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An Amazing Secret That Can Make Your Newspaper and Yellow Pages Advertising 750% More Profitable! April / May 1998 Could that be true? Absolutely! I have been using the little known secrets for my own direct marketing company and for several companies I coach in business . . . and . . . the effect on their bottom lines has been nothing short of amazing! My intention was honourable! It was to have this newsletter finished and delivered to you somewhat earlier than has eventuated, however a spontaneous decision to fly to the United States to follow up on some business and to attend a Dan Kennedy conference, put this issue on hold. I aim to compensate by turning what was to be two newsletters into one. This edition covers the nitty gritty of newspaper advertising (a specific art) and has been extended to include what was originally intended for a newsletter of it’s own - the equally powerful ‘craft’ of writing Yellow Pages ads. The results I have achieved from both newspaper and Yellow Pages advertising, by using the simple but powerful strategies given in the following pages, speak volumes for themselves. It’s true, those results have indeed been nothing short of amazing! The trip to The United States? Fantastic and I plan to share some wonderful insights and experiences I had whilst there, in the next issue. Now, settle in for a quiet, focused read. I suggest you also perhaps pick up a copy of the Yellow Pages and have a ‘flick through’ as you read this newsletter. Though much of what I talk about will strike you as common sense, there will be points I make which stretch you a little. Well, it must be time to venture out of the ‘comfort zone’. Lets face it, your ad in the paper or in the yellow pages costs the same, whether it pulls one sale or 100. So, how do you make it pull like crazy and . . . why don’t the ad agencies or the Yellow Pages gurus explain this stuff to you - they don’t know about it and they don’t know how. If you think I am exaggerated just stop reading for a moment and take enough time to call your current ad agency (or any ad agency in the phone book) and ask them to do it. Then compare the information in the rest of this newsletter with the garbage you just heard on the phone. But, so what? You didn’t subscribe to this newsletter to learn my opinion of ad agencies, did you? So let’s get to the heart of it. Listen: it has often been said that the three most important factors in choosing investment real estate (1) location (2) location and, (3) location. I think that’s probably true. And when it comes to running ads in newspapers, a similar precept needs to be held in mind. Namely that the most important factor is … POSITION! POSITION! POSITION! Hark unto me. The #1 reason people don’t respond to a newspaper ad is because they don’t see it! Daily newspapers are huge. Many of them are several hundred pages thick. In fact, a recent edition of the Sunday Times contained 395 pages! Wow! You sure could get lost in there, couldn’t you? Now look, if you ask a normal advertising guy where the best position to run your ad in the paper would be, he would probably reply by asking what it is you are selling. Then, if it’s a sporting goods item you’re selling, he’d suggest that you run your ad in the sport’s section. If your ad is for an astrology book, he’d tell you to run it in the horoscope section. A cook book in the food section and so on. He will also probably tell you that you should try to get a right hand page as far forward in the paper as possible. Actually all this is sort of true. But it’s a dangerous sort of truth. It can lead to disaster. Would you like to know what most advertising guys remind me of? It’s this: They remind me of a guy who’s had three or four karate lessons. And what has such a guy just learned? He’s learned just enough to get himself beaten to a pulp should he ever foolishly decide to darken the door of a bar on the tough side of town. Here is a list of the priorities of most ad agencies: Media commissions And here is what your priorities are: STOP!!!! Do not spend money on any advertising or marketing ideas, strategies, medias, You may remember that I advocate that the people of Australia sort through their mail while standing over the wastepaper basket? Here’s something else for you to keep in mind. As soon as the people of Australia sit down to peruse their A man may ask his wife for the sports pages. The wife might zero in on the food section. Their children may ask for comics. Entrepreneurs will turn to the business section. Gossip mongers may go for the society pages, and so on. But nobody reads the entire paper. In fact, hardly anybody even opens up more than two or three sections. Think about it, do you? So what does all this mean on a practical basis? This: It means that the very best place your ad can be for maximum visibility (and hence maximum readership), is on the front page of a section! And the second best place? It’s the back page of a section. Here’s why. You see, even though most people don’t read or even open up every section, most people at least touch every section. They might touch it for no other reason than to pick it up and pass it to someone else or throw it away. And while they are handling each section, they are forced to at least glance at the front pages of those sections and (to a lesser degree) at the back pages of them. And, of course while they are glancing at those pages should they happen to see an eye catching ad, with a ‘killer’ headline, they just might read a couple of paragraphs to see what it is all about. And, if those first couple of paragraphs are really good, then they will likely read the rest of the ad. And if all that happens, who knows … maybe you’ll get an order or a phone call! So you should be aware of this! Your first job is not to get your customer to read your ad, It’s just common sense. An ad that appears on the inside of the sports page will be seen by everybody who reads the sports section. However if that same ad appears on the front or back of any section it will be seen not only by sports fans, but also by nearly everybody who handles the paper. I know. I know. You think I’m making an awfully big deal over this point, don’t you? Well, I suppose I am. But I’m not about to apologise. Believe it or not, as simple as it seems, you have just learned the numero uno secret which is: Run your ad on the front or back of a section! So much for numero uno. Now for numero duo. In a nutshell, my second biggest secret is: Make your ad look like a news story! Don’t make it look like an ad. Don’t use line art. Don’t use arrows, cute graphics, reverse type, (except maybe to highlight a phone number), weird typesets . . . Or anything else that might win an award for graphic design! Come closer. Listen: here is how to think about your newspaper ads. Think about what could be the best possible piece of luck you could have. Think about the reporter who heard a rumour about your product or service and decided to check it out. And then he fell in love with it. In fact he loved it so much, he went back to his PC and wrote a full page rave article about what you are selling. Wouldn’t that be great? But it’s unlikely to happen just like that, So . . . You be that reporter! You write the ‘rave’ article just like a reporter would. And at the end of the article, you perform a ‘public service’ for your readers by telling them where and how to order. Having done all this, please don’t waste it all by having your ‘article’ typeset to look like an ad. No. No! It should be typeset to look like the article it is. You know, ad agencies just love to quote studies that prove how much people love to read advertising. Rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish! Editorial material (or material that appears to be editorial) gets 500% more readership than material that is obviously advertising. If you don’t believe me, just flick through the pages of your newspaper and take notice of where you eyes are drawn. Not the to ads, I’ll wager. Now, for a cunning, highly scientific examination of daily newspapers to reveal another piece of strategic information . . . which is: Newspapers all come folded in half - particularly on the Eastern seaboard and I am told our local newspapers in the West are going this way too. So now you can be ahead of the pack when this happens. And another newsflash! Expect to have a choice of newspapers to buy, in the not too distant future. The West (newspaper) is gearing up and so is the Sunday Times, to produce papers in each other’s time slots. So if it’s the top half they glance at, fine! Because that’s where your headline is. And we know what a headline is . . . An ad for your ad! But wait. What if our reader, while separating their paper into sections, does it in such a way that they have only to glance at the bottom half of each section? Where there is no headline! No ad for your ad! Oh-oh! What now? Well, what you need to do here is to make sure the bottom half of your ad has several sub-heads (little ads for your ad) interspersed between paragraphs and printed in bold type. Anything else? Yes! If you aim to make newspaper advertising work for you, then you must buy your ad space well. This is a real art and trust me, there are no ad agencies (even the big ones) who really know how to do it, or would want to, for that matter, because they are most often paid commission on the ads they place. Here is a letter I wrote recently, to 10 of the largest newspapers in Australia. The results I achieved with this letter will shock you . . . and I’ll tell you what they were after you’ve read the letter. “Attention: Display & Feature Advertising Department Hi, my name is Mal Emery. I own a Mail Order company here in Western Australia. The attached bromide is of the ad which is run weekly in the Western Australian Newspaper and Sunday Times in WA. We have tested and modified this ad which has been run for over the last 12 months. We have also advertised throughout Australia in the TV Guide magazines and in the general and feature sections of the following newspapers: The Herald Sun, The Sunday Mail, The Courier Mail and The Sunday Telegraph. Our advertisement and copy have proved to be very successful, in fact over the past 7 months, we have sold over 8,000 copies of our product, Australia wide. None of the above publications have ever expressed any concern about our product, nor their dealings with us. The purpose of this letter is to benefit us mutually; your newspaper by utilising unused space and us in finding a viable distribution method for our product. For advertising to work for us, we must have some profit to justify the high expense of advertising. Please keep this ad with the attached cheque for $1,000 and if you do have unsold space in any of your next (4) four issues, run the ad and cash my cheque. If, on the other hand you do not have space available within the next month, or you do not wish to retain this ad on a stand-by basis, please return the uncashed cheque in the enclosed, pre-addressed envelope. You may be aware that advertising is the most expensive part of the mail order process It seems to us that the stand-by method has the potential to benefit both your newspaper and us. Regards, The ad we sent usually costs between $3,000 and $4,000 to run in the major newspapers and at that price it is not viable to do so. But at $1,000 . . . this is what happens: At last count 40% (that’s 4 newspapers) have agreed to run it and the rest have returned my cheques uncashed. Some, in fact, have suggested other discount rates that would ‘work for them’. Of the four who agreed, since writing this article, two have run it and this is the result: Total turnover to date $14,341.70 I would spend $2,000 till the cows come home to make $7,500 . . . but here is the killer. I have sent another cheque for $1,000 to each of them because they have agreed to run it again! WOW! And as I write, one paper is preparing to run my ad this Sunday (24th May ’98) with the other running it on 7th June. Now we have created a money making machine that works without me. And of course there are still the other newspapers who are yet to run it. So, here is a summary of the secrets that have helped me to transform the results I achieve (and my clients achieve) with newspaper advertising . Try to run your full page ads on either the front or the back of a section. Make your ad look like an article. Pepper your ad with sub-heads, especially the lower half (that half which appears below the fold) of the ad. Buy cheap Include a photo that relates to the copy. Write a Bold Headline and put it at the top of your ad: - most people put the name of their company - this is not the White Pages telephone book, it’s the Yellow Pages and what we want is people to choose us when they’re looking for someone to do business with. Write lots of copy - your ad can never be to long, only too boring. And write about the benefits your client will enjoy by doing business with you. What’s in it for them - (WIIFT) (3) Make it look like an editorial. (4) Include bullet points, testimonials from happy clients, and a photo of yourself or your front person. Use a white background, black print and red spot colour. (6) Yes, the size of your ad will multiply your response by 4 times. By the way if your Yellow Pages rep tells you your headline is too big, there’s too much copy and not enough yellow space and you need to put your company name on the top . . . that’s great, you’ve got a winning ad, then! Why You Cannot Listen to the Yellow Pages Reps or “Copycat” and achieve exceptional results. Firstly, the job of the Rep is to extract as much money from you as possible and there is no guarantee that their objectives are the same as yours, ie: best possible return on investment. Secondly, all they know about, is traditional advertising, NOT direct response advertising. And since direct response type ads very rarely appear in this media, the Reps do not understand them and assume they are “bad ads” insisted upon by misguided advertisers. Instead the Reps will tend to direct you into “copycatting” what most other Yellow Pages advertisers do … which is a guaranteed path to mediocrity, to ‘average’ results. Size! Unlike any other advertising media, all advertisers are limited to the same maximum size; no matter how much bigger or richer your biggest competitor is, the biggest ad he can buy is a full page. So the playing field is restricted and relatively fair. This means that if you choose to go with a big ad, you will automatically appear as “big” as any other advertiser, to your prospects. Look at two of the big ads in your Yellow Pages directory - can you tell by looking which is the bigger, more successful company? No. One could be the largest international conglomerate in the category, the other could be a one-man operation, and you can’t tell which is which. This plus favourable position, are the two most often voiced arguments for buying a big / biggest ad, and they have validity. And there is sufficient statistical and case study evidence to satisfy me that in general, (On this page is a chart which illustrates this disproportionate gain). However, here’s the caveat: Bigger / Biggest size only works to your greatest advantage when you If everything you have to say about your business fits on a business card, just enlarging that to fill a full page is a lousy investment. And to add to this point, you do NOT need the biggest ad to win big.
The Most Important Thing You Need To Know Your logo, your company name, those things that are recognised easily by your customers, are of minimal importance in Yellow Pages advertising. Using your business name as the ad’s headline, for example, is a complete, utter and ignorant waste of space. Here’s why: FACT #1: 60% of those who consult a category in the Yellow Pages, have NO company in mind. The are not looking for a name they already know. They are completely open-minded. They are there to be sold. FACT #2: Of the 40% who do know a business in that category, 1/3 are willing to be swayed from the one they already know about to a different one. In total, 6 out of 10 are fair game for you. FACT #3: You will not attract / convince these 6 out of 10 with your name, logo, or cute slogan. WARNING: Some experts, including some Yellow Pages Reps will advise you against mentioning service, guarantees, warranties, etc. and will advise sticking just to ‘basic facts’ (the same ones everybody else provides), such as location, hours, phone number, etc. This is very, very bad advice. They are creating an over sized business card; you are supposed to be creating an ad. Talk to 6 out of 10 “in search of” someone to trust and tell them why they should choose you versus all the other advertisers. The Most Powerful “Secret Weapon” Of The Yellow Pages Advertiser In all other types of advertising, most pro’s acknowledge that 70% of the battle is won or lost with the headline. Yet, incredibly, unbelievably, 99% of all Yellow Pages ads, do not have a headline! (They replace it with the business name, a cross-street location or nothing at all.) When you put a benefit-driven, attention getting headline on a Yellow Pages ad, If you want more information on headlines, contact my office. I have a book called “The 300 Best Headlines Ever Written”, which sells for $19.95. You have my permission to adapt your headline from these proven winners. I also have another product called “How to Get Bigger Results With Your Yellow Pages Advertising”. This is valued at $95 and if you want it, I’ll include the headline report free. Just call my office on 1 800 685 155. This ad proved to be a bonanza. The phones ring constantly with people using the Yellow Pages to find a car to rent. It appears on page 464 A-K in the Western Australian Yellow Pages. And one final point: would you like to know how to get more mileage out of this newsletter? It’s simple. After you’ve read it once for yourself, read it again aloud to someone else. You’ll be surprised how this little trick will make the info and insights come alive and how it will have a synergistic effect and spark a lot of ideas. I wish you creative satisfaction and rocketing profits in creating your own spectacular marketing and advertising campaigns. PS. Next month’s issue will include the single most compelling reason people choose you to do business with. Know and understand this and you “enter the winner’s circle” every time. You will be shocked and amazed at how simple it will be to change your results over night. (I promise). PPS Some of you will know that I have recently returned from The States. While I was there I picked up a little strategy that’s getting a 300% lift in the marketing results for almost any business. You will read more about this in the following issue |
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