The Central Belt postcard

What it is

• One card, one area. A4, printed both sides, delivered to 10,000 homes in a single area by Royal Mail through our distribution partner.
• 12 advertising slots on the card — six a side — each one sold to a different trade.
• One business per trade. If you are the plumber on the card, you are the only plumber on that card for that drop.
• Every slot carries your logo and your wording, printed alongside the other local businesses on the card.
• The first drop is Paisley. Other areas follow, and the area you want determines when your slot comes round.

10,000 homes is a share of the town rather than every door in it — the card covers the postcode sectors we pick for that drop, and we will tell you exactly which ones before you commit.

What it costs

• £350 a slot. That covers the print and the delivery of the whole drop, shared across the businesses on the card.
• £199 a slot if you also hold sponsored placement — £199 a month featured listing on the directory — and have paid at least two consecutive months of it. Those advertisers also hold first refusal on the card in their own area, so the slot is offered to you before it goes on open sale.
• Nothing is printed until the bookings are in and paid. If the card does not fill, nothing is printed, nothing is charged and nothing is lost.

What it is worth

A shared mailer of this kind typically produces 10 to 20 enquiries from 10,000 homes — that is 0.1% to 0.2%, and it is the range the whole shared-mailer industry sells against. At £350 that is roughly £17.50 to £35 an enquiry. If your average job is worth £300, fewer than two jobs covers the slot.

Response is typical, not guaranteed — see below for what we do and do not promise.

What we do not promise

We do not sell guaranteed leads or a set number of enquiries, guaranteed rankings, exclusivity across the whole directory or a town, or any figure we cannot stand behind. "Only business of your trade" means exactly this: the only advertiser of your trade on this card, for this drop. Other businesses of your trade remain listed on the directory and may appear on other cards.

Every drop is delivered by Royal Mail through our distribution partner, and we publish the certificate of distribution for each drop once it has run.

How it works

• Tell us your trade and the area you want. We will tell you honestly whether the slot is free and when that area's card is planned.
• We confirm the slot and the terms in writing — nothing is charged until you have that in front of you.
• You send your logo and your wording; we lay out the card and send it back for your approval before it goes anywhere.
• The card prints, Royal Mail delivers it, and we send you the certificate of distribution afterwards.

Questions

Do I have to be a featured advertiser? No. £350 buys a slot on its own. Advertisers who have held sponsored placement for at least two consecutive paid months pay less for the slot and get first refusal on the card in their own area.

When is my area's card? Paisley is the first drop. Tell us your area and we will give you the honest position rather than a date we cannot hold.

Can two of us in the same trade buy in? Not on the same card. One business per trade per drop is what makes the slot worth having.

What do you need from me? Your logo and the wording you want printed, plus written approval of the layout before it is printed.

Is there a contract? No tie-in. The terms are confirmed in writing before anything is charged, and you can walk away at any point before we go to print.

Slots are governed by our postcard slot terms and conditions — what a slot is, the price, first refusal, artwork approval, delivery and refunds. Everything is confirmed in writing before anything is charged.

Ask about a postcard slot