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Secrets of High-Impact Yellow Pages Ads

by Steve Yankee

is your best possible opportunity to get them to call you so you can close the sale. 

What should go into your yellow pages ad - The RASCIL factors:

People are influenced in their Yellow Pages calling (and buying) decisions by several factors:

• Reliability
• Authorization
• Security
• Completeness of Service
• Illustrations
• Location

Let’s take each point, one at a time, starting with RELIABILITY. Key phrases you should use in your ad include:

• Your XX years of experience

• Are you a member of a professional association? Say so.

• Satisfaction guaranteed or any other guarantees you offer

AUTHORIZATION

• Authorized sales/service for name brand manufacturers? Say so.

SECURITY

• Do you store goods in a safe?

• Are you insured, bonded?

• Is your work done on-premises?

COMPLETENESS OF SERVICE

• Do you have the latest and best equipment

• Do you offer multiple lines of goods for best selection?

• Free pickup and delivery?

• Free estimates and initial consultation?

• List your hours!(“Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 - 5:30” or whatever. Be accessible!)

• All the services you provide

• Your phone number. This should be the largest component in your ad.

ILLUSTRATION

• Use your logo; a silhouette of something relevant to your business; a photo or drawing of your store, your truck. the logo of a professional association to which you belong; even the Visa/Master Card logos, if you take bankcards. Something to catch the reader’s eye quickly.

LOCATION

• Your address! (Tricky if you work out of your home, but if you don’t include an address you tend to look pretty “fly-by-night...” so at the very least, use a P.O. Box number.) If your address is hard to find and you depend on walk-in business, give them a reference. “One block south of City Hall,” or “Just north of Quincy Street off US-131.” The extras that will help your ad pull even better...

There are two things that will help your hard-working ad work even harder. The first is using a second color in your ad. I know it costs you more, but adding a color improves readership by a factor of THREE TIMES.

The second thing is something that won’t cost you extra. Do something with your ad border. Don’t just have the Yellow Pages ad production people run a thin line around the ad. If you’re selling boats, use a drawing of a rope. A film company? Make it look like film perforations. You can even incorporate your artwork into it the design. The trick is to make the ad as eye-catching as possible. Ask your yellow pages sales rep for help in design, and even in writing —as long as you remember the sure-selling phrases that we’ve already discussed.

Business listings  - other fine print.

Your Yellow Pages rep(s) will no doubt ask you about your listing in the “business white pages.” This is the section of the regular phone book that carries business names and numbers, of course. If you can afford it, I strongly recommend you “buy up” to a bold faced listing at the minimum; and buy a bold-faced color listing if you can. In most cases, people use these listings because they already know your name and just can’t remember your number. Secondly, bold and colored print significantly improves the visibility of your name and number. Keep in mind that 70 percent of the population is visually impaired to some degree. For them, small print is hard to read. Make it easy for everyone to find you!

Some final thoughts for Yellow Pages success:

When you have finalized your new Yellow Pages ad and if your rep is going to have the ad put together for you, request a proof. You will be sent a copy of the ad for approval before it runs in the book. Check it carefully for mistakes. If you find any, correct them and contact your rep to make sure changes are made. If for some reason there’s something messed up with the ad AFTER it’s been printed and the Yellow Pages directories have been distributed, contact your rep immediately. This will help defuse any anger that might possibly build up over the year your ad will be running with a mistake in it. (And believe me, it will). Secondly, if the mistake is a serious one (wrong phone number, wrong address), you may be able to get a payment adjustment. Many of the independent Yellow Pages directories are published by newspaper concerns, and if there’s a mistake in their directory, they might even give you a free corrective ad or ads in their local papers.

Use my insider secrets to help you get monthly returns of 500% (or even more) with your Yellow Pages ad! If your customers use the Yellow Pages, your directory ad can be the biggest money-making marketing tool that you use.

Your Yellow Pages ad is probably the single most important advertising you place. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 directory advertisers approach things all wrong.

You know the drill; you’re under deadline pressure from a sales rep, so you end up making hasty decisions on your ad size, design and copy - then sign the contract and hope your ad brings you some business next year. If you’re wrong, you’ve got to live with your expensive mistake for 12 months - a mistake that can seriously cripple your business.

On the other hand, Yellow Pages advertising can be a gold mine if you do it right. I know. My video business spent over $600 a month advertising in telephone directories —and those ads brought in a whopping $4,800 a month in business, each and every month of the year! In other words, those ads weren’t costing me anything in the long run; they were merely an investment in profitable new business. That’s the way good advertising works. And it can work that way for you, too.

Written by Steve Yankee - Author of Yellow Pages Power!
For more information visit http://www.YellowPagesPower.com