Fliers and Signs...
 

Your Most Important Tools... Flier To give to every home far and wide ~ by placing on door or in paper box. Sign To post on poles, at stores, and to extend your search area.

The flier is THE most effective tool for finding your lost pet.  Many people may see your pet, but if they don't know that it is lost, they can't do anything to help.  A flier is an extraordinarily good way to “get the word out”, and it can add hundreds of additional eyes and ears to your search effort.  A flier is something that you deliver to every home in the extended neighborhood where your pet was lost.  Fliers are not the same as signs; they are more detailed, they look different and they have an extremely high success rate.  A sign is also a very useful tool, and it is similar in some ways to a flier, but it generally doesn't reach as many people.  A sign can help to significantly expand your search area, however, so it is something that you should definitely do.  There are some specific strategies for both signs and fliers that can make them work harder for you and your pet, and we will discuss them in this section. 

We will also provide an example flier and an example sign, so you can see what we are talking about.  Please feel free to download these examples and print them out, so you can use them as a starting point for your own efforts.  All of the suggestions given below can be clearly seen in the example sign and flier, with carefully chosen wording, and can be copied word-for-word.

Why Fliers Work So Well

Fliers work because they alert people to your lost pet before they have even had a chance to see it.  Most other techniques rely on someone seeing your pet, identifying it as lost, and then taking some action at some point in time. (And that is IF they see your pet, which is not likely, and IF they even recognize that your pet is lost, which rarely happens, and IF they then decide to do something about it, which is doubtful.)  With a flier, however, you are able to take a shortcut across all of these steps.

Fliers work because they can be targeted to reach everyone in the area where your pet was lost.  It is very important that you have full coverage.  There are a lot of people in your neighborhood that don't subscribe to the newspaper (so they won't see your classified ad), or they may only read a certain section of the paper.  Some people may not get out very often, or may work a late shift and only drive at night (so they wouldn't see a sign).  Although you might think that almost everyone will see your ad, or almost everyone will see your sign, what if it is not the one person who has seen your pet?  This is actually what happens most of the time.  With good coverage, fliers can make sure that everyone knows about your lost pet.

Fliers also work because of human psychology.  Because fliers are targeted to each home in your neighborhood, people will feel that you are addressing them individually, so they will feel a greater sense of personal investment and personal responsibility.  When people have their own flier, they are more likely to take the time to read through it, so they are more likely to remember details about your lost pet.  When they see a picture of your lost pet, up close in their own hands, they are also more likely to feel an emotional connection to your pet.  They will see your pet as an individual instead of ‘just another animal’.  It might even remind them of a pet that they have lost at some time, and the feelings of worry and urgency that they felt when they were in your position.  With a better emotional connection, they are much more likely to help you and your pet.

Excellent Success Rate

We find that if they are done right, fliers result in an extremely high success rate.  Because fliers make a direct and meaningful connection to the people who can best help you in your search, they are your most effective tool. 

Important Flier Content

The idea is for your flier to be simple but thorough.  It doesn't need to have a fancy layout, and it doesn't need to have a lot of catchy graphics.  You don't have time for that anyway.  It does need to have a lot of specific information, however, and it helps if you can include it in a very straightforward manner.

The first thing that your flier needs is a good description of your lost pet.  It helps if you can provide the description in descending layers of detail: a most basic, probably two-word, description in the form of a title (in case someone only takes a quick glance at your flier), a list of description details using plain laymen's terms, and finally a high-detail description in the form of a photograph.

The next thing your flier must have is a way of conveying a sense of the urgency of the situation.  People need to know that you are serious about finding your pet, so that they can take it seriously, too.  You should make a point of mentioning that you are offering a reward (even if it is just going to be a token amount – there is no need to mention the amount of the reward unless it is a large number).  You should also specifically address the common misconceptions that many people have about lost pets: many people wrongly think that pets will instinctively know how to take care of themselves, and they often think that a lost pet will just come to their door to ask for help.  The truth is that domesticated pets have little to no survival skills, and they are so frightened by the experience of being lost that they will often go to great lengths to avoid being seen.  You need to include items in your flier that address these misunderstandings directly.  (As we mentioned, we have the exact wording in the example sign and flier.) If there are any complicating factors, such as the need for medical care, etc., you should also mention these items prominently in your flier.

You also need to include in your flier specific suggestions for what people can do to help.  Don't just hope that people will think of what to do on their own.  You should ask that people keep your flier for several weeks, and you should explain that this is because it may be several weeks before your pet reveals itself.  You should provide suggestions of where people can look on their property for your pet, such as in their garages and sheds.  Again, this is all written out for you.

Your flier should also make it very clear that you are asking people for help.  One of the biggest obstacles to your pet getting the help that it needs is the built-in reluctance that people have to “interfering” or being a nuisance.  You should provide several ways that people can contact you (multiple phone numbers, including a daytime phone number where someone can reach a live person, even if it is just one of your friends or relatives).  You should indicate that you are willing to accept calls at any time of the day, because you don't want someone to worry that they might wake you and have that make you miss a chance to get your pet back.  Again, there is specific wording provided on the example flier.  Just think about how happy you would be to trade one night of broken sleep for the chance to have your pet safe at home for the rest of its life.

One additional note about your contact phone numbers: you should make sure that anyone who answers the phone for you, either at home or at work, knows that you are missing your pet and knows what you want them to say when someone calls.  You'd be surprised how many good leads have been lost because someone calls a work number and a co-worker turns them away by saying that this is a place of business and that they must have the wrong phone number.  You should also make sure to change your answering machine message, so that it specifically mentions that people should leave a message if they are calling about your lost pet.  You want to make sure that people know that they have the right number and that they shouldn't be afraid to leave you a message.

Working with Pictures

A photograph is really the best way to describe your pet to someone else.  Even if people don't bother to read the full details of your pet's description in text, they can instantly get an idea of what your pet looks like from a picture.

Not all pictures are created equal, however.  There are some things to consider when selecting a photograph that can make it most effective.  You should pick a photograph that is recent, if possible, so that it looks close to your pet's current condition.  You should select a photograph that shows all of the pet's body, not just a close-up of the face, so that it looks more like what someone would see if they were to catch a glimpse of your pet outside.  You should also pick a picture that has your pet looking into the camera if possible, so that your flier will have more emotional appeal.

If you can't find an appropriate picture, or if you have no pictures at all, the next best thing is to find a photograph of a pet that looks like yours.  You can look for pictures in dog and cat breed books, or you can look for photographs on the Internet.  Unless the picture is an exact match to your pet, however, you should make sure to note on the flier that the animal in the photograph is “similar” to your pet but not an exact match.  You don't want someone to rule out helping your pet just because of one or two things on your pet that don't happen to match the pet in the picture.

If you can't find a photograph that looks like your pet, even a simple outline drawing is better than no picture at all.  For psychological reasons, people need some type of graphical representation to associate with your pet.  We provide a simple outline drawing of a generic cat in a following section, that you can use in a pinch.  (It is much harder to have a single generic outline for dogs, since there are so many distinctly different breeds.)

Once you have selected a picture, you need to prepare it for use in your flier.  The first thing that you should do is to resize the photo so that it is the right size for your flier.  If you are doing this with your computer, you have a lot of leeway in changing the size and cropping of the photo, so this is fairly easy.  If you don't have access to a scanned or digital version of your photo, you can do the same thing with a good copy machine.  Just measure the size of your pet in the photo (not including any background), and compare this measurement to the size of the space you have in your flier.  Use the ratio between these two measurements to determine how much to scale up or scale down the copy.

Next ,whether you do it electronically or whether you do it the old fashioned way with scissors (to a copy and not the original!), you need to cut out the background from the picture.  This is an important step, so that your pet will be most recognizable in the copies of your flier.  Since you will most likely choose to make black-and-white copies (which is most economically feasible when you are making hundreds of copies), any included background will blend in with your pet and you generally end up with a big, indistinguishable blob.  Just make sure that you cut on the fur-line of your pet, all the way around, so that all that is left in the picture is your pet.

For making copies of your flier, we have a few additional tips: try to find a copy center that has machines with a “photo” mode, and make sure that you experiment with the settings a few times initially to find the best combination of contrast and darkness.  The photo mode can really help with making pictures easier to see in a black and white copy.  It tends to make the text look just a little bit lighter, but it is a good trade-off.  Experimenting with copier settings can also pay off nicely, as sometimes just one notch up or down on a setting can make a big difference in the look of your copies.

Delivery Strategy

The fundamental idea with flier delivery is to make sure that everyone in your extended area, or the extended area around where your pet was lost, gets a copy.  As mentioned before, this area is probably bigger than you expect, so you will need 300 to 600 copies of your flier, depending upon the density of homes in the area.

The best way to deliver these fliers is directly to each doorstep.  You can work out a technique where you roll up your flier and stick it next to the doorknob of the front door, so that it expands a bit and holds itself between the knob and the door jamb.  You have probably seen this technique with advertisements from pizza delivery companies.  Another technique is to place a copy just under the corner of the welcome mat, so that it is held down but mostly visible.  The idea is to make sure that it is secure in the wind and protected from the rain.  You can even tape your fliers to the front door, as long as you use painter's tape so that it won't pull off any paint when they take your flier off the door.

If you are uncomfortable with walking up to all of these houses (be brave!), there are some alternatives.  You can often place copies of your fliers in the newspaper boxes for each home, which can also save you a little walking, but you need to keep some limitations in mind.  The first is that you will often need to get permission in order to use the newspaper boxes.  You can call the local newspapers to find out the name and number of the carriers that cover your area (whether you subscribe yourself or not).  Simply ask for the name and number of the carrier for the area you are interested in, preferably giving them your street address so they can look it up.  This is the typical way that you get in touch with carriers for other reasons as well, so don't worry that you are invading their home privacy -- they are very used to it. Then you can call these nice people and ask if you can put the fliers in the boxes.  The general policy for most papers is to not allow items to be placed in the paper box, so don't ask for permission from the receptionist or anyone in the circulation office -- you should talk to the actual paper carriers themselves.  If for some reason the circulation department tells you that you can't put fliers in the paper boxes, tell the receptionist you would still like the carrier's name and phone number, so that you can have them keep a lookout for your pet while they are out doing their route.  When you talk to the carrier, you can still ask them if it is OK for you to put fliers in the boxes, as they have the final say-so.  99.9% of the time they will say yes, since the fliers are small and are not associated with any kind of advertising for money.  The reason the paper generally frowns on anyone else using the paper box is because it can impede the delivery by blocking the opening.  You can help by assuring the carrier that the flier is small and you can be courteous by placing the flier in the box so that it is flat and out of the way.  You really need to get permission, though, since the carriers are instructed to remove any foreign items from the newspaper boxes while they are delivering, and thus you can end up thinking you have covered the territory when you haven't.  The other limitation to keep in mind is that not all homes will have a newspaper box, so you will still have to take some fliers directly to the doorstep.

Whatever you do, don't put your fliers in the US mailboxes.  This is a federal offense, and is definitely a no-no.  The mail carriers generally are kind enough not to report you, but they will certainly take out all of your fliers and they may give you a call with a stern warning.  It never works, so you should rule it out.  You should take some time to talk to your mail carrier, though, as they are a good resource for your search.  They are out driving around every day, and they have the opportunity to see a lot of pets. The same goes with the newspaper carriers, and as they often deliver to their route at night or in the early morning, they might have the opportunity to see a pet that is otherwise hiding during the daylight hours.
 
 

Signs

Signs are similar to fliers, except that only the most pertinent items are kept on the page and they are all made to look bigger.  The title is bigger, the picture is much bigger, there are a few descriptive words, and there is a big phone number where people can contact you.  The idea is for someone to see your sign from a bit of a distance and still be able to get the basics about your lost pet.

Keep in mind that this distance is still not very far.  If you are wanting to put up a sign on a major roadway, where cars are traveling even at a modest 30 miles per hour, you will need to have a sign that is five or six feet tall in order for drivers to see it long enough to read even the shortest bit.  Think of how big the signs are that go over the freeway – they are at least six feet tall and usually ten or fifteen feet wide – and just for a few words.  That is way bigger than the average piece of paper.

You are better off putting your signs in locations where people are either stopped in their car (like at a stop sign), or where they are standing or walking.  Other good locations are in the windows of corner groceries or gas stations, and at bus stops.  Additional good places are community bulletin boards, like you will sometimes find in major grocery stores.  Just make sure that you have permission to put up your sign before you do it, and don't use these as your primary sign locations.

For outdoor signs, you need to be aware of a couple factors.  The first obvious factor is the weather.  You will need to protect your signs from the elements so that they stay readable for weeks.  A good technique is to use gallon-sized ziplock plastic bags to cover each sign.  Just put the sign in upside down, so that the zipper part of the bag is at the bottom of the sign.  The other concern you need to address with outdoor signs are the civic-minded citizens who will take it upon themselves to take down signs if they think that they are just going to be left up forever to ruin the aesthetics of the area.  The way that you can counter this is to date your signs and put a small notation on them that they will be taken down when your pet is found.  Of course, you should really take the signs down when the time comes, so that these same people won't feel fooled and get mad and just tear down the next sign that they see.  Also remember that some people will take down your sign so that they can have your phone number (so that they can give you a call if they see your pet), and there are also some people who will take down your sign just to be mean.  Just make sure that you check on your signs occasionally to make sure that they are still up, and have backup replacements with you.

In the next section, you can download example signs and fliers that show you exactly what we are talking about.  You can see all of the suggested elements in black and white, and since all of the phrases and sentences were carefully chosen, you can copy as much as you need, word for word.