What is the secret to a GREAT Yellow Page Ad?  Have you wondered why some yellow page ads are an expense to the bottom line and others return 10 to 20 times their investment? 

This past week I have reviewed a number of yellow page ad critiques for my clients.  These are ads that have been unprofitable to their bottom line and are just simply a waste of money.  Here are four of the biggest issues that I have uncovered:

• Big Issue #1: No headline. Did you know that 80% or more of your ad’s effectiveness is within the headline?  The headline is "the ad for the ad" and commands an importance not approached by any other element in your ad. Your company name isn't a headline. A cartoon of a guy in a truck is not a headline. 
  
  What is a headline?

  A headline is a strong, clearly stated benefit for your prospects. Without a headline, your ad will not catch the eye of your prospect looks like every other ad. With a strong headline your company stands out and your ad will get read and your prospects will call you.  This is why your advertising isn’t it?

  A headline has to be a strong, clearly stated benefit for the customer. Without one, your ad looks just like one of the other ads in the yellow pages.  By having a strong headline, your ad suddenly stands out, gets your prospects attention and guess what… you get called.

• Big Issue #2: A bad ad layout. The Yellow pages reps job is to make sure you ad looks like every other lame ad in their book.  They will center vast blocks of text and change typestyles about every 4rd word. Don't follow their advice! 
  Many experts in human comprehension have many "don'ts" in ad copy layout such as: Don't exceed 5-7 words to a line. Never center over 3 lines in a row. Don't use smaller than 14 point type in a reverse block. Limit your headline to no more than 8-10 words. And so on. If you are not closely following these types of guidelines you are wasting your hard earned money and you are not getting the results you deserve.

• Big Issue #3: Useless dull, pointless copy and graphics.  Most of the ads that I critiqued didn’t even have one complete sentence.  Most ads were laid out in some nonsensical fashions that lead absolutely nowhere.
  The worst part is that many construction professionals continue to pay for things in ads that their prospects DO NOT see as benefits
  Photos of trucks and vans and photos of tools - unless you're selling trucks and vans or tools - don't increase traffic; all they do is cost you money. 

  Putting in your company logo "just because they fit or the rep put it in for you" is not a good idea. Logos are not complete thoughts - they're symbols - and should be treated as such. 

  Phrases such as "Call us for all your service needs" is a total waste of space. This means nothing to prospects. Same with about 6 other wildly overused phrases that the Yellow Page ad reps love for no apparent reason… other than to fill up your ads with them and charge you for their inclusion.

• Big Issue #4: There is no call to action. If you're not going to ask people to call you in some compelling way, pull your ad and save your money. There is no need, at anytime, anywhere to pay for an ad that has no call to action.  This is a huge mistake that I see made over and over.  By not including a call to action you might as well be throwing your money away.
• Big Issue #5: Wasted Space. As a genius in construction marketing; bad use of space means that you are going to get a bad return on your yellow pages investment. Pictures of trucks, or buildings, oversized multiple logos, and ridiculous and pointless phrases mean your ad is just too much trouble for a prospect to wade through. There is a logical order to all things. Your most expensive, year-long ad should certainly be among them. 

  So…What’s A Good Solution: You should create an ad that has a powerful headline.  Your ad copy needs to be “punchy”. Create a compelling call to action, and lay it out so normal human beings can actually follow it! 

  To obtain an ad critique or a quote to have your ad designed by a construction marketing professional.  You can sign-up for a FREE membership to the Association of Responsible Contractors & Construction Professionals…an association designed to make you money by helping you effectively market your construction business.