just check out how much the going rate for flyer distribution is in your area and charge them half. Be honest explaining that you are just trying to reduce your marketing costs by partnering with them. Let them know that because your business is on the flyer they can be guaranteed delivery. If you have trouble finding a business offer a test where for the first say 5000 if they don’t get a result you will not charge them. Some business owners my abuse this of course but its unlikely especially if they do get a result. If it works they will want to continue. Alternatively you can start a second business of your own. Perhaps you have another skill singing or drumming or even something unrelated to guitar like computer repairs. One more idea is to see if you have any family members or friends who have skills and put them on your flyer. If you are going to be marketing flyers you may as well leverage your flyer.
•  Q: Should I be indiscriminate about which houses to deliver or do I need to assess properly who’s living in each one of them? A: The flyers are inexpensive so just put in every letterbox except those who say ‘No’ to unsolicited mail. Guitar is extremely popular and even if the person in the house is an unlikely person to want to learn guitar they may know some who wants to learn.