If you opened this article, you are probably the typical small business that either is currently doing Yellow Page advertising or thinking about it. I should know. I spent the better part of 25 years meeting and advising people like you. I was a premise representative for the Mountain Bell, (later US West, later Dex) Yellow Pages. Prior to that, had my own advertising agency. I also have a degree in marketing. I’ve been a consultant and designer of Yellow Page ads for the past three decades. So I have expertise in YP creation and have advised almost 7000 companies on how to put together the most effective YP ads. If you have a display or in-column ad, regardless of size, color or position, I can tell you it most probably needs improvement in the headline, artwork, body text, placement, book, or heading.
But for now, let me offer you some very basic advise and strategies for making the most of your program.
First, decide whether you should be in the printed book or Internet equivalent. It depends on what you sell or offer. Most service companies that provide emergency or regular service need to be in the printed book. That includes plumbers, repair companies, dentists, doctors, insurance agents, and restaurants. Retailers are better off online, showing pictures and catalogs of their products.
Next, figure out a budget. It should be a percentage of your gross sales. Service firms may have to spend up to 20% of their predicted sales to get results from the YP book. Why? Because the competition is fierce in the well-stocked headings of insurance, plumbing, and other repairs. The same is true for movers, dentists, and restaurants and pizza. Now, a word of warning here. Changing your name to “AAA Amazing Movers” to be in the first column listing, rather than buying a large ad, never really works. You need the big display ad to attract the consumer. So, what’s better; size or color? I opt for size in most cases thinking that the full page offers more room for content rather than a half-page in color that may be more splashy, yet have less information.
Now pick the heading. For some like “Insurance,” it’s easy. But appliance repair may have to be under every machine they work on. Place the biggest ad under the ad that gets the most viewers. Your local sales rep has these statistics on which headings receive the highest usage.
It’s time to choose the correct book. Most metro areas have the wide coverage for the whole town and smaller, local area books that target more specific communities. The big one is expensive because it goes by population but you may only service a smaller, local region. Weigh the cost versus exposure and decide what would work best for you. You may have to do a little of each
In this limited article, I can only touch on a few other places for consideration. Ad design, headline choice, Internet placement, the white pages, and coop are other vital parts to your program. There are also other ways to save money and track your results.
But I guess it’s now time to uncover the true way to design your ad. Use the ROI or return-on-investment approach. That’s simply based on calculating how much to spend based on how much profit you make per sale. You can insure that your ad will make you money if you do your homework in this area. All of the details on how these ROI works and other tips that can help generate profits for less than you would think, are all spelled out in my well-written and best-selling book on Amazon.
Go to my website at poweradbook.com for more info. For less than twenty bucks, I give you all you need to succeed in the YP jungle. I know this is a bit self-serving, but I was a salesman for 25 years and a leopard can’t change his spots…sorry. But I guarantee that the book is worth every penny and I thank you for your valuable time, in advance.