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Add You - Are You Making These Nine Fatal Mistakes in Your Yellow Pages Ads?
Last week I got hit face on with a family crisis that took me away from my work time, disabled part of my prep time, and my writing hours took a major shift, however… I still managed to get the important stuff done. I realized from my notes, that my process of getting it all done, was probably different than ‘the norm’ and I probably should share the process with other home executives who need to ‘get it all done’ amid the daily crisis that take over our lives.Time management is a primary need on a daily basis, and when life takes over, how we manage our time often determines the end result of any financial plan that we have set in motion. While finances may not be a prime concern at all times, for most of us, it’s enough of a concern that we must keep that ball in the air. Knowing how to manage your time so that financial constraints and work gets done is a definite plus.Follow these steps and your important work will get done, and you’ll be able to manage the rest.1. Know your priorities.When you know what you really must do to keep your business moving forward, you’ve got a head start on an emergency. You can often delegate those duties to others, or even hire out responsibilities that you can’t keep up with yourself. If you must do them yourself, knowing what actually has to be done, helps you get it done in a timely manner.2. Stay ahead of the game.Staying a week or more ahead of your deadlines, helps you to manage when a crisis appears on the horizon. Those heart ripping deadlines that keep you bouncing between them, often take more out of you than you realize, particularly when the deadline looms and a crisis strikes. Keep your work done ahead, don’t over schedule your time, and schedule delivery at least a week after you plan to complete a job.3. Have a Crisis Plan.
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to d
As your small business grows, you’ll discover that the more employees you hire, the more help you need with personnel issues. By the time you’re ready to establish a position or department for managing human resources concerns, it’s past time to consider a human resources policy. The idea of “policies” make some small business owners cringe, but the hiring and management of individuals other than yourself will bring a wealth of unanticipated needs. Considering the development of such policies could sound daunting, as well, but once you put a plan into place, the process can be more streamlined. Your plan should include research, room for growth, and presentation. Start with these fundamentals and you’ll be well on your way.One of the first pieces of research you’ll want to undertake should be to governmental resources. Local, state and national resources are available for business owners and because there are non-negotiable legal matters, you’ll want to address labor law compliance, immediately. Once you’re familiar with the laws for your type of business, your geographical region, and the number of employees, you can move on to other industry-related resources to provide guidance in developing additional policies.Consider, too, the best way to package the contents leaving room for expansion. Let’s say you have a simple policy concerning employee attire. But you know better than to solidify that area; trends change, and ultimately you could be faced with work-appropriate dress code issues you never imagined. Has your policy been written with room for flexibility? Is there room to reword or even add additional outlined parts to your dress code? You may be glad later.Having begun drafting, now consider how you’ll make that information available to your employees. Some companies create a manual which c
The good news is that people who look you up in the Yellow Pages are very serious buyers. They need what you sell right now. So, when they contact you, you are in for a very short buying cycle. And that is a great advantage. However, this advantage comes at a price tag and a pretty high level of commitment from your end. The good news is that...
Some 97% of the Yellow Pages Ads Are Duds
Just look up the YP in any category. All the ads look exactly the same. No difference. Not a sausage. You can shift the company names between ads and you see that they all do the same thing the same way. There is no differentiation. They are like teenagers: They so desperately try to be different from everyone else that they end up looking and behaving exactly the same way as everyone else. Hm.
So, where is the problem with all those YP ads? The Book of Boredom, Yawn and Drab: Are You Making These Nine Fatal Mistakes in Your Yellow Pages Ads?
Apart from the major downside of the Yellow Pages, that it is nipplepiercingly expensive, it is still a bottomachingly brilliant vehicle to take your marketing message to your target audience. Well, some people think, the YP is on its way out, and I totally agree, but I believe it has a few more years of marching to do until it completely vanishes into thin air or even into a puff of smoke.
The good news is that people who look you up in the Yellow Pages are very serious buyers. They need what you sell right now. So, when they contact you, you are in for a very short buying cycle. And that is a great advantage. However, this advantage comes at a price tag and a pretty high level of commitment from your end. The good news is that...
Some 97% of the Yellow Pages Ads Are Duds
Just look up the YP in any category. All the ads look exactly the same. No difference. Not a sausage. You can shift the company names between ads and you see that they all do the same thing the same way. There is no differentiation. They are like teenagers: They so desperately try to be different from everyone else that they end up looking and behaving exactly the same way as everyone else. Hm.
So, where is the problem with all those YP ads?
First Let's Look at Some YP Stats
The Yellow Pages reach 76% of the population in the average month, 57% in the average week, and 17% daily. Adults refer to the Yellow Pages almost twice per week, or approximately 19 billion times per year.
88% of these references result in contact with a purchase or an intent to purchase.
Because the Yellow Pages is a reference medium, like classified ads in newspapers, providing over 50% of new clients.
52% of potential clients either have no service provider in mind, or have multiple names in mind when they see your Yellow Pages ad. Your ad can clarify one name for them: Yours.
The average business gets $6 in profit for every $1 invested in Yellow Pages advertising. With a good ad you can even beat that. But be aware of average. When the average temperature in a hospital is normal, it can also mean that half of the patients suffer from high fever and the other half are dead. The YP is the same. Some people make huge profits on their ads, and some curse the name of the person who invented the Yellow Pages. The interesting thing is that the idiots volunteer to lose on their ads rather than hiring a Yellow Pages specialist.
The average cost of half page Yellow Pages display ad for one full year is over $15,000, so you had better know what you are doing.
81% of YP readers (potential clients) start at the beginning of the heading when they don't have a business name in mind.
66% of readers believe that a larger display ad indicates a more established, more realizable business. 70% look at the larger ads when they are not sure where to buy.
20% of readers want to see more information. Can you see why you need a website?
81% of readers make contact with the advertising business.
34% will contact a company they had never contacted before. How good are you at handling first contacts? Is your receptionist a minimum-wage bimbo from the bottom of the unemployment scum barrel or a true professional with the necessary communications skills? Also, I sincerely hope that you have something better than a "corporate voice mail labyrinth".
42% of people will contact two or more businesses. Remember the receptionist syndrome. Your receptionist brings you business. I don't care how good of a lawyer, engineer or gravedigger you are. Everything hinges on your receptionist. So, start appreciating and paying her properly. Believe it or not, she carries major "bankrupting power" over your business.
For readers with both small and large directories in their homes, 38% will use the small book, 62% will use the large book, and 8% will reference multiple books. Maybe the lower cost of the small, local book is a good deal after all. There are over 4200 active headings in the yellow pages, and YP can create your own heading for you if needed. So, let's look at...
Ten Typical Yellow Pages Mistakes and They Can Be Avoided
1. Failing to do the necessary pre-placement planning: Typically when do business owners plan their Yellow Pages ads? Actually never, until they get a call from the YP rep, and they hand over their money to the rep and say they blindly trust the Yellow Pages' ad specialists to create the ad. Keep something in mind. The Yellow Pages doesn't care whether or not you make any business from your ad. With this in mind, what is the logic for the YP company to hire expensive ad specialists? Increasing overhead costs? No.
They will create an ad that looks exactly the same as all your competitors', so but your chance of being selected when potential buyers peruse your category is not much. So, what to include in your pre-placement planning?
Some are... What results do you want to achieve from your ad?
What is your Most Wanted Action? (Action you want your prospects to take?
What proportion of your business do you expect to come from YP?
Who is your target market?
What is your biggest primary and secondary benefit?
Do you have an offer both for "Ready to Buy" prospects and for prospects who are looking for more information?
Which directories do you put your ad in?
2. Imitating the competition: Most YP advertisers are like teenagers: In their efforts of looking unique, they look exactly the same. Again, what happens when a business' YP ad comes up for renewal? The ad must be in within ten minutes, so the job gets dumped on a people who have never done advertising in their lives. They look up YP, copy one of the competitors' ads and place them. And retarded business owners all over the world fork out their hard-earned money for some braindead "me too" type ads. Here are the typical ways businesses imitate each other:
The headline is replaced with the company name or logo.
Benefits are replaced with product description. Hint: If you sell drills, advertise amazing holes, not drills. If you are a realtor, advertise quality of life not houses.
Hours of business and location
Company's slogan or mission
"We take all credit cards"
And the normal reaction to all this rubbish is: "So what!?"
3. Failing to place ads under multiple categories: Most YP advertisers try to save money by placing their ads into one category only. The poor creatures spend a small fortune on their ads, but refuse to spend the extra few dollars to make sure they get maximum results.
4. Writing an ad that pleases you, while ignoring the buyer's self-interest: Most ads are "me" based: "Look what I want to sell you". They don't care about what buyers want to buy. Which only proves that so many companies totally don't understand their target markets and what they want. Just think of the hole and drill example. Don't get me wrong. I don't suggest extensive and expensive market research, but there are some cost-effective ways of testing the marketplace.
Just think about it. If you want to jump into the swimming pool, you just have to check it for water and temperature, and you are ready to swim at your heart's content. But you don't need to hire a team of experts to launch a full-blown research project on swimming pools, the science of concrete pouring and fluid dynamics. That's retarded but that what most companies do under the aegis of market research. Hint: How many people do you know who "research" their spouses before marrying them?
Don't waste your time and money researching the market. You will never get the true answers to your research. Instead of research, just keep testing the market. Then you find the true answer. You see Edison didn't research the light bulb. He tested his ideas over and over again, and then it worked out.
Before you place your YP, use some small ads in the local paper, or even better, use Google AdWords. Google can be your most trusted friend when it comes to testing your headlines and call for action.
5. Failing to consider the five main components of the ad.
1) A kick-butt compelling headline: The headline is the ad for the ad. The headline alone can increase or reduce response rate by as much as 2100%. When you write your ad, you have to spend at least 80% of your time on the headline.
2) Attractive benefits: No one cares what kind of cleaning agents you use in your carpet cleaning business. To succeed, you must promote cleanliness. Without this, even if your headline catches their attention, the ad itself fails to keep their interest.
3) A sexy offer: After the benefits, you must offer a very specific offer. Personally I prefer to direct YP reader to the website where a free Special Report or some other free offer waits for them. But they have to put in their names and email addresses. This approach has never failed.
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to do
Bake sales and car washes have always been the fund raising standards when it comes to fund raising events of old. Today youth groups, churches, and other organizations are looking for more creative ways to raise money for their needs. This article will look at some unique cookie dough fund raising events that have a bit if a twist to them.By now many people are aware of cookie dough fund raising. It has been a very successful method for raising a few hundred dollars for an event over traditional bake sale fundraising. With the growing need to raise more and more funds you need to be a little more creative by using a similar, but different cookie dough fund raising idea.Instead of selling chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookie dough you could make up ten different recipes that go with chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookie dough. Then sell the recipes along with the cookie dough. This should help increase the value of your cooking dough fund raising efforts.A great cookie dough fund raising idea for youth groups is to have the cookie dough delivered to each persons home and then you have several youth help bake the cookies, and have a party at various people’s homes. This will add more value to the initial sale and raise more money too.The final way to make more money with a cookie dough fund raising event would be to make pet or dog cookie dough. No one ever said that you must make people cookie dough. Pet lovers love to spoil their pets and will often pay much more for cookie dough and a possible recipe. Many people may not have even heard of anyone selling cookie dough for pets and dogs.You could take this one step further and try thinking of other types of cookie dough lovers. The ideas should be endless as to the creative
42% of people will contact two or more businesses. Remember the receptionist syndrome. Your receptionist brings you business. I don't care how good of a lawyer, engineer or gravedigger you are. Everything hinges on your receptionist. So, start appreciating and paying her properly. Believe it or not, she carries major "bankrupting power" over your business.
For readers with both small and large directories in their homes, 38% will use the small book, 62% will use the large book, and 8% will reference multiple books. Maybe the lower cost of the small, local book is a good deal after all. There are over 4200 active headings in the yellow pages, and YP can create your own heading for you if needed. So, let's look at...
Ten Typical Yellow Pages Mistakes and They Can Be Avoided
1. Failing to do the necessary pre-placement planning: Typically when do business owners plan their Yellow Pages ads? Actually never, until they get a call from the YP rep, and they hand over their money to the rep and say they blindly trust the Yellow Pages' ad specialists to create the ad. Keep something in mind. The Yellow Pages doesn't care whether or not you make any business from your ad. With this in mind, what is the logic for the YP company to hire expensive ad specialists? Increasing overhead costs? No.
They will create an ad that looks exactly the same as all your competitors', so but your chance of being selected when potential buyers peruse your category is not much. So, what to include in your pre-placement planning?
Some are... What results do you want to achieve from your ad?
What is your Most Wanted Action? (Action you want your prospects to take?
What proportion of your business do you expect to come from YP?
Who is your target market?
What is your biggest primary and secondary benefit?
Do you have an offer both for "Ready to Buy" prospects and for prospects who are looking for more information?
Which directories do you put your ad in?
2. Imitating the competition: Most YP advertisers are like teenagers: In their efforts of looking unique, they look exactly the same. Again, what happens when a business' YP ad comes up for renewal? The ad must be in within ten minutes, so the job gets dumped on a people who have never done advertising in their lives. They look up YP, copy one of the competitors' ads and place them. And retarded business owners all over the world fork out their hard-earned money for some braindead "me too" type ads. Here are the typical ways businesses imitate each other:
The headline is replaced with the company name or logo.
Benefits are replaced with product description. Hint: If you sell drills, advertise amazing holes, not drills. If you are a realtor, advertise quality of life not houses.
Hours of business and location
Company's slogan or mission
"We take all credit cards"
And the normal reaction to all this rubbish is: "So what!?"
3. Failing to place ads under multiple categories: Most YP advertisers try to save money by placing their ads into one category only. The poor creatures spend a small fortune on their ads, but refuse to spend the extra few dollars to make sure they get maximum results.
4. Writing an ad that pleases you, while ignoring the buyer's self-interest: Most ads are "me" based: "Look what I want to sell you". They don't care about what buyers want to buy. Which only proves that so many companies totally don't understand their target markets and what they want. Just think of the hole and drill example. Don't get me wrong. I don't suggest extensive and expensive market research, but there are some cost-effective ways of testing the marketplace.
Just think about it. If you want to jump into the swimming pool, you just have to check it for water and temperature, and you are ready to swim at your heart's content. But you don't need to hire a team of experts to launch a full-blown research project on swimming pools, the science of concrete pouring and fluid dynamics. That's retarded but that what most companies do under the aegis of market research. Hint: How many people do you know who "research" their spouses before marrying them?
Don't waste your time and money researching the market. You will never get the true answers to your research. Instead of research, just keep testing the market. Then you find the true answer. You see Edison didn't research the light bulb. He tested his ideas over and over again, and then it worked out.
Before you place your YP, use some small ads in the local paper, or even better, use Google AdWords. Google can be your most trusted friend when it comes to testing your headlines and call for action.
5. Failing to consider the five main components of the ad.
1) A kick-butt compelling headline: The headline is the ad for the ad. The headline alone can increase or reduce response rate by as much as 2100%. When you write your ad, you have to spend at least 80% of your time on the headline.
2) Attractive benefits: No one cares what kind of cleaning agents you use in your carpet cleaning business. To succeed, you must promote cleanliness. Without this, even if your headline catches their attention, the ad itself fails to keep their interest.
3) A sexy offer: After the benefits, you must offer a very specific offer. Personally I prefer to direct YP reader to the website where a free Special Report or some other free offer waits for them. But they have to put in their names and email addresses. This approach has never failed.
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to d
So you want to sell drugs and make a lot of money? And you want to drive a nice car while selling drugs without getting arrested? Well, there’s a way that you can, legally! Of course we are not talking about dealing with any illegal or illicit drugs here. We are referring to a career as a professional drug representative for one of the many pharmaceutical companies out there.Most pharmaceutical companies have sales forces of men and women who are professional drug representatives. They are highly trained individuals with expert knowledge on various pharmaceutical drugs, human physiology and sales techniques. They have to be as the main customer groups they deal with everyday are educated healthcare professionals like physicians, nurses and pharmacists.The role of drug representatives, or drug reps as they are sometimes called, is to promote the use of their company’s pharmaceutical products to healthcare professionals. It is up to drug reps to keep physicians up to date on all the benefits of prescribing their drugs. Drug representatives also make sure that local pharmacies are adequately stocked of their company’s drugs products so when prescriptions come in, they can be filled.What is somewhat hidden from the general public is that the pharmaceutical industry is quite competitive as drug representatives from different companies are all trying to get physicians to prescribe their products. It’s a form of sales in a high level corporate type of way.One can easily identify who the drug reps are when going through hospitals or medical clinics. They will be the smartly dressed individuals carrying brief cases that contain information as well as drug samples for the doctors.Successful drug representatives can make very good money with overall financial packages up to six figures.
For readers with both small and large directories in their homes, 38% will use the small book, 62% will use the large book, and 8% will reference multiple books. Maybe the lower cost of the small, local book is a good deal after all. There are over 4200 active headings in the yellow pages, and YP can create your own heading for you if needed. So, let's look at...
Ten Typical Yellow Pages Mistakes and They Can Be Avoided
1. Failing to do the necessary pre-placement planning: Typically when do business owners plan their Yellow Pages ads? Actually never, until they get a call from the YP rep, and they hand over their money to the rep and say they blindly trust the Yellow Pages' ad specialists to create the ad. Keep something in mind. The Yellow Pages doesn't care whether or not you make any business from your ad. With this in mind, what is the logic for the YP company to hire expensive ad specialists? Increasing overhead costs? No.
They will create an ad that looks exactly the same as all your competitors', so but your chance of being selected when potential buyers peruse your category is not much. So, what to include in your pre-placement planning?
Some are... What results do you want to achieve from your ad?
What is your Most Wanted Action? (Action you want your prospects to take?
What proportion of your business do you expect to come from YP?
Who is your target market?
What is your biggest primary and secondary benefit?
Do you have an offer both for "Ready to Buy" prospects and for prospects who are looking for more information?
Which directories do you put your ad in?
2. Imitating the competition: Most YP advertisers are like teenagers: In their efforts of looking unique, they look exactly the same. Again, what happens when a business' YP ad comes up for renewal? The ad must be in within ten minutes, so the job gets dumped on a people who have never done advertising in their lives. They look up YP, copy one of the competitors' ads and place them. And retarded business owners all over the world fork out their hard-earned money for some braindead "me too" type ads. Here are the typical ways businesses imitate each other:
The headline is replaced with the company name or logo.
Benefits are replaced with product description. Hint: If you sell drills, advertise amazing holes, not drills. If you are a realtor, advertise quality of life not houses.
Hours of business and location
Company's slogan or mission
"We take all credit cards"
And the normal reaction to all this rubbish is: "So what!?"
3. Failing to place ads under multiple categories: Most YP advertisers try to save money by placing their ads into one category only. The poor creatures spend a small fortune on their ads, but refuse to spend the extra few dollars to make sure they get maximum results.
4. Writing an ad that pleases you, while ignoring the buyer's self-interest: Most ads are "me" based: "Look what I want to sell you". They don't care about what buyers want to buy. Which only proves that so many companies totally don't understand their target markets and what they want. Just think of the hole and drill example. Don't get me wrong. I don't suggest extensive and expensive market research, but there are some cost-effective ways of testing the marketplace.
Just think about it. If you want to jump into the swimming pool, you just have to check it for water and temperature, and you are ready to swim at your heart's content. But you don't need to hire a team of experts to launch a full-blown research project on swimming pools, the science of concrete pouring and fluid dynamics. That's retarded but that what most companies do under the aegis of market research. Hint: How many people do you know who "research" their spouses before marrying them?
Don't waste your time and money researching the market. You will never get the true answers to your research. Instead of research, just keep testing the market. Then you find the true answer. You see Edison didn't research the light bulb. He tested his ideas over and over again, and then it worked out.
Before you place your YP, use some small ads in the local paper, or even better, use Google AdWords. Google can be your most trusted friend when it comes to testing your headlines and call for action.
5. Failing to consider the five main components of the ad.
1) A kick-butt compelling headline: The headline is the ad for the ad. The headline alone can increase or reduce response rate by as much as 2100%. When you write your ad, you have to spend at least 80% of your time on the headline.
2) Attractive benefits: No one cares what kind of cleaning agents you use in your carpet cleaning business. To succeed, you must promote cleanliness. Without this, even if your headline catches their attention, the ad itself fails to keep their interest.
3) A sexy offer: After the benefits, you must offer a very specific offer. Personally I prefer to direct YP reader to the website where a free Special Report or some other free offer waits for them. But they have to put in their names and email addresses. This approach has never failed.
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to d
Okay so I do a lot of research; have traveled afar and obviously I have something to say. Ah; “Rants from Lance” indeed. Yes in fact it is over do but it is time; It is Soap Box time; I Read an interesting article today about the fact that 80% of all penalties for employment withholding costs were fined to small businesses with under ten employees. Probably because when the large companies were small they were fined and learned along the way, as they got bigger to outsource employment tasks or hire attorneys to slow down the investigating agencies. I say this fact has made a market niche for employment agencies and taken another fee from the laborers.For instance many of our franchisees have hired employees through temporary or employment agencies because of the time involved in accounting and penalties from an anti-small business group of regulators and a huge employment government agency in many states. Which attack businesses to justify their own existence. Interestingly enough these government agencies burn up half of all monies collected in administration. Those unemployment agencies need to charge more fines to stay in business, now they have more output and accusations amongst laid off workers fly and these agencies investigate even though most claims are false and lies from disgruntled, low out put employees who want something for nothing.For instance I can call up the unemployment board of nearly any state and without any proof can make up a charge and they will go investigate it. Similar to the FTC which I know first hand does, having attacked my company based on false complaints and declarations coming from competitors. They are criminals at the FTC, well, at least the case-worker in our deal. The FTC has industry coordinators for various sectors within their once great Kennedy organization,
And the normal reaction to all this rubbish is: "So what!?"
3. Failing to place ads under multiple categories: Most YP advertisers try to save money by placing their ads into one category only. The poor creatures spend a small fortune on their ads, but refuse to spend the extra few dollars to make sure they get maximum results.
4. Writing an ad that pleases you, while ignoring the buyer's self-interest: Most ads are "me" based: "Look what I want to sell you". They don't care about what buyers want to buy. Which only proves that so many companies totally don't understand their target markets and what they want. Just think of the hole and drill example. Don't get me wrong. I don't suggest extensive and expensive market research, but there are some cost-effective ways of testing the marketplace.
Just think about it. If you want to jump into the swimming pool, you just have to check it for water and temperature, and you are ready to swim at your heart's content. But you don't need to hire a team of experts to launch a full-blown research project on swimming pools, the science of concrete pouring and fluid dynamics. That's retarded but that what most companies do under the aegis of market research. Hint: How many people do you know who "research" their spouses before marrying them?
Don't waste your time and money researching the market. You will never get the true answers to your research. Instead of research, just keep testing the market. Then you find the true answer. You see Edison didn't research the light bulb. He tested his ideas over and over again, and then it worked out.
Before you place your YP, use some small ads in the local paper, or even better, use Google AdWords. Google can be your most trusted friend when it comes to testing your headlines and call for action.
5. Failing to consider the five main components of the ad.
1) A kick-butt compelling headline: The headline is the ad for the ad. The headline alone can increase or reduce response rate by as much as 2100%. When you write your ad, you have to spend at least 80% of your time on the headline.
2) Attractive benefits: No one cares what kind of cleaning agents you use in your carpet cleaning business. To succeed, you must promote cleanliness. Without this, even if your headline catches their attention, the ad itself fails to keep their interest.
3) A sexy offer: After the benefits, you must offer a very specific offer. Personally I prefer to direct YP reader to the website where a free Special Report or some other free offer waits for them. But they have to put in their names and email addresses. This approach has never failed.
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to d
Do you sometimes feel that all your time is focused on dealing with problem employees? It seems that when you're not addressing performance or discipline issues, you're creating new policies, procedures, and work rules that are geared to correct the bottom 10% of your workforce. In all my years in consulting, working with large organizations and small, I regularly hear this from executives who are totally exasperated by both employee issues and the inability to focus on anything else.But how do you know when enough is enough? What barometers can you use to determine whether you’ve hit a wall and need to get some expert help? Here’s a quick quiz:1. When recruiting, are you finding that the people coming through the door are not qualified to do the job?2. When a new hire starts working, do you sometimes wonder: “Is this the same person I interviewed for the job?”3. Are your employees not learning the job as fast as you need them to?4. Are your supervisors ill equipped to manage their employees?5. Are you losing top performers because you haven’t been able to provide them enough challenge?6. Do you often wonder what the heck your employees are thinking?7. Do you find that increases in wages do not result in any increase in productivity?8. Do conducting performance appraisals seem to create more problems than they’re worth?9. Do injured workers seem to stay out of work longer than you think they should?10. Do you often wonder if some employees are even going to show up for work?11. Does it seem like your turning over people at a faster rate than you can replace them?12. Is it sometimes easier to do the job yourself rather than try to train someone to do it?13. Do you often hear “it’s not my job”?14. Do you struggle to
4) Call for action: This is a huge problem. Most ads are lame and don't ask readers to take any kind of action. Make sure you ask for a very specific action. Remember, your ad's job is to generate sales leads and sales. If your ad doesn't generate new business, it is dead, and you have just lost your money.
5) Appropriate contact information: Put in all the appropriate contact points where you can be reached.
6. Failing to position your company as a trusted resource: You have two options here: Either you compete with other advertisers by peddling your stuff, or position yourself as helpful resource and offer relevant information to aid your buyer's decision. Yes, most prospects who look you up in YP are "Ready to Buy" buyers, but it is still a nice and unique touch to offer some relevant information - and I am not talking about brochures or this kind of nonsense. I mean some valuable stuff, like a Special Report or Consumer's Guide. Imagine. Every ad in your section is screaming, "Give me your money". But you say, "We have valuable information for you that can save you time or money. For a free report, "Ten Deadly Mistakes Accountants Make When Handling Their Own Taxes" call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit our website at www.xxxx.com." Now this is an attractive proposition.
With this approach your ad stands out like a trombonist in a heavy metal band. You make your ad different. You create a predisposition towards your company. You position yourself as the expert of the category. It makes you unique for you alone are doing it.
7. Failing to use other lead generation channels: The biggest problem is that you peg your future on one single channel of lead generation. It is like a one-legged table. While standing, it is fine, but when it collapses, then years and years of hard work can go down the toilet.
In order to get a steady stream of qualified sales leads, you need at least four channels of lead generation. One is your YP ad, but you need more, and I suggest that one channel is a properly structured website. I say properly structure because some 98% of all websites out there are total failures as lead generation channels.
All right. Some people say they have no intention to use their websites to bring in business. Then what is the point in having an expense in your business that is not producing? Would you have employees in your company who openly brag about their unwillingness to do any work? That is plain retarded.
8. Telling prospects they can find you in YP: Why would you direct your prospects to a competitive minefield that is riddled with ads (many of them are much better than yours) from your competitors who are desperate to see you out of business and starve to death, knowing that will give them more business? This may sound drastic, and it is. But this is the reality. Yes, your ad is in YP but you lose all of your advantages because all your competitors are promoting the same advantages. Your ad just blends into the competitive environment. Instead of guiding prospects to the Yellow Pages, guide them to your website. That is your home turf with no competition.
9. Failing to track responses. Over the years of writing Yellow Pages ads and organising campaigns for clients I have seen this over and over again. And do you know where this logic comes from. From large ad agencies that try to convince their clients that ads can't be traced and tracked, and that clients just have to fork out the dough and then fly blind. Originally I studied engineering, so for me everything must be traceable and trackable, and this habit has served me nicely over the years. Just figure out how to track your responses and don't believe the ad agencies. Hey, have you thought why most ad agencies use door-to-door peddlers to sell their services? Maybe because they are pretty lousy at advertising their own stuff and they have to resort to traditional prospecting grunt work. Just a thought really...
So, we have covered some ground here. Make sure you implement these nine points in your Yellow Pages ads, and you will see a big difference.
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