Big Yellow Makes Me Smile

Members of the ISP-Marketing list share tips about what to do—and what to avoid doing—with ads in the local telephone directory. It's an idea that appeals to many small businesses.

[March 15, 2001]

On the ISP-Marketing list in February, CS queried,

"I am getting ready to run our first yellow pages display ad: we're going to run a sixth of a page in color. Does anyone have any advice?"

A number of respondents shared the lessons they'd learned:

[AK noted] "This last year was our first year advertising in the local yellow pages, and we found it quite successful. We went with a simple, small display ad, single color. Our local area is serviced by two separate phone books. From what the reps told us, it's close to 50% readership for each book. This last year we only advertised in one of the books; this next year, we have a very simple, bold listing in the second book to test the waters."

[BH offered] "Don't use reverse printing (light on dark): it's harder to read. Use the KISS principle: keep it simple, stupid. Don't mention price: it could change. Focus on your strengths. Don't get cluttered. Leave plenty of white space: it looks neater and is easier to read. Be sure to clearly include your phone number and URL: I have seen ads where you had to search for the phone number. And buy an ad that is larger than your main competitor's."

PW had a problem with BH's last piece of advice:

"If you buy an ad larger than your main competitor's in every yellow page directory available, you will have no budget left to do 'real' advertising. The yellow pages is a reference tool, not an advertising medium, despite what the reps will tell you. Your money will go a lot farther using almost any other medium."

[AK agreed] "One of our competitors spent way more than we did on their ad, and they soon went out of business. From what we've learned, it's not the size of your ad, but how attention-grabbing it is."

Others recommended some ways to decide where to put your money:

[CF advised] "My approach is to run small ads everywhere. If they give results, you get proportionate results to your expenditure. If they don't, you haven't spend a wad on bad advertising. For instance, we have run one-line bold ads in the yellow pages, and now are running up to four-inch ads on a special program in the yellow pages. But we never run half-page or full-page ads."

[BH suggested] "If you do a display ad, try inserting a different referral code in each book. Offer a special deal so the customers will use the referral code and you can track the results."

[PW responded] "That's an excellent idea, though it's too bad the lead times on yellow pages are so far out. It'll be 2002 before I'll be able to implement anything like this and begin tracking."

—End