Top tips

We go to amazing lengths to make sure your print is placed in exactly the right place for you. From city centres to outlying towns, village shops and country pubs, we’ve amassed a wealth of experiences on the road. With each new experience comes a fresh lesson.

We’d like to share some of these with you just to demonstrate that there’s more to effective distribution than just ‘plonking’ print in a shop and walking away.

1. Be creative

Think laterally about how to make the best use of your print distribution campaign in relation to where print should be placed, which design execution would work best and the print format. Digital printing means different designs can be produced cost effectively for different sites and target markets. We can help you shape a creative approach before you even brief your designers.

2. Size matters

Consider different print sizes for different types of outlets to maximize the number of ‘hits’ and types of impact with people going about their daily business. In some contexts small is beautiful… in others, the bigger the better! For example, have you considered a credit card shape format for display at point of sale in retail outlets? What if this approach were combined with a targeted promotion?

3. Visibility in a busy site is key

When designing your posters, think about IMPACT and VISIBILITY. Whether it’s type size, bold design, highlighting a key sales message or using strong colours, you need to ensure your poster will stand out from the crowd and catch people’s attention as they go about their business.

4. Loyalty builds relationships

If you develop a network of core sites people will grow accustomed to seeing your regularly changing print and may even come to expect it and indeed actively seek it. What better way of reaching a section of your target population that isn’t reached via direct marketing or who don’t regularly seek out print from arts and cultural venues.

5. Incentivise

Targeted distribution is a great way of getting promotions out to people who can’t be reached by direct marketing.

Incentivising drop site owners and managers can work wonders too. A free ticket for the first night of a show in well placed outlets might generate great word of mouth — think hairdressers, barbers, small local businesses and beauticians to name but a few.

6. Help us help you spread WOM

Give us a briefing on your events and we can kick start word of mouth as part of our service. Given that we have excellent relationships with the managers and owners of our ‘drop sites’, we are well placed to pass positive sales messages on to the wider community.

7. Plan for different kinds of campaigns and different kinds of presence

Distribution is not just about achieving maximum targeted visibility for events.

It could be about brand visibility. Corporate visibility with long shelf-life print can give you highly targeted presence in a variety of contexts: urban/rural, interest group/specific communities, lifestyle and life stage etc.

It could be about arousing curiosity. The fact that we have regular sites we go to again and again puts us in an excellent position to manage teaser campaigns to arouse curiosity, deepen customer interest and put your event on their radar.

It could be about making an announcement. Not everyone reads the local newspaper. If you have a message, a campaign or a fund raising initiative you want to get out there, targeted distribution is an excellent way of getting attention.