How To: Flyer Effectively Getting information into peoples' hands is one of the most effective things we can do to starve Scientology of new recruits and their money. No matter how much of a lulzfag you are online or even at the protests, it's worthwhile knowing the basics of how to flyer well as part of the elaborate troll that is pretending to care. 1-Choosing the Right Materials Know where you will be going ahead of time and figure out the audience you will be speaking to. What works on moms at the playground probably won't be as effective for high school kids. Flyers that you intend to hand to people should ALWAYS be half or quarter sheet size. Full sheet flyers are best used for posting on bus stops, telephone poles, and bulletin boards. If you are flyering a specific Scientology event, try to obtain materials specific to that event. Materials should always have a general link (wwp, exscientologykids, whyaretheydead) related to the topic at hand and a second link for people to contact their local group. Failing this, have a pen on hand to write your anon email down for anyone who's looking for more information. Images and fonts should balance being eye-catching and being legible. 2-The Pitch When walking by people, you have about 2 seconds to tell them why they should take your materials. Don't stress out about getting anything useful into that time, just focus on getting their attention. "Information, ma'am/sir?" is a perfect short pitch. People will see the spectacle that is whatever your local group does for raids, and those who are interested will take a flyer When standing still, you have a little bit more time. It's also possible to engage in carnival style barking, i.e. "Learn more about the dangerous cult in your neighborhood!" Keeping your pitch as general as possible helps cut down on people assuming you are supporting Scientology. When at a specific event, offer information about that event, such as "Information about the exhibit" when flyering CCHR. It doesn't matter if people think you're advertising for the Scientologists, if they ignore your information about the event, they'll ignore the Scientologists' as well. Draw on whatever skills you have available. If you've worked retail, you already know how to make a sales pitch. If you've worked phones, you already know how to keep people interested enough to keep listening. If you've done political work or other flyering projects, you're probably already an expert in the field. Don't think that because we're promoting something different your old skills won't apply. 3-The Refusal More than half of the people that you pitch to will turn you down. This is an optimistic statistic I just pulled out of my ass. Dealing with a refusal is nearly as important as the initial pitch, as you've usually got someone new right on the heels of the person turning you down. Always be polite and don't force the issue. "Have a nice day sir/ma'am" is short enough that they'll probably hear it. The reason this is so important is twofold. First, the person refusing is going to have a less negative opinion of the person who is polite than the one who keeps pushing after they've said no. We are engaged in, among other things, a public relations war. Keeping the public firmly on our side is vital to maintaining the pressure on the cult. Second, the next person coming up is going to be more receptive to your pitch is they see that you are not going to hard sell them anything. Pity is your friend, even if you don't have any of it yourself. 4-Follow Up If someone stops long enough to take your flyer, you have a bit more time to explain what you're doing and how they can help, or at least keep themselves out of harm's way. Offering to answer questions is a great option if you're stationary, otherwise pointing out how people can get in touch with you or do research on their own is a better bet. When engaged in conversation with someone who has taken your materials, try to make sure that you have another anon nearby handing out flyers while you're talking, so that you don't miss any opportunities to hand out information without sacrificing the important work of actually talking to the public. You may want to tell people who are very receptive to the message about the local schedule. Even if they don't choose to mask up, having more people aware of when planned events are going to happen is never a bad thing. You can also give them your anonymous contact info or your local group's website or email. If you don't know the answer to something, don't pretend to. Explain why you don't have that information (I mostly follow this thing, I've only been doing this for a week...) and either direct them to someone in your group who can answer or to a website that will have the right information. 5-Other Issues Flyering in pairs or small groups is always preferable to flyering alone. Have a camera rolling in case your small group is targeted by bullbaiters or you have some really interesting conversations with the public that should be shared. Seeing what works and what doesn't helps every anon. Tits are always relevant. Whether you like it or not, women are seen as "less of a threat" than men and are more likely to get results. Get your tits near the front of the group and have them do a lot of the talking. Spectacle can be your friend. Signs, masks and wacky costumes can drum up public interest and make people more inclined to take your information. It can also be your enemy if hideously overdone. Try to keep music to a volume where people can be heard over it (whether that means turning it down or keeping it ahead of your flyering group) and don't invade anyone's personal space. IF SOMEONE LOOKS UNCOMFORTABLE, LET THEM LEAVE. Never box in a member of the public or a Scientologist it's intimidating and in some cases could be illegal. You're free to try and reason with them briefly, but never make someone feel like they're being forced to talk to you. Edit: DO NOT HAND FLYERS TO CHILDREN. If kids ask you questions, by all means respond, but don't hand material to anyone younger than about 12 or 13. I can't believe I forgot this one. More input on this is always welcome.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively OP, thanks for putting this together... should be required reading for newraidfags
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively use the power of the mask. A lot of times, people will mistake Anonymous for a theatre person or the like. These kind of people are usually popular so it'd be stupid not to take advantage of this. Usually it helps to make a funny gesture or bow as you hand them the flier, or doing a 2-second dance before you hand it over. Colored paper is also a great thing to have, rather than white. It's simply more appealing.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Good post OP. One point I've tried to argue no these forums is that the sentence 'Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult!' is too long, and difficult to argue - whereas 'Scientology is Dangerous' is simple, straightforward, easy to prove and just as effective. But when handing out fliers, I found I *HAD* to say 'dangerous cult of Scientology' or people mistakenly thought I was handing out pro-scientology literature - and they're FAR more receptive to Scientology criticism. Also, keep in mind the laws of conformity. If a group of 5 people walk by you and the first one turns the flier down, so will the other 4. If the first one takes it, so will the other 4.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Not true. In some cases this may stick, but I've had many cases where out of groups one person accepted the flyer and many others did not.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively It can also help to introduce an element of competition into it. A pair on local anon will each take about the same number of leaflets, and then see who shifts them first. The same techniques as outlined in the OP are generally followed, but the competing anons tend to have a lot more enthusiasm when trying to shift them, and out-do each other - which again, is good for generating attention and interest in what we're doing. Again, this works well too. Similarly, the type of mask people are wearing tends to have an effect. Full face masks can be intimidating to the public, whereas an anon that wears a half mask, bandana, shades etc tends to shift leaflets faster than those with full.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively I've personally handed out about 1000 fliers, and OP is nearly the most perfect post on the subject there can be. Good protips in replies too. My additions: Stay positive. If someone scorns you, just laugh back at them. Someone stopping to argue is another matter, but there's no win in trading insults with people walking by. Some rules I try to follow: don't try to hand something to someone with their hands full, don't interrupt someone's phone call, always hand fliers to parents, not their kids. Sometimes the sidewalk or trash receptacle down the street will have discarded fliers still in good shape.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively It really helps to have a clear, possibly lulzy sign. My "I HAVE A VERY BAD MASTURBATORY HISTORY"- L. RON HUBBARD sign helped me move crazy amounts of fliers and cards. It also works as a really great gauge of interest-- what I do is I watch people around me, see who reads my sign, see who laughs or smiles or makes eye contact with me, and then I approach them specifically. Depending on the person, I can either give the whole "Wanna learn more about the dangerous cult of Scientology?" or "Want a card?"-- the latter can be fairly mysterious, and I've moved hundreds of cards before. I do NOT, specifically, approach people who avoid me or seem uncomfortable; there's nothing i can do to turn their impression around. Internet Hate Machine is all well and good for HS or college kids who know a bit about internet culture, but for the older folks and people who don't seem as up-to-date, be NICE, not abrasive, if you want to get the word out. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT AND WHAT YOU ENJOY. If you get along a hell of a lot better with other anons than you do with the public, don't flier or engage them unless they specifically ask you or you see an opportunity. If you enjoy talking to the public and are relatively good at it, you can feel free to stand on the fringes of a protest and offer fliers/talk to interested passers-by. Use basic social cues to determine when someone wants to end a conversation. This is more "talking to the public", but it often goes hand-in-hand with flyering. If someone looks away from you often, if they seem distracted, if they fidget, if they don't contribute to the conversation or ask questions-- they're really uncomfortable and they want to go. Don't waste people's time.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Any tips on getting fliers into the hands of people who are out and about with kids? They never seem to want to go anywhere near me, I think because they're naturally protective of their kids and won't expose them to anything that's in the slightest way unusual. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've successfully fliered parents with kids like this. Ideas? Good point. I've noticed that this effect can be extremely strong at times. Here's an example... Chicago regularly has city tours on segways during the warm months, and at some point, they'll all come rolling by our protest in single-file. We offer them fliers too, and if the person in the front grabs it, quite often the entire damn line of people will take one too. We've dropped 10+ fliers in one go this way before. The conformity also seems to apply very strongly to people taking pictures of you. Once one person does it, you often get a chain reaction. Has anyone ever tried using "shills" to encourage people to take fliers? Especially in the winter, you can go around with a scarf on your face and still look like a pedestrian. Walk by, take a flier from your Anon buddy and laugh (create positive vibes!), take a few steps, stop and pretend to check cell phone as you put the flier away, go back the other direction and repeat to get another one... Should this typing of fliering be taboo?
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Thanks for posting this. We are going to be handing out fliers at our university in a few days and this advice will really help.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively I've found if you are flyering in a mask a couple things will help. 1. Wear sunglasses to cover up the blank staring eyeholes and give some people the creeps. It seriously helps. 2. Have some light music playing from pocket radio or boombox backpack (easy to make). Play some silly harmless shit. I play the fallout 3 swing tunes soundtrack and it draws a lot of people over to take flyers and I got more like a 75% take rate instead of less than 50.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Parents with kids usually have their hands full and have a lower tolerance for perceived threats. Women out front, no offensive music, and half masks or scarves instead of a GF are all ways that you can lower your perceived threat level. You may also want to consider your raid costume for potentially off-putting elements (cockandballs guy in vegas, for example, is not gonna be giving flyers to families). SMILE. Make like you are actually a person under your mask who might be susceptible to the cuteness of children. Use your very most polite and non-threatening pitches and voice, and take the refusals politely. If you have parentalanon in your group, ask them for ideas too. I've never seen parents trying to shield their children from the unusual, only the suspicious. I mean, clowns and mascots both attract kids, and those costumes can be weirder than ours. You may live in an area with lower tolerance for wacky shit, though.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively If several people in a row turn you down, shuffle your flyers. Look busy. Being refused makes it less likely that people will be interested in your flyer, so shuffle the pack or take a new one. Almost always works for me. Don't corner people, and hand out to groups. There will almost always be someone interested. You don't always have to say something. After a half hour or so of flyering my brain shuts down and I hand them out automatically. Trying to give out a selling pitch at that point is doomed to fail... But this is just what works for me. Try what works for you and your town or target audience.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively when someone turns you down stop handing out flyers for a minute until everyone that saw you get rejected has passed. people are sheep and just do what the person in front of them do. pack mentality i guess. This is a VERY effective technique in flyering. sorry didnt see above post - mentioned already
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively I would have to disagree with the "stop flyering after a rejection" suggestions from my own experience. Certainly don't make a push for a different member of a group, but I've had people take flyers immediately following a rejection, including some people who will come up and ask for one. I guess the key is just not to come off as pushy, however you want to accomplish that.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively This is so useful. We're planning our first baby flier event soon, invaluable info.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively I was just talking to a very wise teenager. I asked her what about a flyer would make her most likely to keep it. She said that being handed the flyer as far away as possible from a trash can would make her more likely to stuff it in her purse or pocket rather than throw it away. Makes sense to me.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively If I go out to paste or staple fliers instead of personally handing them out, should I wear a mask still?
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively I'd recommend using a mask whenever you're doing *anything* chanology related (except covert ops, obviously). There's tinfoil, and then there's being cautious.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Bus/Coach and inter-urban train terminals are good. You have a captive audience looking for reading material plus if they take it onto the bus/train with them and leave it or discard it where they are going you will have spread those flyers maybe 100+ miles from where you handed them out.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Another tip: Fold flyers in half. They are easier to stick in a purse or pocket. This also is important when it is very windy and reduces paper flapping around. Also, colored paper like golden rod differentiates fliers from other papers that are usually white.
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively This is the only way to put full sheet flyers into people's hands, and still a good idea with half sheets. I've never seen it so windy that folding a quartersheet was necessary, but I can think of plenty of other things you could do with a tiny piece of paper (like drop it in people's shopping bags).
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively If you have one or two anons who are particularly good at getting public to take fliers- observe and work out what they're doing to be effective- if it's down to their physical attributes- that may be hard to emulate! The actual fliers need to have a good, bold headline and curious picture- TLR fliers only appeal to those who are already very interested. There are many factors that make a headline appealing- a common example used by copywriters is e.g. "Seven reasons $cientology is dangerous to your children" - followed by bullet points with the seven reasons then a longer text (and, a big picture, of course). Another example "Five secrets the cult don't want you to know"- everybody wants to know secrets- especially those that are considered taboo!
Re: How To: Flyer Effectively Depends if you're alone or not and how many you're hoping to paste. If you're with two or more people it can really make a difference if you wear masks because you won't be "those guys who advertise stuff", you'll be "OMG WTF look at those guys dancing in masks let's go see what they're up to". If you're alone I'd suggest you don't do it at all in a city area because of city rangers/cops/shop owners. A few here and there is fine but save the real flyering for raids.
I know this is long dead, but I think this is relevant. Google the psychology of advertising. Learn how different people react to different presentations, and learn how large companies create TV commercials that appeal to the masses. Unfortunately, those bastards know a thing or two about getting the dumb masses to take an interest in anything they may be backing. Fliering is essentially marketing yourself. If you can present yourself as acceptable, then the flier is okay, too. If you're not cool, neither is the flier, and you won't get any out there. If you're a real people person, try to judge people individually and make a pitch just for the individual, and if you're not a people person, learn to appeal to the masses and stick to a few carefully worded lines. Both work if y The higher percentage of people you can get to take the fliers, the faster you can go home and call it a job well done. Also, if you get one person who wouldn't have taken a flier to read one with this social engineering, you've extended your range of exposure to the people who are less receptive, maybe changed a mind, and therefore you win. -Happy protesting
I find that if you make eyecontact and give it to an individual as if it was JUST FOR THEM they'll take it. And if one person takes it, more people are likely to take it after because they're all OOOOOOH LOOK THAT PERSON HAS IT I WANT.
Ah, I can agree with this one. I've had very few people refuse when you walk straight up to them ignoring everyone else around and say "I made this for you." Of course, the ones who do refuse are creeped the hell out so...
In loldon we anti-leaflet when they're leafletting. What you do is stand about 15 meters away on either side of the leafleter and take the leaflet off people and swap them with your own. This needs to be carried off with a certain degree of authority because you are essencially taking something out of their hands. We say things like "Hi, there's been a change of plan", "If I may just take this, thank you have a nice day" etc etc. Say something while you're doing it.
I've seen several groups successfully use the trash bin method for this style raid. You get a little plastic trash bin and put a sign on it that says "Way To Happiness Pamphlets Here" or "Dianetics Flyers Here" and just offer it to folks as they walk by. You'd be amazed how many people want to get that crap off their hands as quickly as possible.
