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Is
your Yellow Pages advertising costing you money rather
than making you money? Does it ever seem like the
competition is getting all the calls? Or maybe that
nobody is getting all the calls, and that all the
businesses advertising under RENTAL SERVICE STORES &
YARDS are merely making a monthly donation to the
directory company?
That’s
certainly the way a lot of businesspeople feel. But the
simple truth is that millions of companies from across
the country and even around the world could be
generating more business — if only they would stop
breaking the Ten Commandments of Yellow Pages
advertising.
So
if you sometimes think you’re in Yellow Pages hell,
maybe it’s something you’re doing to yourself.
First
Commandment:
Thou
Shalt Not Whip It Up
Most
Yellow Page ads are whipped up in the few minutes the
sales rep has left after he finishes trying to sell you
a bigger ad. The unspoken assumption is that what you
put in the ad is far less important than the size you
buy.
Wrong.
Content
is critical. You and your rep can whip up an ad in no
time. But is that what you’re paying all that money
for? If your ad looks dated and disorganized, potential
customers will feel your rental yard is, too. Remember
the kind of money you’re paying for that space. Do
everything you can to have the best ad under any heading
you’re in. And make absolutely sure that you have one
of the best ads in the heading.
Insist
that your directory publishers develop an ad for you
that justifies the cost. If they can’t do better than
standard Yellow Pages block lettering, cluttered and
jumbled layout and 1950s clip art, you can and should
have the ad produced yourself.
Second
Commandment:
Honor
Thy Headlines
What’s
big and bold and runs across the top of a Yellow Pages
ad? Whenever I ask my workshops, someone always answers
immediately, “The name of the business.”
Your
Yellow Pages ad is competing for attention with five or
10 or 20 other ads, most of them renting much the same
equipment yours is touting. The first piece of copy that
readers see — the headline — has to be powerful
enough to drag them away from those other ads and get
them reading yours. A-1 Rental? A-2 Rental?? AAA Rental?
AAAAA Rental?
Sorry,
but the average business name — unless the reader is
already familiar with the company — has as much
selling power as … well, as Barry Maher Rental. I’ve
been in business as a speaker, workshop leader,
consultant and a writer for 15 years now. I’ve worked
with more than 300 different companies. Not one of them
ever did business with me because they liked my name.
Most
of the people who look at Yellow Pages display ads are
shoppers. They’re looking for information to help them
decide what business to call; they aren’t seeking a
specific business by name.
Never
use your company name as your headline unless that name
is truly the most important selling copy in the ad. Odds
are it isn’t.
Give
them your strongest selling point — the single piece
of copy they’re likely to care about most. Then you
can tell them your name.
Third
Commandment:
Honor
Thy Illustrations
Nothing
can turn a mediocre Yellow Pages ad into a great one
faster than the right illustration. It can be even more
of a grabber than the headline. Far too often, Yellow
Pages ads have no illustration, or one that’s far too
small to command attention, or too hackneyed — from
too many appearances in too many bygone directories.
If
your picture isn’t worth a thousand words, find one
that is.
Fourth
Commandment:
Remember
All Thy
Key
Products and Services
If
your ad doesn’t mention your range of services and
products, readers often assume you aren’t into that,
whatever it is they’re looking for. You have to
include all the hard, factual information your potential
customers need to make a decision to call or drop by —
types of rentals, additional services, features, brand
names, hours, location, price, quality, credit —
whatever is pertinent to their need and your solution.
One
rental yard ad I saw even included, “Tagalog spoken.”
(That’s the main indigenous language of the
Philippines — and it meant something in that store’s
market area.)
Fifth
Commandment:
Thou
Shalt Not
Overburden
Thy Eyeballs
There’s
an old but persistent theory of advertising that says,
“You’ve got a lot to say, and ad space is expensive.
So why pay for white space that sells NOTHING?”
If
your Yellow Pages ad is difficult to read, it isn’t
going to be read. Savvy Yellow Pages advertisers used to
give their ads the squint test. “You open the
directory and take off your glasses or just squint,”
one of them told me. “Then you decide which ad you’d
pick. That’s the one that will get the calls.”
Your
ad is competing for visibility and readability with
every other ad under the heading. That means you’ve
got to hone your copy, then hone it some more. Until you
can provide all the information directory users want and
need in an ad that’s so uncluttered and inviting that
reading it becomes automatic.
Sixth
Commandment:
Thou
Shalt Not Forget About Placement Close to the Front
You
can waste a small fortune buying more Yellow Pages
advertising than you should. And you can lose just as
much buying less than you need.
The
bad news is that ad size is important. All things being
equal, bigger ads get a greater response. They also get
the best placement — closest to the front of the
heading. And placement can be even more important than
size.
The
good news is that all things are seldom equal. The
biggest ad under the heading is not always the most
effective. And a well-designed, visually appealing ad
can make up for a lot of size, especially under a
smaller heading where all the ads are on the same page
or two. It’s much more difficult, of course, to
compete with ads on an earlier page. That page may never
even be turned.
Always
consider placement when you’re deciding on ad size.
Have your sales rep show you where the size you’re
considering would fall in this year’s directory. That
should give you an approximate idea of the position —
relative to the competition — you’d have next year.
Sometimes going up a single size and spending just a few
more dollars will move you much closer to the front of
the heading. Sometimes you can cut back in size without
losing much position.
And
never worry about being bigger or closer to the front of
the heading than rental stores that may be advertising
under the same heading, but aren’t competing for the
same customers.
Seventh
Commandment:
Color
Really Isn’t So Important
Red,
blue, green, full color. All are eye-catching. All are
expensive. And the more color is used in a particular
directory, the less effective it becomes. If the money
you’d be spending is approximately the same, you’re
far better off significantly improving the size and
placement of your ad than the color.
Eighth
Commandment:
Thou
SHALT Track Results
Perhaps
the surest way to waste money is to advertise in a
directory no one’s using. Or in a well-used directory
under POWDER PUFFS or ANIMAL EYES—ARTIFICIAL or any of
the hundreds of other Yellow Pages headings where
virtually no one ever looks.
Always
make your rep prove value — especially when you’re
considering an independent (non-phone company) directory
or a questionable heading. If he can’t, don’t put
any real money there: no matter how many of your
competitors you might see. You may be just repeating
their mistake.
Instead,
if it seems like a worthwhile heading, try something
small: a listing or a simple in-column ad. Track your
response — survey your customers to discover how they
discovered you — and next year you’ll have your own
proof.
If,
like many businesses, you keep buying ads even though
you have no idea how well they’re working, you can
follow all the rest of the commandments and still end up
in Yellow Pages hell.
Ninth
Commandment:
Thou
Shalt Not Squander Dollars in the White Pages
You
bought that costly new ad in the white pages because …
why?
If
you’re Bangor Rentals and you’re in the midst of
seven white pages of Bangor this and Bangor that, you do
need something beyond a boldface type listing to make it
easier for your customers to find you.
Or
perhaps you’re Patti’s Party Rentals and the Perez
Party Emporium usually falls on the same page, and you
want to siphon off a few of their calls.
Otherwise?
If
your customers are looking for you alphabetically in the
white pages, they will find you and call you. You don’t
have any competition in the white pages. A bold listing
is sufficient.
Tenth
Commandment:
Never Rely on Faith for Your Yellow Pages: Get a Proof
Some sales reps and publishers don’t like to send out
proofs, even on display ads. Proofs cost money and often
create additional work.
Get
a proof.
If
you’re ever tempted not to, remember the small error
one publisher made in an advertiser’s ad. Instead of
reading “Dan Hadley, therapist,” it read, “Dan
Hadley, the rapist.”
Get
a proof. |
