Come Flyer With Me
I’ve recently moved to London and to make ends meet while on the job hunt, I’ve been flyering for an exciting new Startup called Sup. Here’s a little about the experience and a few tips for your delectation…
Designing your flyer
Obvious though it may seem, make sure your flyer is bright and noticeable. The theme colour of the Sup app is an eye-catchingly bright pink, which translates really well to a flyer that is attention grabbing. In tandem with this striking colour, the flyer boldly proclaimed “I’m going to be the next Mark F*ckerberg”, which certainly catches the eye.
Handing these out at Facebook’s HQ was a huge success — Facebook employees reacted really well, and we almost exhausted our flyer supply before security told us to leave, claiming our ‘offensive’ flyers had forced their hand.
All things considered though, we decided the flyer was lacking — it attracted attention, is fun and jokey, but there’s no information on what the app actually does. Cue new flyer.
This flyer is far more informative, but still eye catching. We want to make sure a member of the public can walk away with the flyer, knowing exactly what the app does, and why it could be a useful and fun addition to their smartphone.
Flyer in the right places
Last month Gary Vaynerchuk, inspirational entrepreneur and social media star, spoke in Moorgate attracting an enormous crowd of exactly the sort of people we think would enjoy using Sup. Their long wait in the queue was punctuated by having a flyer enthusiastically brandished in their direction. They were responsive and enthusiastic about the idea — someone even interviewed me on Periscope!
Flyering at big events (at the O2 for example) has been hugely successful for us too — how many times have you found out friends were at the same concert, only after you have returned home? Once you’ve identified your target market, focus your flyering on areas and events where you think you’ll find them.
Stay positive and motivated
You’re not going to be good at flyering if you can’t handle rejection — you’re going to get people ignoring you, pushing past you, I’ve even been told to “f*ck off!” for simply trying to cheer up a grumpy looking commuter. At times, the faintly hypnotic chants of “Free TimeOut, TimeOut Free” and “Sport Magazine, Sport Magazine, The Weekend staaaaarts here” threaten to turn me crazy, but it’s heartening to know there’s a positive correlation between flyering and downloads. My relatively limited flyering experience tells me you have to be smiley, enthusiastic and a little vocal — you’re not going to shift flyers by staying quiet and timid. Whether it’s wishing them a nice day, or complementing their choice of sports team, any form of personal interaction is likely to attract their attention still further. Although be careful — after once seeing a Luton Town badge on someone’s hat, saying I was a fan did me no favours as I was unable to name the captain when asked!
Get competitive
If you work in Farringdon, you’ve probably seen Danny, Head of Growth at Sup, and me on your way to work in the morning. When we flyer together, we like to get a little competitive. When one of us hands out a flyer, the other needs to hand out their next flyer or they get a letter. Once someone gets the word ‘Farringdon’, they lose the game and their reputation almost irrevocably lies in tatters. This drives us on to hand out as many flyers as possible. Why not give it a try? It’s cooler than it sounds, I promise.
And finally . . .
Please, if declining a flyer, don’t feel the need to get your hands out of your pockets to say no. This only gets my hopes up before you harshly dash them — a simple shake of the head is enough :)
