Are Bigger Ads Better?
Yes, ad size definitely matters but you can waste a small
fortune buying more than you should. All things being
equal a bigger ad does get a greater response. They
also get the best placement, which is toward the front of your
category. Sometimes placement can be even more important
than size. The good news is that all things are seldom
equal. Your ad, which may not be the biggest, or sitting
right up front, can be just as effective, or even more
effective than a gigantic ad at the front of the heading.
The first thing to do is have your rep show you where you
would be placed based the current book and on the size of the ad you're
considering. This should give you a good idea about your
relative position. Determine if you can move up a little
by making your ad the next size bigger without a big jump
in cost or move back a little by reducing your ad size
without a significant shift in placement but a reduction
in cost.
How do you Determine the Best Size of Your Ad?
Remember, all things being equal, a larger ad will
increase its pulling power by a larger percentage than its
added cost. Suppose you currently run a simple listing and
get X responses. If you went to the smallest available
"display" ad (1/16th page), you should get 13X responses
for only a few times the cost.
If you further increase its size to a 1/8th of a page,
your cost will less than double, but you'll pull another 5X the response. If
you go from a 1/8th page to a 1/4th page, your cost less
than doubles again, and your response should jump by
another 3X. Increasing a 1/4 page ad to a 1/2 page ad
brings in another 3X response, again for less than twice
the cost.
So going from a 1/16 page all the way to a 1/2 page
results in less than a 8 times increase in cost compared
to a 45X increase in response! Frankly, that sounds like
quite a bargain.
These numbers are based on merely increasing the size of
the ad, not changing it in any other way.
Should I Use Color?
This question is always one of the first asked by
small business people. The response is always, "yes." Color
is eye-catching and draws the readers attention to the
ad. Studies show that color ads get more attention.
Color ads will run about 25% more than the non-color price
but color ads can have a significant impact. While people
will call a business based on the content of the yellow page
advertisement, photos and color in the ad will draw
attention to and support the
content. The first step is to get the content right, even if its not in
color, but if you want to enjoy an advantage over all your
yellow page competitors use color.
How should I track the Success of my Yellow Page
Ad?
Do you know what percentage of your business currently
comes in through the Yellow Pages? If you know how well
your current ads and listings are working, you can make
informed decisions about next year's program.
Track your ads. Ask your customers if they found you in
the yellow pages. If you have multiple ads under different
headings or listings or even in different directories you
may want to ask them, "What page of the phone book did you
find our number on?" The book will probably be right in
front of them. The page number will tell you which
directory and which listing section.
If you advertise in multiple yellow pages consider using
separate phone numbers. Develop a call log to keep track
of the calls that come from the different ads. This will
allow you to have data from which to decide whether it's
advantageous to be in more than one yellow page book.
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