Turing yellow into gold

For many small businesses, it is the largest advertising expense they will make during the year. For almost all businesses, it is a mystery whether the ad is really paying for itself to bring in more customers—and what you don’t know about Yellow Page advertising can cost you.

The first classified telephone directory was published in February 21, 1878 in New Haven, Mass.; within two years of the invention of the telephone. Before the turn of the century, the classified section would be printed on yellow paper and some genius would discover that businesses could say a few words about their business under their listing or in a display ad.

When someone let’s their fingers do the walking, here are three things you can count on before you start talking: 1) that the person is in a state to buy, 2) has an interest in what you have to offer, and 3) has not made a final decision where he will make the final purchase.

Statistical Research Inc. estimates that 52 percent of those individuals who refer to the Yellow Pages will make a purchase within 48 hours, and 79 percent of those who do not purchase are likely to buy sometime in the future. The only reason someone will look at your Yellow Pages ad is because she is looking for what you are selling—and that is the major difference between directory advertising and other forms of advertising.

For some businesses, their Yellow Pages ad is the lifeblood of the business. For others, it can be little more than a monthly donation to the “most read book in the CNMI.” If you open the directory to your listing, you may find an array of listings confronting the prospect. To grab attention, the Yellow Pages rep encourages you to buy a listing in bold, an in-column listing, add color, or get a display ad in full color. In addition, you will be given about the same choices for your listing in the white pages of the phone book. So many options and so little money—what should you do? Here are some tips to get the most from your ad so the most “read” book won’t put you in the “red.”

Open the directory and look at your competitor’s ads. Do any of them have a display ad or do they only have an in-column listing? If there is no display ad, it may not be necessary for you to purchase one. If your ad is already several sizes larger than the competition, there’s no reason to spend more to make it even larger. Barry Maher, a Yellow Pages consultant, believes that an ad one size larger than your competition is usually enough.

Typically, the more important the purchase, the less likely the customer will rely on the Yellow Pages to find a business. Most of these purchases are decided by word-of-mouth referrals. For smaller purchases, the phone book can be very useful.

As a general rule, though, the larger the ad the larger the response. In one classic study of a company called Neff Plumbing in Youngstown, Ohio, three new phone numbers were placed in a different size Yellow Pages ad, and nowhere else. A meter was placed on the phones to count the number of calls. The simple in-column bold listing received 241 calls, the 1 1/2-inch in-column ad received 443 calls, and the large display ad received 1,382 calls. What was surprising is that over half the calls to these new numbers were from old customers.

If there are a lot of competitors in your category, you can get an alphabetical advantage with a second, registered “doing business as” name for your business that starts with the letter “A” to put you at the front of the listing. For example, if your business name is “Zipher Vacuum,” and your new DBA is “A Zipher Vacuum,” your business would be listed at the beginning instead of the end.

Another tip is to look for other category headings for your business where your competition may not be listed. If you purchase a small listing under the new category, you will own that category for a low investment. For example, if you own a pest control business and there are numerous competitors; you could place a listing under “insect control” or “termite control specialist” to own the category under those headings. Some people may look under those headings first, and give you a call.

There are a lot more tips than we can list here in this column. If you would like to learn more, contact us at results@vzpacifica.net and we will send you more details. Unlike other media, Yellow Pages are hard to test because they run only once per year. Talk to your Yellow Pages sales rep because she can provide details and studies to help you make a better decision. However, you should also realize that she will also want to sell you the largest ad possible. If you follow our advice you can turn your Yellow Pages ad into gold.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They have consulted with over 400 businesses in 40 different industries. For better business results go to BizResults.biz to read previous articles.)