by Robert Boduch
 

    The Yellow Pages can be pure "gold" to your business.

    It’s often the first place anxious buyers look. For newcomers to an area, it may be the only place they look, as they likely have not yet established new buying patterns.

    Everyone knows about the Yellow Pages since it has the most extensive distribution system of all. Every home and business receives at least one copy, annually.

    The Yellow Pages keeps your message in front of your market over a longer period of time. Few other advertising venues can claim the same long-lasting shelf life that Yellow Pages receives.

    People expect to find certain types of businesses listed in the Yellow Pages, so they often turn there first. For services that aren’t required on a frequent basis, the Yellow Pages becomes the source of first choice. Many use them to shop around for a better selection or price. What makes the Yellow Pages such an effective marketing tool is one proven fact: people use it when they’re ready to buy.

    The only downside of Yellow Pages advertising --if there is one-- is the cost. It takes a considerable investment and a year-long commitment to place a good-sized ad there. But for many businesses, there’s no more effective way to attract new customers.

    If you’re going to advertise in the Yellow Pages, you should do all you can to make it pay off. After all, it costs the same to run an ineffective ad, as it does to run a super-responsive one.

    A quick look through any Yellow Pages directory, anywhere, reveals an abundance of weak, under-performing ads. There’s a similar pattern used by most advertisers, that is considerably less effective in producing results, than it could be. Most of these businesses are spending hundreds of dollars every month on ads that are weak and unresponsive. And that’s a shame.

    If you currently advertise in the Yellow Pages or are considering it at some point, here’s 8 tips to help you get the maximum return from your investment.

    1. Use your most valuable space to attract interest by appealing to the "wants" of your customers. The most common mistake made by Yellow Pages advertisers and the biggest waste of prime advertising space is the use of a company name and/or logo at the top of the ad, as a header. To do this is wasteful. In effect, you are using your most expensive ad space – that which is first glanced at by the reader – to announce your name.

    Choosing a display-type ad, frees you of the obligatory company name heading format that other listings may require.

    Does your prospect really care what you’ve named your company? I highly doubt it. What your prospect does care about is, whether you have what he needs, now. Can you provide the solution to his pressing problem?

    2. Create a distinctive look and feel to your ads. Sound-alike ads have a neutralizing effect on each other. Most ads in a given category basically say the same thing. They communicate the same message. Why? I have a theory. With the deadline fast approaching, the busy entrepreneur looks at other ads in his area and creates his own based on what appears to be working for others. Big mistake.

    3. Give your audience a reason to respond to your ad. Provide a call to action. Invite them to call or visit for a free sample or premium. You can build your own in-house list of prospects this way, a list you can later mine, over and over again. These are qualified prospects for the kind of products/services you offer, by virtue of the fact they took the time to reply.

    4. Boost the power of your ad by using proven enhancements. Components that can make your Yellow Pages ad stronger, include:

• U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) – an original, identifiable claim that separates you from all your competitors
• Premiums – freebies or incentives to encourage response
• Credibility Builders– proof that you have what it takes to supply the need
• Features connected to benefits – adds power, believability and understanding to benefits offered

    This strategy gives you a decided advantage over your competition. When help of a related kind is required, you have a greater chance at being the business of choice. Offering a few helpful ideas benefits you 4 ways:

1. It makes your ad different from the others… 

2. It creates warm feelings towards your company… 

3. It helps place you in the category of an expert in your industry… 

4. It makes you unique because nobody else is doing this. 
 
 

    7. Make it clear to shoppers why they should choose you. Give them a strong reason. Offer an advantage. Spend most of your creative ad development time on this. It’s the most important part of your ad. Present this information in your headline and follow that up quickly with a few bullet-point reasons for your prospects to call or visit you.

    8. Allow adequate space in your ad so your most prominent, prospect-centered points really stand out. Get the largest ad you can afford. Avoid over-crowding and cramming. Surrounding a block of text with a little space, draws attention to those featured words. It catches attention and appears to be a less formidable task to wade through. In effect, you are "framing" your text, signaling its importance, which in turn motivates readership.

    For more money-making tips on creating Yellow Pages ads that sell, order your copy of:

    Your cost is just $10 USD Postpaid. Send your complete name and mailing address, along with your check or money order to:

Success Track 
616 Westshore Blvd., 
Pickering, Ontario 
L1W 2T8 
Canada

All orders are shipped within 24 hours.