It seems simple enough: Print the sheets, lift the wiper blade, place the sheet, release the blade. However, this particular direct-marketing technique requires a significant amount of research and business savvy to be successful. This includes navigating municipal codes, schmoozing with business owners and investigating demographics.
Instructions
Clarifying Legal Issues
1. Visit your city's (or town's) official website. To find the URL, enter the name of your city and state into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo and click "Search."
2. Click on the "Municipal Codes" link.
3. Type "Placing Notices" (surrounded by quotations) into the "Search" text field.
4. Click "Search."
5. Check the search results for ordinances which prohibit putting fliers on the windshields of parked vehicles. If such ordinances exist, you won't be allowed to put fliers on vehicles parked on public land, including streets, highways, parks and the parking lots of publicly-owned buildings. You're allowed to put fliers on vehicles parked on a private property (e.g. churches, malls, office buildings, parking garages) but only if you get permission from the owner or property manager first.
Distributing The Flyers
6. Go online to check the local weather forecast for the next weeks (www.weather.com).
7. Choose the day with the lowest chance for rain.
8. Get a list of upcoming events for the businesses that surround the parking area you plan to target. For example, if you're going to blanket a church parking lot, get a copy of the weekly bulletin for a schedule of services. If you're going to blanket an area next to a bar, try to find out when a popular band or radio station is performing there. If it's the parking garage for a train station, get a copy of the train schedule to find out when the afternoon rush begins. The point is this: don't let people see you placing the fliers, even if you're doing everything by the books and have nothing to hide. From a distance, it will always look like you're just a thief checking for unlocked cars.
9. Put on a pair of cotton parade gloves. This will allow you to skillfully handle the fliers without accidentally getting oily smudges on the windshield.
10. Walk between two cars parked side by side.
11. Lift the nearest windshield wiper of the car on the left.
12. Place the flier face up under the wiper and let the wiper blade gently rest back into place.
13. Lift the nearest windshield wiper of the car on the right.
14. Place the flier face up under the wiper and let the wiper blade gently rest back into place.
15. Walk between the next two closest cars parked side by side. Repeat Steps 6, 7, 8 and 9.
16. Repeat Step 10 until every car in the area is covered.
Tags: wiper blade, allowed fliers, allowed fliers vehicles, back into, back into place, blade gently