If You Rely On Yellow Page Ads, You Might Be Losing Thousands Of Dollars
April 28th, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized — Advertising AuthorMy years as a Yellow Pages Rep taught me a lot about human nature. If you ask the average business owner what he/she expects to gain from their Yellow Pages and they’ll say something like, “I want my phone to ring so that I can get some customers.” or ” I want people to know where my store is located and how to get here.”
The largest search engine in the world is not Google, the largest search in the world is the Yellow Pages. The basic idea of Yellow Pages is to be available for the consumer when they need to find the answer to their problem. The point is that simple. Many publishers and sales reps have tried to make it more sexy in order to bring in more money. They have new products and features to appeal not to the consumers but to the egos of their clients.
Yellow Pages is still very relevant in this electronic age but business owners need to get back to basics. They need to get away from the hype of the term advertising and realize that Yellow Pages advertising really is not advertising in the basic sense of the word. The correct term is “directional advertising”.
Unless you’re on the covers of the directory or purchased one of the special products such as inserts, what you’re doing is making your information available for the consumers who want you at the time they need you.
When the local sales rep comes by to get your signature, there is usually a new discount program that will allow you to get a deal on the next largest package because the package you have has experienced a price increase. If you neglected to do a Return On Investment analysis on last year’s marketing program, you may not be aware of the impact of your advertising and marketing efforts.
So do you really need that ad program this year? Before you sign up again, do a little math. This can be done in a spreadsheet program The ad programs might be making you money but you really need to know if you can do without it. You might be able to do more with less investment if you calculate this Reverse ROI worksheet.
A – Take the number of calls you get monthly -
B – Average the number of calls it takes to make a sale-
C – Multiply AxB to get the potential new customers each month -
D – Figure out what your average client is worth -
E – Multiply CxD to get the potential monthly loss in revenue-
F – Multiply Ex12 to get the potential annual loss in revenues -
G – Enter your annual Yellow Pages investment -
H – Subtract F from G to get your potential loss in revenue if you don’t sign up this year.
You can use this formula for other ad programs as well. Keep in mind that these calculations only work for response advertising and marketing, not branding and public relations.
Keep in mind the differences between want, and need when you sit down with your representative. The reps job is to satisfy your needs, their needs and their company’s needs. They may not necessarily do it in that order. If they haven’t done so already, you need to keep this simple acronym in your mind when you prepare your ads.
The Yellow Pages had created a shorthand called RASCL
Reliability – can be said in a few words, such as “Since 1987″, or “Members of”… some well known association. This is the section that gives you credibility.
Authorized – products & services in a display should only be those that are paying you co-op, or which are well known nationally or locally. This gives you connection to a national brand and the perceived quality that goes with it.
Special – features can be said in a few words, such as Open On Sundays (if you are) or “Guaranteed Lowest Prices”, Etc. This covers your USP (unique selling propositions).
Complete products -. This is where you list all of your products or services. Be aware that listing your complete products or services will help consumers to make educated choices, but might cost more in ad space. You must weigh the pros and cons. This is where you use the ROI (return on investment).
Illustrations – This is the area where you get your visual elements to sell your unique services or products. It’s the closer. People go to the Yellow Pages for the same reason that they do Google; they want information on something important enough for them to go searching for the directory, pulling it out and flipping through the pages. They don’t read it for fun or out of boredom.
When you buy Yellow Pages as placement, take a look at the directory and examine the content of your heading. If there are 60 listings and only four advertisers in that heading, do not get a full page ad unless all the other ads are full page. If you have been pulling consistent profits from your current ad, stay with the ad you have. Don’t upgrade unless the competition has caused a lowering of your ad results in dollars and cents from the previous year.
One last thing. This is important. If you have a small ad in the directory and a complete website (see my article on what I mean by a complete website), you must emphasize your website in the ad. The most obvious way is to offer something free on your website. For example, a free book that shows parents how to child proof their home, if you sell baby products.
Another important factor in some markets is to diversify. If you have several Yellow Page directories in your market, be sure to have something more than a listing in each. You have no idea what directory your local consumers use. Please don’t listen to the representative when they hype the distribution and readership statistics. Remember that they are there to represent the business owner, the company and themselves, but not in that order.
Dennis Morales Francis is a consultant and business coach for Comparative Alternative Medical professionals and wellness practitioners. His website, http://www.doublemyrevenues.com offers its members online coaching on automating marketing on and off the web. He offers a free book called “Double Your Revenues in 12 Months or Less.” Go to http://www.doublemyrevenues.com to learn more about generating massive income from your business.
