How to brief a leaflet distribution campaign
A leaflet distribution brief tells the distributor six things: your objective, the exact catchment, the live dates, the artwork specification, the quantity and the budget. iDO, which distributes more than 5 million brochures every month across 150,000 print points, quotes against that brief rather than against a rate card.
Sugandan Balaji
What does a leaflet distribution brief need to include?
A leaflet distribution brief is a short document that tells a distributor what you want to achieve, where, when, with what, and for how much. Six items make it workable, and one line on what success looks like makes it useful afterwards.
Write the brief before you ask anyone for a price. A distributor working from a complete brief can tell you whether the money is better spent on a wider catchment or a longer run. A distributor working from a quantity alone can only sell you that quantity.
| Brief item | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | The action you want, not awareness | Fill 400 seats for a half term run |
| Catchment | Postcode sectors, towns or named streets | SW7 1 to SW7 5, solus door to door |
| Dates | Live window and any fixed date | Distribute 6 to 20 October 2026 |
| Artwork | Size, weight, finish, folded or flat | A5 flat, 170gsm silk |
| Quantity | Print run available for distribution | 25,000 leaflets, 500 posters |
| Budget | The figure, or a range | Up to £4,000 for distribution |
How do you define the catchment for a leaflet campaign?
Define the catchment geographically, not demographically. A distributor can walk a postcode sector, a named high street or a list of venue types. It cannot walk families with children aged 5 to 11, so translate the audience into ground the team can cover.
Drive time is the most reliable starting point for an attraction, a theatre or a venue. Take the distance your existing visitors travel, draw the catchment around that, then name the postcode sectors inside it. Say whether you want solus distribution, where your leaflet goes out alone, or shared distribution alongside two or three others.
What artwork specification should you give the distributor?
Give the distributor the finished size in millimetres, the paper weight in gsm, and whether the piece is flat or folded, before it goes to print. Standard UK distribution sizes are DL at 99 by 210mm, A5 at 148 by 210mm and A6 at 105 by 148mm. DL and A6 fit most brochure racks, A5 carries an offer or a map.
Paper weight changes cost as well as feel. Anything above about 170gsm adds weight a team has to carry, and very light stock below 130gsm curls in a rack and tears in a letterbox. Agree the spec with the distributor before the print order is placed, because a leaflet that will not rack is a leaflet that cannot be displayed.
What should you ask the distributor before you book?
Ask how the campaign will be proved, who is doing the work, and what happens if a site runs out. iDO GPS tracks distribution, photographs proof of display and publishes both to a live dashboard with geo located maps, backed by more than £250,000 invested in that reporting system.
- Will I see GPS traces and timestamped photographs?
- Are the teams local to the areas they cover?
- How often are racked sites replenished?
- Can I see the dashboard while the campaign is live?
- How quickly can you start once artwork is approved?
What are the most common leaflet briefing mistakes?
The costly mistakes are briefing a quantity instead of a catchment, printing before agreeing the specification, and briefing too late for the dates to work. A run placed after the decision has been made is wasted regardless of how well it was delivered.
Speed is usually available if the brief is ready. iDO started a Royal Albert Hall Christmas campaign within two days of an announcement, covering 6,600 addresses solus door to door across SW7 1 to SW7 5 plus 300 first class direct mail items. For Trestle Theatre in St Albans it blanketed every retail, food and drink, supermarket, community and heritage site in the town with posters, and the performance was oversubscribed. Both campaigns needed a decided brief, not a longer lead time.
Frequently asked
- How far in advance should I brief a leaflet distribution campaign?
- Brief iDO two to three weeks before the live date for a planned campaign, which allows artwork checks, route planning and print delivery. Faster is possible when the brief is decided, and iDO has started campaigns within two days of an announcement.
- Do I need to supply the printed leaflets myself?
- You can supply them or have them printed to the agreed specification and delivered to iDO. Either way, agree the finished size, the gsm and whether the piece is flat or folded before printing, because the specification decides what can be racked and displayed.
- What should the brief say about measuring success?
- Name one countable outcome and the window to count it in, such as membership applications in the four weeks after distribution. iDO reports GPS tracked distribution and photographed proof of display, so the delivery side is evidenced and you measure the response side.