Yellow Pages Tips - Rule of Thumb

You're a small business owner. You probably have a system for how to do whatever it is that you do. That system probably works well for you.

In the same way, the average Yellow Pages rep also has a system. And that system might work well for him or her. BUT -- that doesn't mean it necessarily works for you, the advertiser.

Take the typical case where you, the advertiser, are unhappy with the results of your Yellow Pages advertising program, so you let your rep know of the only solution you can think of: decrease your monthly investment.

Most likely, the rep will attempt to sell you a bigger ad, so you can move into better "position" in front of some or all of your competitors and thus improve the results of your program. This is an understandable solution offered by a rep, because

1. They are on commission;

2. They know that bigger ads work better than smaller ones; and

3. They don't know enough about effective Yellow Pages ad design to suggest any other way of improving your results other than just increasing your ad's size.

Common sense tells you the rep is right about the fact that larger ads work better than smaller ones. But in your gut you also somehow know that just making your ineffective ad larger may indeed get you a few more calls -- but that doesn't mean it will suddenly be a big winner for you.

So, after a big battle between you and your rep, you either:

A. Hold your ground and cut down on your advertising program, basically ensuring that you will get even a worse return from your Yellow Pages advertising in the future (but you'll save some money); or

B. Decide to keep your ad the same and hope that somehow you get better results next year; or

C. Give in to the sales rep and agree to enlarge your small ineffective ad to become a larger ineffective ad in the new directories about to be published. This will, unfortunately, likely cost you even more money over the next year because the cost of your ad will go up more than your revenue or profits. Short-term, this works out great for the commissioned sales rep, but long-term it certainly isn't good for the publisher (or you!), because you are still a dissatisfied advertiser.

May I suggest a better way? I thought you'd never ask.

Let's assume the same situation as above: You are not happy with your current advertising program, and you let your sales rep know it.

BUT -- instead of first deciding what size ad to place, FIRST you decide to learn all about the rules of successful Yellow Pages advertising so you can re-design your ad (or you save yourself all the time, trouble and risk and just get an expert to fix your ad for you).

Once you have a killer ad that you know will give you a great return on investment, THEN you work with the rep to choose the right size for your ad to make sure it gets found and noticed at or near the front of whatever heading(s) you want to get customers or clients from!

This new order of ad design first and THEN placement strategy works out better for everyone:

1. The rep earns his or her commission on the sale;

2. The publisher has a happy advertiser who will probably look to do more and more advertising with them in the future; and most important

3. YOU now have a killer ad and a strategic placement plan that will bring you a better Return On Investment out of your local Yellow Pages than you've ever gotten before.

So, remember: If your Yellow Pages program isn't working for you, FIRST re-design your ad, and THEN work out your placement strategy. Stand firm, and don't let an overly-aggressive sales rep do this in the reverse order!

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