Want to get the very best return on your Yellow Pages investment? Keep these three simple steps in mind:
Be FOUND, be NOTICED, be CHOSEN
1. Be FOUND
Make it as easy as possible for your repeat, former and referral customers to find you - or for people to find you once they've seen your other advertising (or trucks on the road) and want to look you up.
Make sure you place an ad (or at least a listing!) in all the headings where people might search for the product or services you provide. You can't control where people will look for you - all you can do is make sure you're there when they do.
Don't expect a Return On Investment for just doing this first step. Your monthly Yellow Pages bill will be a just another necessary expense of your business, like your rent, electricity, etc.
2. Be NOTICED
To take your Yellow Pages advertising to the next level (break even or make a small profit), you'll want to start attracting attention from people who aren't already looking specifically for you -- prospects who are looking for a provider of your type of product or service, but don't have a particular name in mind.
Studies show the average Yellow Pages shopper looks at 4.6 ads. So, in any heading with more than 5 advertisers, you'll need to make use of size, color, layout, illustrations and a compelling headline (your company name is NOT a headline!) to make sure you get noticed. Ideally, you should use all of these elements properly and strategically.
3. Be CHOSEN
If you want to get exciting results and rake in consistent profits with your Yellow Pages advertising, don't stop now! Make sure to take this final and most important step of all.
Make sure to give people one or more compelling reasons to choose your business instead of one of your competitors. Simple, right? That's why it's amazing how few Yellow Pages ads actually do this! Instead, if you open up any phone book anywhere in the country, you're likely to be bored to death over and over by ads that insist on using the same standard photos, bulleted lists of features, and clichéd phrases as all of their competitors. And if you're bored to death, think about the poor shoppers who opened their phone book hoping to find a business they can feel good about calling.
By definition, if your ad is just like all the others in your heading, it's not standing out!
Give people some compelling reasons to choose YOU over your competition (guarantee, offer, etc.), and they will! That just plain makes sense, doesn't it? And when your ad is the one consistently chosen, you will be raking in the profits while your competitors make excuses like "No one uses the Yellow Pages anymore".
Most small business owners have virtually no clue how to put together a killer Yellow Pages ad. And very few sales reps care enough (or even know how) to create a killer ad for you. That's actually great news -- that's why there's so much opportunity for you to make huge profits with your local Yellow Pages if you just follow the simple, proven rules of success or use an expert consultant to help you.
And now I'd like to invite you to receive my free 21-day email course "How To Turn Your Yellow Pages Into Gold". Just visit www.YellowPagesGOLD.com right now.
Steve Sipress -- entrepreneur and expert in how to get more profits from the Yellow Pages and Internet Search Engines. I've built my own businesses through innovative, powerful and highly-effective marketing, and have also helped thousands of other small businesses owners increase their profits and improve their lifestyles over the past 20+ years. Learn from my mistakes -- it's a lot quicker and cheaper than making your own!
