Don’t think twice about this: You need to be in the Yellow Pagesjust to let people know you’re a legitimate business and to makethem more “comfortable” about calling you, especially if theyhaven’t done business with you before. People who are “flimflamartists” don’t list themselves in the phone book where they can betracked down. So you must be listed in the Yellow Pages just tohelp prove your legitimacy.
The unfortunate part of advertising there is that when acustomer looks up a topic, rather than your specific business name,they’re treated to a display of the listings and ads of all yourcompetitors, some of whom will provide a larger range of productsor services or who are in a more convenient location than you.
When it comes to the Yellow Pages, size does matter! Accurate ornot, the size of your Yellow Pages display ad may directly impactthe perception of your business–and its size–in the mind of yourcustomers. A competitor’s half- or full-page ad that runs next toyour business-card-size ad gives a subconscious impression that thebusiness with the larger ad is the better–and more established–ofthe two.
Like a lot of other advertising mediums, the cost of your addepends on where you advertise, the ad size, and under how manyheadings you want the ad to be listed. In the United States, thereare more than 8,000 Yellow Pages directories published by suchcompanies as Verizon, SBC, Bell South, Yellow Book, RH Donnelleyand Sprint, all with different rates.
If you can afford to spend the many thousands of dollars itcosts to purchase a Yellow Pages display ad, by all means, do so.And if you’re going to be in that arena with a display ad, you’llhopefully be able to afford something substantial to avoid beingseen as a peanut. Like politicians who need to be the biggest,strongest personality in any room, your ad needs to be one of thebig ones if that’s how you want your business perceived and if youwant to beat your competitors out of the call.
If you can’t afford to run a decent-sized Yellow Pages ad inwhatever book you choose (look at your competitors’ ads and see ifyou can match or come close to matching the sizes they have), it’sbest to use a simple line-ad listing in that section to legitimizeyour business. And these are free–though for a few more dollars,you can put it in bold rather than regular typeface, which willhelp it stand out. Then, in your radio, TV or print ads, you cansay, “See our listing in the white pages,” where you’ll also belisted, to keep customers from seeing your competitors’ ads in theYellow Pages.
Your Yellow Pages display ads can be paid for monthly, ratherthan all at once for your one-year contract, but that can still becost prohibitive, often wiping out the advertising budget of asmall or even midsized business, leaving no funds to pay forpromoting your business in any other medium.
In some parts of the country, there’s another choice now when itcomes to telephone directories: Yellow Book has popped up in someareas with better advertising rates than the standard Yellow Pagesdirectories, and although some people don’t care for the size andweight (they’re often larger and heavier books because they includesmaller towns that, with Yellow Pages, are published separately intheir own little directories), they offer a viable alternative.
No matter what other forms of advertising you choose to employ,Yellow Pages ads are still practically mandatory for mostbusinesses, even with more and more people going to their computersto look up information about–and directions to–local businesses.They remain one of the best ways to provide your business phonenumber and location(s) to the public.
