By Jeff Dostal

A universal chorus goes up from small business owners everywhere: “I hate spending money in the yellow pages, but I have to.” Do you? I don’t think so. The top three emotions used to sell space in the yellow pages are as follows:

1. FEAR OF LOSS — You are told you must have a big ad to be near the front of the category or our competition will get all your business.
2. EGO – You are told that with a big ad you will appear to be a leader in the community and your competition will see that you are a force to be reckoned with.
3. HOPE FOR GAIN – You are told that if anyone needs your service, you must hope they will find you and that having a big ad will make it easier for them to do so.

So think about your yellow page purchases. Did you or do you fall into these three traps laid out for you? The yellow pages are a directory. Not an advertising medium. Have your name listed or have a small in column listing but don’t spend hundreds and thousands of dollars a month on something that is not actively telling people why they should be doing business with you.

There are six ways consumers use the yellow pages. The top four ways involve them already knowing who they are looking for, they just need the number or location. Which means:

1. You won’t lose anyone to your competition based on the size or placement of your ad because they are not randomly looking for a business. They are looking for you.
2. You can leave your ego in check. It doesn’t matter what your competition think of you, it matters what your customers think of you.
3. People are not coming blindly to the yellow pages. They are looking for a specific business.

If you are going to spend money each month on “advertising”, do so in a way that helps you turn those consumers into customers like we show you in Marketing Firepower. Don’t stick it away in a yellow pages book.

Return to Blog Page

Tags: Yellow Pages, advertising