Carol Bentley

Some of the adverts in your local Yellow Pages haven’t got a cat-in-hell’s chance of bringing enough business to cover the cost. Asking these three questions could prevent you making the same mistakes.

The adverts I’m talking about are frequently those ‘designed’ by the Yellow Ad’s ‘graphics team’.

You know the type I mean… the

‘Name… Rank… Serial Number’ style

Name: Business name; unless you have a highly descriptive business name this is not going to make you stand out from the crowd.

Rank: What the business does; standard wording that rarely describes any benefit to make the advert more appealing than the other entries.

Serial Number: Contact details; with a phone number as a minimum.

Here’s Three Questions To Ask Yourself Before Deciding
To Advertise in any Long Term Publication…

Q1. “Is this directory the first place my target audience is likely to look for someone who can provide my services/products?”

Q2. “How can I make my advertisement stand out from my direct competitors?” (I’ll give you a hint - think about the results your prospects are looking for).

Q3. “Is the advert I plan to use tested and proven elsewhere before committing to a 12 month publication?” Find a local business directory or publication that is issued more frequently - say monthly - that your prospects are probably looking at. Test your advert:

Test

• the headline;
• the offer;
• the content;
• the layout

and remember to use a reference code so you can measure which version is the most successful. Then - and only then - should you agree to place that tested and proven advert in a long term directory like Yellow Pages.

Never, ever leave the design of something as vital as your advertisement to the directory publisher - you can’t afford to waste money like that - can you?

Carol Bentley

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Date: Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 4:56 pm | Category: Copywriting | RSS Feed: RSS 2.0 feed.
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