Yellow pages
- Thread starter CleanEvo
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Ron Werner
Member
depends on your target market and how much you have to spend/mth
also how much you want to compete in the yp's
also how much you want to compete in the yp's
G
Guest
Guest
YP's still have worth but will be virtually extinct in a few years. So go slow but push quality!
bob vawter
Grassy Knoller
YP is lik CRACK....you NEED to get your customer base witin 5 years at the most.....then get OFF !
Chris Muetterties
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,652
"we fix discount carpet cleaning"
This lets the price shoppers know before they call
This lets the price shoppers know before they call
Bob Foster
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2006
- Messages
- 8,870
Aris I don't think you are over buying for that size of market but you do tile and grout work and that differentiates you a lot from most of the crowd. I would make sure that is there strongly.
Another thing is make sure your phone number is big so when people are glancing back and forth between their phone and the open phone book page that their eyes can easily "anchor" on your phone number.
Be prepared for the price shoppers.
Another thing is make sure your phone number is big so when people are glancing back and forth between their phone and the open phone book page that their eyes can easily "anchor" on your phone number.
Be prepared for the price shoppers.
rhyde
Member
you need at least a full page in every book in your area double up adds if you really want to be successful.
i guarantee the results or it's free....... :roll:
i guarantee the results or it's free....... :roll:
Ron Werner
Member
I concur with Bob, be prepared for a LOT of price shoppers, esp if you are targeting "anyone" that wants carpets cleaned.
I have a simple info box, and I get a couple dozen calls a month, -moveouts. They waste my time and my money on the phone. Thats why I went a little overboard in the BBB directory, I guarantee if I had that line in the YP I would never get a moveout call!!! I'm thinking of doing that to. Might tweak it down a little :wink:
I have a simple info box, and I get a couple dozen calls a month, -moveouts. They waste my time and my money on the phone. Thats why I went a little overboard in the BBB directory, I guarantee if I had that line in the YP I would never get a moveout call!!! I'm thinking of doing that to. Might tweak it down a little :wink:
Thanks guys...it's a tough decision, do I go big and possibly waste huge $$$, or stay conservative and see what happens?
Anymore great Ideas for a slogan or catch phrase???
The tough thing about YP is you are committed for the year, no changes. It's not like postcards or coupons!
Anymore great Ideas for a slogan or catch phrase???
The tough thing about YP is you are committed for the year, no changes. It's not like postcards or coupons!
Mikey P
Administrator
The Christian Fish has always worked well for me.
Numero Uno
Member
I got to get in them some decade?
You have to have a target audience when doing YP's. Any target is better than no target. Decide who your customer is and then target a few of their needs.
Price shoppers only want one thing....THE lowest price possible. This is not the market you want to talk to.
Most people want value and the most bang for their buck. They are looking in the YP because they either don't know of any CC'ers that they can call or they need a special service. Always ask yourself, "Why is this person calling me and what are his/her needs." Only then will you be able to understand their situation and be able to solve their problems.
Here's some key words that I think can make your ad stand out from the rest.....methodical, slow, careful, considerate, experienced, high quality results, exceeding expectations, fantastic service.
Can you offer same day service? Do you work evenings and/ or weekends? If you have a web site put up before & after pics so people can see your work.
"No discounts or coupons....our prices reflect the time and effort I put into every job."
"I guarantee you WILL find most carpet cleaner's prices lower than our's....and there is a very good reason why!!"
"Results so good even my mom is happy."
"I believe in going above and beyond....not nickel and dime."
'Life is too short to spend it living with dirty carpets."
Price shoppers only want one thing....THE lowest price possible. This is not the market you want to talk to.
Most people want value and the most bang for their buck. They are looking in the YP because they either don't know of any CC'ers that they can call or they need a special service. Always ask yourself, "Why is this person calling me and what are his/her needs." Only then will you be able to understand their situation and be able to solve their problems.
Here's some key words that I think can make your ad stand out from the rest.....methodical, slow, careful, considerate, experienced, high quality results, exceeding expectations, fantastic service.
Can you offer same day service? Do you work evenings and/ or weekends? If you have a web site put up before & after pics so people can see your work.
"No discounts or coupons....our prices reflect the time and effort I put into every job."
"I guarantee you WILL find most carpet cleaner's prices lower than our's....and there is a very good reason why!!"
"Results so good even my mom is happy."
"I believe in going above and beyond....not nickel and dime."
'Life is too short to spend it living with dirty carpets."
rhyde
Member
Mikey P said:
Mike, you need my new marketing package!
danpauselius
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,325
If you are targeting "everyone" then you are actually targeting "no one". Hop over to the marketing room and get to readin'. You should be able to find many tips that will save you money in the long run, especially with YP.
alazo1
Member
I'd probably call other similiar companies in the book and ask if they're happy with it. Really try to negotiate to be in their web portion of it. Over here it's yellowpages.com. It can really boost your searches.
Albert
Albert
G
Guest
Guest
In our experience, anyway, YP's didn't generate any more price shoppers than any of our other advertising. It doesn't have to. Price shoppers are price-driven and most YP ads don't advertise price.
If you look in most any directory you'll find a few very nice, professional ads, and a lot of not-so-nice ads, and a few in between. Doesn't it make sense that the more professional an ad looks in relation the competition, the more expensive that company is also going to look in relation to your competition? It makes sense a price-shopper without a coupon will end up in the phone book. Just MHO, but I'd bet an ad that makes a company look "not cheap" ought to discourage many of the price-shoppers from calling.
I wouldn't focus on size as much as I would placement. Most directories place advertisers by size from oldest to newest. Look at the current directory and take your best guess where you'll be based on the size of the ad. We like to be as close to the front as we can afford, but we don't necessarily have to be first. If there's only one half page ad I'd rather be the second half page ad than last full-page ad. You end up in the same general area for half the price. If there are only a handful of full and half-page ads I'd want to know where a quarter page ad is gonna put me and so on.
Look at the mix of color and black and white ads. If everyone is color, will black and white make you stand out more? It's not always what you'd expect.
It's a guessing game. Your rep might be able to help but I doubt it. Most of the sales reps we've worked with said whatever they thought we wanted to hear. Gena spent hours agonizing over size, placement and all of that but her hard work paid off.
Here's an interesting observation. Look at these pics. How much effort and imagination went into this carpet cleaner's ad,
compared to this ad encouraging people to use the YP's,
Or, this cleaner's ad,
compared to this "use us" YP one,
Or, this,
to this one,
or these,
or these,
Sad, ain't it? Why do they put so much effort into their own sales ads and only the minimum into their advertisers?
Do yourself a favor and hire someone to create your ad. I'm sure there are plenty of talented artists close by, and you might even be lucky enough to find someone with experience placing ads.
Personally, I like emotional hooks directed at women. Pics of kids, babies, families, smiles, warm fuzzy stuff and humor. Tout your benefits, a strong guarantee, find ways to put perspective clients at ease. A pic of you, and your staff if you've got any, is a good thing, too. Again, I'd hire a professional. They know how to pose you and the lighting is always correct. Even those places at the mall can do a good job for not a whole lot of money. Make sure they'll give you the pics on CD.
A lot of folks don't like YP advertising. I didn't either for a long time. I told the wife it wasn't any good when she insisted we give it a whirl. We got into several directories. Some worked well, some bombed, Overall, though, once we got our heads around it YP's turned out to be some of the best advertising money we spent.
If you look in most any directory you'll find a few very nice, professional ads, and a lot of not-so-nice ads, and a few in between. Doesn't it make sense that the more professional an ad looks in relation the competition, the more expensive that company is also going to look in relation to your competition? It makes sense a price-shopper without a coupon will end up in the phone book. Just MHO, but I'd bet an ad that makes a company look "not cheap" ought to discourage many of the price-shoppers from calling.
I wouldn't focus on size as much as I would placement. Most directories place advertisers by size from oldest to newest. Look at the current directory and take your best guess where you'll be based on the size of the ad. We like to be as close to the front as we can afford, but we don't necessarily have to be first. If there's only one half page ad I'd rather be the second half page ad than last full-page ad. You end up in the same general area for half the price. If there are only a handful of full and half-page ads I'd want to know where a quarter page ad is gonna put me and so on.
Look at the mix of color and black and white ads. If everyone is color, will black and white make you stand out more? It's not always what you'd expect.
It's a guessing game. Your rep might be able to help but I doubt it. Most of the sales reps we've worked with said whatever they thought we wanted to hear. Gena spent hours agonizing over size, placement and all of that but her hard work paid off.
Here's an interesting observation. Look at these pics. How much effort and imagination went into this carpet cleaner's ad,
compared to this ad encouraging people to use the YP's,
Or, this cleaner's ad,
compared to this "use us" YP one,
Or, this,
to this one,
or these,
or these,
Sad, ain't it? Why do they put so much effort into their own sales ads and only the minimum into their advertisers?
Do yourself a favor and hire someone to create your ad. I'm sure there are plenty of talented artists close by, and you might even be lucky enough to find someone with experience placing ads.
Personally, I like emotional hooks directed at women. Pics of kids, babies, families, smiles, warm fuzzy stuff and humor. Tout your benefits, a strong guarantee, find ways to put perspective clients at ease. A pic of you, and your staff if you've got any, is a good thing, too. Again, I'd hire a professional. They know how to pose you and the lighting is always correct. Even those places at the mall can do a good job for not a whole lot of money. Make sure they'll give you the pics on CD.
A lot of folks don't like YP advertising. I didn't either for a long time. I told the wife it wasn't any good when she insisted we give it a whirl. We got into several directories. Some worked well, some bombed, Overall, though, once we got our heads around it YP's turned out to be some of the best advertising money we spent.
steve g
Member
CleanEvolve said:
here is my experience, I did a 1/4 page ad the first year I had the business, they where spot on saying the ad would produce about 70 calls a month, only problem is half solicitors the other half where price shoppers, the ad cost me 750 a month and only generated about $350 in business, pretty much the biggest waste of advertising dollars I ever spent, fortunately I put the ad on a market expansion phone line, which allowed me to monitor how many calls I was getting and ultimately cancel the ad alltogether, I stongly recommend the market expansion so you can bail on the ad if its not working for you, also if you haven't already, tell them you want a free full color upgrade, those guys can work with you a little if you muscle them. also IMO I think you should try a full or half page I think 1/4 is too small, but you situation may not be right for it
Contemporary Carpet Clean
Member
yella pages
figure what the desired sized ad will cost you a month...example add costs 1200 bucks a month....you will need to at least need to do 1500 to 1700 bucks to break even. I would consider break even a plus. Break even would be the plus if you can please 90% of those customers and those customers call you year after year and or refer you to friends and family. However if your minimum job is 75 to 100 bucks you would need to do at least 17-20 minimum jobs a month to attempt to break even. When we look to investing/advertising for the biz we look at the numbers. Just another way to look at what size add will most fit your needs and buget. I would say for a brand new biz YP is the way to go b/c no one throws away a YP until the next years edition comes out. Billboards last a month, flyer's a day or two, cold calls lead to hang ups.
figure what the desired sized ad will cost you a month...example add costs 1200 bucks a month....you will need to at least need to do 1500 to 1700 bucks to break even. I would consider break even a plus. Break even would be the plus if you can please 90% of those customers and those customers call you year after year and or refer you to friends and family. However if your minimum job is 75 to 100 bucks you would need to do at least 17-20 minimum jobs a month to attempt to break even. When we look to investing/advertising for the biz we look at the numbers. Just another way to look at what size add will most fit your needs and buget. I would say for a brand new biz YP is the way to go b/c no one throws away a YP until the next years edition comes out. Billboards last a month, flyer's a day or two, cold calls lead to hang ups.
Bruce Humphrey
Member
And dont forget that your phone book rep is going to lie cheat and steal just to get what he/she wants from you. They know the lingo and have all the inflatted stats and they will be more then glad to tell you those stats over and over and over and over until they get it drilled into your head.
Another point- yellow page salespeople work on commission. The more they sell you, the bigger their paycheck.
What do you think they are going to tell you- bigger is better, which cost more.
Where do you think their loyalty lies? Your business or theirs?
Gary
What do you think they are going to tell you- bigger is better, which cost more.
Where do you think their loyalty lies? Your business or theirs?
Gary
rhyde
Member
when i first started i had the same YP sales person 2-3 years in a row in the last 5 years or so every year it's been a different sales person every year which tells me it's high pressure and or not profitable for sales people. The little charts and graphs they show are meaningless..infact i think it's a lie one year i asked for copies of the distribution info the rep was pitching me with ..the deer in the headlights look was priceless.
We have adds in a couple books yellow book, TW but not DEX they've priced themselves out of the market.
We have adds in a couple books yellow book, TW but not DEX they've priced themselves out of the market.
i have allways thought its not that you put an ad in the YP. its whats in the AD you put there. the YP guy could say all he likes. I know people use the phone book, i dont need to be sold on that fact. i just need a decent ad to get people who do look to buy
Royal Man
Member
Why compete where all the other cleaners are at? It's much better to market where there is no other competition and where you can advertise for FREE!!!
diamond brian
Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 973
Hi Aris. Obviously, Wayne went to a lot of trouble to give you great info. Others did as well.
Remember, YOU control what type of customer will call you. A $9.95/rm ad will make the phone ring off the wall. A whole-house special ad does well for some of my competitors.
Currently, I run no prices in the YP. Just a clean, straight-forward ad which I hope will lead the prospect to the phone or to my website for more info. I market credibility, honesty, and unpolished professionalism. It works. I'll never have a 50 truck operation, but it works.
Remember, YOU control what type of customer will call you. A $9.95/rm ad will make the phone ring off the wall. A whole-house special ad does well for some of my competitors.
Currently, I run no prices in the YP. Just a clean, straight-forward ad which I hope will lead the prospect to the phone or to my website for more info. I market credibility, honesty, and unpolished professionalism. It works. I'll never have a 50 truck operation, but it works.
John Buxton
Member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 710
we have to learn for ourselves. Just remember you are signing a ONE YEAR contract. More business fail due to cash flow, than anything else.
I'd say start small.
I'd say start small.
