Free Yellow Pages Advertising Guide

May 5th, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Yellow Pages Advertising

As part of an online marketing test and with your permission I’m going to give you 61 insider Yellow Pages ad secrets. You will uncover what makes the difference between ads that work and ads that just waste money. Here’s the name of this free guide…

Masters of Yellow Pages Advertising

What you will discover is this:

The 3 things every Yellow Pages advertiser should know – but don’t (page 10)
5 tips for creating hot Yellow Pages ads (page 12)
A way to triple calls (page 17)
The most important aspect of your ad…that no one ever considers (page 18)
Nine fatal Yellow Pages mistakes (page 21)
How to determine if you are wasting ad dollars (page 27)
Attention-grabbing fixes that make Yellow Pages ads leap off the page (page 29)
Critical warnings you MUST consider before deciding to renew your ad (page 37)
Eight steps that guarantee ad success (page 43)
Five tips guaranteed to reduce Yellow Pages ad costs (page 48)
How to use the internet to get the best return on your Yellow Pages ad (page 54)
How to dominate competitor’s ads (page 56)
How to multiply response (page 58)
A simple little secret that saves thousands of dollars (page 63)
How to use your ad to immediately win customers (page 68)
How to force your ad to become profitable (page 80)
Little know ways to reduce ad costs (page 91)
Understanding Yellow Pages contracts and discount policies (page 101 and 105)
What to do when your ad isn’t working (page 109)
Should you advertise in the Yellow Pages or not (page 115)
How to determine if small business advertising is a waste of money (page 117)
Exclusive offer to also grab a copy of ‘How To Write Yellow Pages Ads That Rock.’

To grab your free copy of Masters of Yellow Pages Advertising go here to request your copy:

Go here to find out do Yellow Pages still work and to get your free copy.

Case AGAINST Yellow Pages Advertising

April 23rd, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Yellow Pages Advertising

This is an open letter to everyone struggling with sorting the truth from the hype about the value of advertising in the Yellow Pages…

I’m ticked that there’s so much misleading propaganda in this industry…. there’s a lot of ad reps out there making huge promises…and what they do is take people’s money and they don’t deliver… they give everyone who has anything to do with marketing a “black eye” (even those of us who don’t work for Yellow Pages directories)…and I’m tired of it!

–Andre BellFreelance Marketing Advisor

Smart marketers have learned how to make Yellow Pages Advertising work for them. Predictably. Consistently.

But that’s not the case for most companies. The problem is most consumers and other businesses no longer use the Yellow Pages as actively as ten years ago, or even five years ago for that matter.

Why? Because other media are taking market share away from the Yellow Pages. Larry Small, the Director of Research at the Yellow Pages Association (YPA), admits the internet has adversely affected the effectiveness of advertising in the Yellow Pages.

In a nutshell…

The Internet Has Killed The Power of
Advertising In The Yellow Pages!

Larry knows more than anyone how bad things are for Yellow Pages advertisers.

The YPA’s members account for almost 85 percent of all Yellow Pages revenue generated in the U.S. and Canada alone. They are the ‘Microsoft’ of Yellow Pages. They totally dominate the Yellow Pages market.

Despite the huge migration of shoppers abandoning the Yellow Pages, the directories continue to increase rates each year. That’s like gas companies charging higher and higher rates for gas and at the same time decreasing the amount of gas you’re allowed to buy. Instead of a gallon, you only get half a gallon or a measly pint for more than you used to pay for a gallon.

That’s highway robbery!

Here’s the thing though…

Despite fewer people ‘letting their fingers do the walking’ in the yellow pages, ad agents still say paying for ads created by ad reps is a good value.

After years of tossing money down the drain wondering if it will ever come back, many former Yellow Pages advertising loyalists have chosen to “opt out” of Yellow Pages advertising altogether.

Because of this huge exodus… if you so much as think of canceling your ad, your Yellow Pages ad rep will show up on your doorstep telling “success” stories that get bigger and bigger each time the stories are told.

Do You Make These Mistakes
In Your Yellow Pages Ad?

If shrinking users isn’t bad enough… your potential customers see your ad at the same time they see ads from your competitors — all on the same page.

The competition here is fierce. More fierce than any other kind of advertising or marketing. That’s why advertising incest is the greatest “sin” committed in the Yellow Pages.

Basically all the ads are created ‘cut and paste’ from a common template. There’s very little variation. And just like real incest, these ads get dumber and dumber as they continue to reproduce.

Just look at the ads in any Yellow Pages directory. What should be an highly competitive ad is reduced to nothing more than an over-sized, ineffective business card. Why do all these ads look alike? Because ad reps are required to say ’sameness’ sells.

It doesn’t.

Sameness reduces you to a commodity where the only prospect to give you money are the lowest-profit, tightwad, greedy and unappreciative, price-shopping prospects.

Who Else Wants Profitable And Predictable
Yellow Pages Ad Performance?

Why do ad reps willingly tell these lies?

Usually ad reps are not bad people. They just don’t know any better because their ‘education’ comes from the very company that pays them to take your money. They are forced to either believe (or pretend to believe) the lies themselves…or they won’t get paid.

Second, the directories cannot ethically give one client a competitive advantage over another. Can you imagine how you’d feel if you found out your ad rep liked one of your competitors better than the rep liked you? What kind of ad would you imagine you’d get compared to your competitor? Pretty crappy, huh?You’d drop that ad in a hot second. And so would everyone else.

That’s exactly why Yellow Pages directories shoot for similar, mediocre, sterile ads. The more people they convince into believing sameness is ‘normal’, the fewer ad commissions Yellow Pages directories lose from cancellations.

Get Even And Kick The Teeth Out Of Competitors!

Third, there’s a tremendous amount of effort required to come up with a clear competitive advantage that kicks the teeth out of your competition. An ad writer must research your products and services, your industry, your customers… and your competitors.

The research required to create a powerfully persuasive promotion would tie an ad rep up for weeks – and that’s just for one ad! That’s why YOUR success is not the basis for their compensation. They are compensated strict for ‘productivity’. In other words, volume of renewals and new orders.

So instead of creating better ads, reps focus on catch phrases and ’statistics’ to woo people to buy.

Like possessed snake charmers, the reps to do everything they can to charm your money out of your pockets and into theirs.

Don’t get me wrong. Ad reps have not set themselves up to be your enemy. It’s just that the way they see things… the quicker they can get done with you the quicker they can move on to another advertiser — and another commission — regardless of the outcome for you.

What Excuse Do You Make When Asked
How’s Your Yellow Pages Ad Working…
And You Have No Answer…?

The directories compensate ad reps for quantity of ads sold. There are no incentives to help you actually make money with your ad.

But here’s the deal… I don’t work for any Yellow Pages advertiser and I refuse to accept a single penny in commission from them. That’s why I’m free to tell you like it really is… instead of the way they want you to believe it should be.

Oh, here are a couple other ‘dangers’ to be on the watch for…Lies about branding and ‘top of mind awareness‘. Let me ask you something… when was the last time you received top of mind awareness or branding in the mail and ran off to the bank and deposited it? Never! Those things cannot be measured.

It’s a scam. One big fat lie!

Don’t Renew Your Yellow Pages Ad
Until You Read This Warning…

What you want to receive from your advertising is money you can deposit. That’s it. Nothing less. Not ‘awareness’. And recall isn’t the ‘touchstone’ for judging ad effectiveness either. What matters is generating money into your pockets in predictable and measurable streams.

Here’s proof…

Just imagine, you tell your staff or vendors: “we are not going to give you a check this month. Instead we’ve decided to give you a share of our top of mind awareness. Isn’t that great?!?”.

What do you think would happen?

They’d mob you. Probably cut you into tiny little pieces and feed you to the alligators in your sewer. Why? Because everyone knows top of mind awareness and branding cannot be deposited. Those are just catch phrases used by advertisers and ad reps to mislead and distract… just like pickpockets who work in tandem to get into your wallet or purse.

The difference here is Yellow Pages theft can totally kill a company.

Let’s be honest.

Your market isn’t looking through the Yellow Pages for future use. They are not reading the Yellow Pages for entertainment value. And they are not reading it so they can recall someone later.Your prospect has an itch now and needs that itch scratched now. That’s why your ad must generate money you can deposit now.

How To Increase Yellow Pages
Response By 40% to 400% Overnight

In all my years of researching what works and what doesn’t work, I’ve finally released a Yellow Pages Advertising Guide that will help nearly any advertiser or ad writer turn failing ads into huge money makers. This guide stands heads and tails above most everything out there. I know how hard it is to find information that will truly benefit you.

Well…I’m here to tell you…this Yellow Pages Advertising Guide is the real deal. It took me two years of digging to uncover the material and put it all into one place like this.
I guess I should be selling it as a high-end Yellow Pages Career guide for $1497…but I won’t. I see no reason to charge so much for a product that costs so little to deliver digitally.

Take a look and grab a copy. It’s priced low enough so almost everyone can afford it.

Oh. The guide is perfect for business owners who want to write better ads and consultants who want to get paid writing ads for others.

And it has a money back guarantee to prove its value to you.

You’ve read this far. Go get a copy of the course for yourself.

Yours in Success,

Andre Bell
Freelance Marketing Advisor

Yellow Page Ad Design: Does Adding Color Make Sense

March 12th, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Yellow Pages Advertising

You know Yellow Page advertising isn’t cheap.

But you probably also know that a high-performing Yellow Page ad can pay for itself ten times over. One easy way to both economize and maximize your return on investment is to forget about costly color options such as white knockouts, spot colors and the very expensive “4-color process” option. Your Yellow Page sales rep will eagerly show you multiple studies claiming that color always increases ad response. Don’t buy into it! Color is the “golden egg,” high-profit item for Yellow Page publishers… Most would bend over backwards and sideways to convince you to buy.

The fact is color has little to do with how well an ad will “perform.” While a multiple color ad will be flashy to the eye, a blur of color can’t speak to the desire or felt needs of your prospects. Color just can’t hold a prospect’s attention long enough for an ad’s message to sink in. How successfully are you able to screen out neon signs, full color billboards, etc.? How easily does the new car you’re interested in jump out at you from the blur of traffic? The new car speaks to your desires, while the billboard (more often than not) doesn’t. Color alone simply doesn’t speak to prospects’ desires.

The truth is, there are only two factors that will determine how many CALLS your new Yellow Page ad will generate:

  1. The ability of your Yellow Page ad DESIGN to attract attention (and not just momentarily catch the eye of a prospect)
  2. The CONTENT of your Yellow Page ad.

Superior design is more than eye catching — great design attracts attention AND speaks to the desire of the customer. This is a challenging balance and it’s why you’d be wise to leave the design of your ad to a genuine Yellow Page ad design expert.

Successful Yellow Page ad design requires a unique set of skills and few people have the direct response background and experience in the Yellow Page medium to actually make your phones ring off the hook. If you find the right expert, the small additional cost for a professionally designed ad will be well worth the improved response rate you’ll enjoy, not to mention the savings you’ll reap by foregoing color in your ad.

Don’t let anyone fool you! The manner in which your Yellow Page ad is developed will largely determine your success or failure! Your Yellow Page ad will be surrounded by ALL of your competitors. Your ad MUST visually stand out from the pack and be able to draw readers into the content. A professionally executed 1 color Yellow Page ad with compelling copy will always outperform a full-color ad that is improperly designed and is full of generic, meaningless ad copy.

So, if you’re considering expensive color options for your next Yellow Pages ad put your money where it matters most: Effective ad design and compelling content FIRST, positioning (ad size) SECOND and color LAST!

Most Yellow Page advertisers greatly under estimate the importance of effective Yellow Page ad design. It’s unfortunate because print Yellow Page directories are still one of the very best ways to reach into the hearts and minds of your local market. If you’d like additional tips and suggestions on effective Yellow Page ad design, feel free to drop me a line.

Click the following link for more Yellow Pages Ad Design Tips

John Morana is president of MaxEffect Yellow Page Ad Design and has specialized in print advertising design for over 3 decades. He has developed print advertising for Bausch & Lomb, Kodak, Time Warner Communications, Xerox, USA Today and thousands of Yellow Page advertisers around the world. For more tips and quick answers to your Yellow Page ad design questions OR to request a free, no-obligation Yellow Page ad design evaluation: Call toll-free 800-726-7006 or visit www max-effect com