Does Your Yellow Page Ad Perform Like It Should?
When my wife and I owned a retail store we ran a number of yellow page ads. My wife and I tried the small local book including paying extra for a page of discount coupons. We also advertised in a larger regional phone book. We paid for the largest ad in our category. We tried a different design each year.
In reality our ads looked much like the other ads in the book. If you own a gift and collectible store that also sells fashion jewelry and women’s clothing like we did I have some other strategies that worked better than the yellow pages. But that’s a story for another day.
We found out the size of the ad did little to help our store traffic. We redeemed two coupons all year. We had asked some friends of ours if they had success with their coupons. They claimed to get a lot of business from the coupons.
After the coupons didn't work for us, I took an informal poll of business owners I knew. I found out that the majority of coupons torn out of the phone book and redeemed were for two items. Discounted pizza and carpet cleaning. Of course our friends own a carpet cleaning business, which is why they recommended spending the money on the coupons. Before you pay for coupons I recommend taking a poll of 50 to 100 people on their coupon habits. You may find they don’t pay.
However the size of the ad really is important in most catagories. You don't necessarily need to be the largest but your ad needs to be large enough to get your message across effectively.
I probably should have used my own consumer behavior as a guideline. The only coupons I have ever used out of the phone book were for pizza and a discounted oil change. The funny thing is by the time I paid for the extra little things the gas station charged me for the oil change I paid just as much for it as I would have at the quick lube down the street. And it took almost three times as long.
Knowing what I know now, I would design entirely different ads and I would bet a nice weekend get away at the coast we would achieve a large increase in foot traffic in our store. Whether that means more buyers depends on if they like what they see once inside.
What’s it all mean to you?
So how do you make your yellow page ad not only pay for itself but attract a healthy increase in business? The two most important aspects of a yellow page ad are the headline copy and the offer. The headline copy entices your prospect to read the rest of the ad. Without an attention-grabbing headline your ad looks just like all the other ads in the book. You definitely don’t want your ad to look like everyone else’s.
Remember, the yellow pages are playing to an already qualified prospect. They wouldn’t be reading in the plumber section if they didn’t need a plumber. The headline copy needs to reach out and grab the prospect by the eyeballs. Yes, it’s a cliché but it’s the truth. Your ad should be powerful enough to drag them away from your competitors’ ads. Don’t use your company name as the headline except in the unusual case where the name of your company has a very strong pull.
For the most part graphics are much less important than the written copy. However if your ad is fairly large, say a quarter page or larger, then pictures or graphics can add emphasis to the copy. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking the graphics are more important than the copy. One exception to this rule comes in the case of professional services offered by an individual such as a lawyer, doctor, or chiropractor. A nice conservative portrait of the owner can lend a lot of credibility to the ad. But it won't make the sale. The copy does that.
Your ad needs to be pleasing to the eye and easy to read. I don’t always have my glasses handy and can’t read very small print anymore. Make sure the fonts you use are easy on the eye. Avoid fancy cursive and artsy type fonts. If an ad is hard to read you’ll lose customers because of it.
So make sure your headlines attracts attention, your copy describes your products in vivid detail, and the design is easy and attractive to the eye. You’ll already be way ahead of your competition.
That’s not all there is to an effective yellow page ad but it’s a great start. My advice: hire a copywriter or business consultant that really understands advertising. You can get the yellow page rep and agency to do your ad for free. But generally you get what you pay for. The money you pay a professional will come back many times over. In fact in today’s business environment it may mean the difference between staying in business or not.
In reality our ads looked much like the other ads in the book. If you own a gift and collectible store that also sells fashion jewelry and women’s clothing like we did I have some other strategies that worked better than the yellow pages. But that’s a story for another day.
We found out the size of the ad did little to help our store traffic. We redeemed two coupons all year. We had asked some friends of ours if they had success with their coupons. They claimed to get a lot of business from the coupons.
After the coupons didn't work for us, I took an informal poll of business owners I knew. I found out that the majority of coupons torn out of the phone book and redeemed were for two items. Discounted pizza and carpet cleaning. Of course our friends own a carpet cleaning business, which is why they recommended spending the money on the coupons. Before you pay for coupons I recommend taking a poll of 50 to 100 people on their coupon habits. You may find they don’t pay.
However the size of the ad really is important in most catagories. You don't necessarily need to be the largest but your ad needs to be large enough to get your message across effectively.
I probably should have used my own consumer behavior as a guideline. The only coupons I have ever used out of the phone book were for pizza and a discounted oil change. The funny thing is by the time I paid for the extra little things the gas station charged me for the oil change I paid just as much for it as I would have at the quick lube down the street. And it took almost three times as long.
Knowing what I know now, I would design entirely different ads and I would bet a nice weekend get away at the coast we would achieve a large increase in foot traffic in our store. Whether that means more buyers depends on if they like what they see once inside.
What’s it all mean to you?
So how do you make your yellow page ad not only pay for itself but attract a healthy increase in business? The two most important aspects of a yellow page ad are the headline copy and the offer. The headline copy entices your prospect to read the rest of the ad. Without an attention-grabbing headline your ad looks just like all the other ads in the book. You definitely don’t want your ad to look like everyone else’s.
Remember, the yellow pages are playing to an already qualified prospect. They wouldn’t be reading in the plumber section if they didn’t need a plumber. The headline copy needs to reach out and grab the prospect by the eyeballs. Yes, it’s a cliché but it’s the truth. Your ad should be powerful enough to drag them away from your competitors’ ads. Don’t use your company name as the headline except in the unusual case where the name of your company has a very strong pull.
For the most part graphics are much less important than the written copy. However if your ad is fairly large, say a quarter page or larger, then pictures or graphics can add emphasis to the copy. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking the graphics are more important than the copy. One exception to this rule comes in the case of professional services offered by an individual such as a lawyer, doctor, or chiropractor. A nice conservative portrait of the owner can lend a lot of credibility to the ad. But it won't make the sale. The copy does that.
Your ad needs to be pleasing to the eye and easy to read. I don’t always have my glasses handy and can’t read very small print anymore. Make sure the fonts you use are easy on the eye. Avoid fancy cursive and artsy type fonts. If an ad is hard to read you’ll lose customers because of it.
So make sure your headlines attracts attention, your copy describes your products in vivid detail, and the design is easy and attractive to the eye. You’ll already be way ahead of your competition.
That’s not all there is to an effective yellow page ad but it’s a great start. My advice: hire a copywriter or business consultant that really understands advertising. You can get the yellow page rep and agency to do your ad for free. But generally you get what you pay for. The money you pay a professional will come back many times over. In fact in today’s business environment it may mean the difference between staying in business or not.
posted by Perry Droast @ 1:02 AM
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