Member Article

Hartlepool residents back local companies

A fledgling Hartlepool business has praised residents for getting behind local companies as it helps others to spread the word.

Intrepid Media has been delivering local offers and promotions through the doors of Hartlepool homes for a number of years and has been delighted at its success rate.

The national average for response to direct mail is around 2.61% but residents in Hartlepool are opting to support local companies at almost double that rate.

Sharon Powell, director of Intrepid Media, said: “We appreciate not everyone likes leaflets through their doors but it is really tough for local companies at the moment and they need to look at a cost-effective way to market themselves.

“Leafleting is a massive boost for any business, not only does it raise the awareness of your company, it also allows you to put any special offers forward to catch the eye of potential customers.”

Intrepid Media has been running for nearly five years, allowing local organisations to use its popular leafleting service, with staff members delivering on average around 10,000 leaflets in seven to ten days.

It has promoted numerous local companies from window cleaners and plumbers to restaurants and beauty salons.

Sharon added: “If you put out 10,000 leaflets and you are getting a response of up to 4% that’s 400 sales or new customers. It’s important to capitalise on that by making a database of all of your customers and then continuing to promote to them.”

Sharon continued: “With leaflets, as soon as they are posted the occupants of the house can see your company and what you are offering. Even if they don’t take it up there and then, it will still stay in the back of their minds for the future.

“The people of Hartlepool are great in that a lot will take a quick moment to scan through their leaflets before popping them in the recycling bin and if they spot a great offer or service they are interested in, they’re more likely to use a local company and keep business in the town.

“Our self-employed leafleters are all from the local area too so they know the town well. This provides a much more efficient service than employing a national company who use bigger distributers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .