Fliers, or Flyers? Everyone always debates on the proper spelling of that word. I like spelling it "Fliers", but I actually fucking hate them. When you get a box of 5,000 fliers, it seems like such a waste. It is bad for the environment because of all the paper used, and if you put them on cars, most people do not properly dispose of them, and just litter 6 of them on the ground. When you sprinkle them around a club, almost no one takes them, they get beer spilled all over them, and are just thrown out at the end of the night.
I also hate handing people fliers because they look at you like you are the lowest piece of shit on the planet and can be extremely rude to you for no reason. You may have even spent an entire night putting them on a thousand cars in 3 major club heavy neighborhoods, wasting your Friday night. There is an etiquette to handing people fliers too, but even if you follow the unspoken rules, people can be an asshole to you, when all you want to do is share something cool with them.
The reason promoters are still using fliers as a means of communication is mainly for branding purposes. When you see a particular flier 20 times across multiple events you attend, it sticks in your head. You may never actually grab one of the fliers, but it is stuck in the back of your mind, at the subconscious level at the very least. That means when the day of the event arises, and you catch a glimpse of the event page and imagery, you have an associated connection in your brain, and that familiarity makes you want to check it out.
The price of fliers is roughly $200 for a designer, and $200 for the printing, or maybe $150 for designer, $150 for print, and $100 for a street team. Promoters assume that out of 5,000 fliers, maybe 100 people will actually save it and stick it on their fridge. Out of those 100, maybe 20 will actually show up. If your party is $20, you just made $400 because you had fliers made, and you broke even on them, if not actually profited a bit. So even though it's a wasteful practice, if you hustle them out hard enough, it is a good financial move.
Here are a couple things to avoid, or take into consideration when handing out fliers:
*Don't hand them to people dancing on the dance floor. These party kids just want to be lost in the music and are not trying to be snapped out of their zone so you can give them a flier.
*Do not hand them to people that are having a conversation. It is just rude and people do not want to be interrupted. Especially if some dude is just inches away from convincing the hot girl to lick his ass in the bathroom stall.
*If someone is in a costume or dress, they probably don't have pockets and won't want to hold on to the flier all night. Don't get offended when they tell you this fact.
*Try to memorize the faces of people you hand fliers to. People hate getting the same flier, from the same person, multiple times in a night. It can be hard to remember what everyone looks like in a dark club, so try to focus on their jacket or hat etc.
*Try not to leave them on the bar tops. Bartenders fucking hate this shit because drinks always get spilled on them, then they stick to the counter tops at the end of the night and they have to scrape the cardboard off the counter tops.
*Do not put them on a car when people are sitting in the car. There are a couple reasons for this. First of all it scares the shit out of them. Especially when they are smoking weed and they think you are a cop. Secondly, people are insanely sensitive about their cars sometimes, and even though you are not damaging the vehicle, they don't want you touching it.
*If you are in the smoking section, or outside when a concert lets out, try to exchange a brief sentence with the person you are handing a flier to. You may not have too much time to talk, since you have a lot of ground to cover, but even something brief shows respect. No one feels like you care about them if you just blindly hand them something then walk away.
*If you are asking to get into a club for free, you should first tell the bouncer that you have some fliers to leave at the club and if it's ok. Most of the time they say no, but many times they are cool with it. Clubs are so sensitive sometimes because they think you are stealing business from them if people go to your club on a different night. The logic behind it is stupid because let's say club "X" only has a dubstep event on Thursdays, and you are promoting a dubstep event on Saturday at club "Y". Club "X" is playing top 40 on Saturday, so none of the Thursday dubstep kids would be there on a Saturday anyway. I could bitch about club flier policy forever, but I will move on.
*If you are asking the door person to let you in for free in order to flier, their first reaction is usually defensive. The best way to do it is to be as courteous and honest as possible. Usually what I do is hand them my ID first. Then I say something like, "Hey there, I'm out working tonight fliering the town. I was wondering if I left you my ID as collateral, would you let me put some fliers on the tables for 10 minutes?" If you approach them in this manner, they are usually cool with it, but may have certain rules you need to follow, like no taping up on walls etc.
*If you hire a street team, it is best to have a young, pretty girl handing out fliers. I know it sounds shallow, but they are the ones that can get away with murder. They get into the clubs easier, guys are quicker to pay them attention, and other girls aren't defensive when they approach.
That's all I can think of right off the top of my head, but I'm sure I'll add a bit more to this. I will also post about the best places to put fliers, as well as how to target your demographic, in a future post.
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