Door hangers
Door hangers for the houses around a job
The crew has been on the street all week. The neighbors have watched. A door hanger is how you let them know who it was.
When trades use them
The best moment is while the job is still in front of the neighbors: the truck is out front, the dumpster is in the driveway, the crew is on the ladder. A roofer, a landscaper, a plumber or an HVAC crew can walk the nearby doors at the end of the day and leave one on each.
It also suits seasonal work. An HVAC shop can hang a tune-up reminder before the first cold week. A lighting crew can hang one on the street where it just finished an install.
A door hanger is a modest tool. This post makes no promise about how many calls it brings. Some owners swear by them and some have tried them and moved on. What follows is how to make a good one.
What goes on one
Three things, and not many more.
An offer. One clear reason to call, such as a free estimate or a seasonal tune-up. If you cannot say it in a short line, it is two offers.
A phone number. Large and plain, with strong contrast. A phone number in a thin script font defeats the whole piece.
A scan code. It opens a page about your business, so a neighbor can look you up from the porch. Printer guidance puts the minimum size of a QR code at about 0.8 inch, dark on a light ground, with clear space around it, so give it room.
Put your business name and your trade up front. Everything else can go.
The hole and the fold
A door hanger has a hole cut in it for the doorknob. The hole is part of the layout. If a headline sits where the hole goes, the cutter eats it.
Printer guidance for a standard hanger gives a size of 4.25 by 11 inches, with the hole near the top and the top 2 inches kept free of text. That is why the headline goes below the hole. Check the exact template against the final proof, because specs differ.
Keep the front simple: name, headline, one offer. Put the phone number and code where a thumb will not cover them when someone holds it. The back can hold a short list of services.
When the proof comes back, check that nothing sits too close to the hole or the edge, and ask for changes in plain words if it does.
Hang it right
Hang it on the door handle or knob. Do not put hangers in mailboxes, on mailbox flags or on posts. Federal rules cover mailboxes, and your town may have its own rules about hangers, so check before a big drop.
Skip houses with a no soliciting sign. A tidy handful at the right doors is better than a bag of them everywhere.
Make it about the street
The strongest line on a hanger is usually the one only you could write. “We just finished the roof at number 14” beats a general promise, because the neighbor can see the proof from the sidewalk. Use the job you just did, and use the street name if it fits.
Keep the tone neighborly. Nobody wants a hard sell on their door. A short line, a clear number and an easy next step is plenty.
Ask your assistant
Tell it the trade, the job, the town and the one offer. Ask for the headline below the hole and the phone number large. Then ask for a few designs and pick one.
Say it the way you would to a sign shop. Offscreen, make me door hangers. Offscreen shows up to four designs, you ask for changes until it is right, and nothing prints until you approve and pay.