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DuctTapeMarketing.com
Aug 24, 2004
In this issue:
Featured Resource - Refer A Friend
and get a Fr~ee Report
Featured Tip - How to Turn Yellow Into
Gold - John Jantsch
Featured Reading - Selling the Invisible - Harry Beckwith
Featured Listening - Too Long In the
Wasteland - James McMurtry
Stop
Wishing For
Referral Business and Start Generating a Flood of New Business With Over
50 Proven
Referral Marketing Systems?
If you want to generate more referral business, then you need to
seriously consider this ultimate guide to referral marketing.
Referral Flood is a 118-page manual and workbook, over 4 hours of audio
CD training, and a toolbox of referral marketing tools including
letters, postcards, referral cards, and other referral marketing tools.
Thanks
for subscribing - John
Featured Resource - Recommend this
newsletter!
Fr~ee Report
reveals - How To Create a Killer Small Business Marketing System in 7
Simple Steps
Share Your Duct Tape Marketing Newsletter - Refer a friend to this
newsletter and I will give you a copy of the jam packed marketing report listed
above - just for suggesting this newsletter to your friends. My
refer-a-friend page does all the work for you. I really love writing
this newsletter and, if you find it useful, why not share it with others.
Pick-up your fr~ee report
Featured Tip
How to Turn Yellow To Gold
Effective Yellow Pages Advertising can
be a powerful lead generator
By John Jantsch
It's that time of year again for many of you
isn't it. You know, the Yellow Pages ad reps are knocking at your door.
Read this article and may actually be able to get real benefit from your
Yellow Pages ad.
Yellow Page advertising is a unique animal. On one hand, placing
an ad in the local Yellow Pages makes complete sense. Unlike
someone thumbing through a magazine, most people who pick-up the
Yellow Pages are looking to buy.
On the other hand, when they turn to your section, they are immediately
greeted with the ads of most of your competitors right there along side
your ad.
To end the debate right here I will state without hesitation that most
businesses can benefit greatly from effective Yellow Page advertising,
not in spite of the situation described above, but because of it.
You see, most Yellow Pages ads are completely wasted. I would challenge
you to pick any category and flip to it. What you will find are bunch of
ads that might as well say, "We don't do
anything different than anyone else, but here's our phone number so you
can call and ask for a quote."
It's no wonder I run across scores of business owners who complain they
never get any results with their Yellow Pages Ads.
So why are Yellow Page ads so bad?
Most end up being designed by the Yellow Page ad sales folks who
basically tell you that you need a bigger ad, with a border, with color
with, your name big and bold at the top...or
You go look in the Yellow Pages and you see a big ad, with a border,
with color and a big fat logo at the top and you copy it.
Go ahead, pull out the yellow pages and you'll see what I mean.
Here's the deal.
The Yellow Pages can be a great tool for most businesses. As I stated
before, when people reach for the Yellow Pages they are motivated and
often ready to buy or find a business to visit.
Here's how to make sure that your Yellow Pages investment pays off.
Use a headline
This is an ad. You are trying to get someone to read your ad and
understand how you are different from the 234 other businesses that do
what you do listed right there on the same
page. Since the Yellow Pages offers your reader a host of choices for
every category (essentially all of your competitors) you must stand out.
Grab them with an effective headline.
"Discover the Worlds Most Comfortable Mattress"
Relax and enjoy soothing music while you bounce, poke, and feel your way
to sleeping heaven in our entertaining showroom
Who wouldn't want to call that company? Don't use up the most valuable
space in the ad to give your company name and logo. People go the Yellow
Pages because they don't know whom to call. Give them a reason to call
you. Use that space at the top of the ad to stand out. Once you draw
them in, they will find your name.
Make them an offer - The point is to generate a lead with your ad
not necessarily a sale
Use your ad and your headline to offer a free report, offer a reason to
call, or communicate how you are different from the rest. If you don't
do this one thing in your ad, the calls you will get from your ad will
all be price shoppers.
"FREE Report - 10 Proven methods to more restful nights and energetic
days"
Remember, this is a very competitive environment; give them a reason to
call you.
List Benefits
Not features--Benefits. 100% No Questions Ask Guarantee. Free set-up. We
recycle your old mattress for your. Delivered to your door when it's
convenient for you.
Too many ads say things like quality work, in business over 29 years,
family owned. These may all be nice things but they don't get at the
heart of what your prospects want.
Call them to action
Make sure that all of your contact information--email, address, fax,
store hours, location--you name it, are easy to find.
Ad Size Can Matter
Don't waste a fortune on your ad. Make sure that it is big enough to
stand out in the category. You don't need to dominate with size when you
have a headline and a compelling offer. Ask
your sales rep where a certain size ad would rank you in the category
(biggest ads run first) and go from there. Aim for a great ad that is
middle of the road size wise.
Besides your ad will stand out now anyway.
Test your ad
One of the real downsides to a Yellow Pages ad is that, once you stick
your ad in the book, it's there for 12 months without any way to change
it.
Well in advance of your ad deadline, design two or three different ads
and run them in a newspaper that fits your target market. Carefully
track the success of each ad and then run the winner in the permanent
book. (Just running an ad that pulled well in a newspaper will make your
ad standout from the crowd)
By far the best resource I have located on
Yellow Page Advertising is a web site called
YellowPageProfit.com. This is the
work of a full time Yellow Pages consultant and the examples and guides
featured are right in line with the advice I give in this article. If
you
want a short cut to using the Yellow Pages to generating leads this is a
great resource
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John Jantsch is a marketing coach and the author of Referral Flood -
How
to create a flood of new business without spending one dime on
advertising. You can get more information at
www.ReferralFlood.com or by
sending a blank email to
subscribe@ducttapemarketing.com
Featured
Resource
Selling
the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
This is one of my favorite marketing books and really one of the most
popular books on the subject. Beckwith takes little nuggets and gives
sound advice that is right on the money. He has written an entire series
of books around this topic but this is still the best.
Featured Listening and Such
Too Long In the Wasteland - James
McMurtry
A Texas Bob Dylan is about the best way to describe McMurtry (other than
the fact that his dad is one heck of a writer - Lonesome Dove, Terms of
Endearment) This is his first album and I still like it the best. Every
single song makes you sit back and think.
"I hadn't intended to bend the rules, but whiskey don't make liars, it
just makes fools. So I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said."
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