Yellow Pages Advertising: Is Hiring A

A question for the ages...

If the Yellow Pages design department will design an ad for free, who in their right mind would spend hundreds or thousands of dollars with someone else... right?

Well, ...no.

Of course it's not that simple.

If hiring a professional designer is a consideration for your business,you probably realize something very important about the free option that's available to you.

"SOMETIMES YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR."

Can the Yellow Pages design an effective ad for you? Of course they can.

They design hundreds or thousands of ads every single year for their advertisers. Some do okay. Then again... some don't.

Think about this: The Yellow Pages design a majority of the ads in their directory. So if they design your ad, and the ad of 6 of your competitors, who gets the best one? It's anyone's guess. But you will receive no special attention, that's for sure.

In a medium that's as competitive as the Yellow Pages, allowing the design department to take control is not a risk many business owners are willing to take.

Simply stated, cookie-cutter ads get mediocre results, and NO ONE spending that kind of money wants mediocrity.

THERE ARE OPTIONS...

First of all, the Yellow Pages designer will do what you tell them. For the most part, anyway.

If you find yourself a kick-butt graphic and send it to them, they'll use it. If you tell them you want your headline to read, "L.A.'s Premiere Hair Salon 6 Years Running!" they'll do it.

You can have the Yellow Pages "design" your ad while you still maintain control of the content. For many advertisers, this is the best option. There isn't a person on the planet who knows your customers as well as you do. And no one cares more about your success than you.

The time spent learning what techniques work in the Yellow Pages, and the effort you put forth to developing that content will pay you extraordinary dividends when your ad begins to run.

Plus, it enables you to develop an ad that will stand out from the competition, while getting the your Yellow Pages publisher to design it for free.

That said... you still might want to consider hiring a professional.

The expense can be significant (from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per ad - generally varying by ad size), but considering the amount of new business that an effective ad can generate - the expense is often offset by a much larger increase in new business.

It's also well justified considering the high costs of Yellow Pages advertising. If your company is spending an arm and a leg to run an ad, you want to make sure you get it right.

WARNING: YELLOW PAGES AD DESIGNERS ARE NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL...

There's a big difference between great design and effective Yellow Pages Advertising design.

The Yellow Pages is different than just about any other medium out there.

What works in the newspaper... what looks great in a magazine... is often a far cry from what works in the Yellow Pages. Are you looking for an award winning ad design, or an ad that gets results?

What success in the Yellow Pages boils down to is ad content (the information you choose to include in your ad), not design. Is looking good a good thing? Of course it is.

But your ad's ability to make a prospect prefer your business - over all of the others - is what puts cash in your pocket.

Unfortunately, there are many companies offering design services who design a Yellow Pages ad like they would any other. So make sure you're dealing with an expert in Yellow Pages Ad CONTENT... not just design!

DESIGN AND MARKETING ARE TWO DIFFERENT MONKEYS, TRUST ME.

For any company that you consider - ask to see ad samples. If the company name and logo take the place of a real, attention-grabbing headline... if a "laundry-list" of products or services offered dominates the ad... if there's no compelling call to action... keep looking.

Your ad appearance - AND - your ad content need to differentiate you from your competition, and each will contribute to success in a different way.

If the person developing your ad understands that - whether that's you or a professional designer - you're investment should generate glorious returns for your business!