Companies have been branding their collateral materials such as letterhead, envelopes, business cards, etc. for years. In fact, we often identify a company by its familiar logo or special color scheme. Branding works!! At the same time, many companies send customers and vendors large files, proposals and presentations on CD-Rs. Since CD-Rs have become the “new and more efficient” way of exchanging important information, it would seem that more companies would find it valuable to brand their CD-Rs also.

Most CD-Rs purchased by businesses come from retail office supply stores. These generic CDs usually have the logo of the retail store or disc manufacturer printed on the label. So why promote the store that sells the media? Companies are missing an excellent opportunity to brand themselves in this manner!

Another positive to branding with this type of media is in the perceived value of the media itself. People tend to keep CD-Rs because they are perceived as something of value.

To make sure that you don’t miss this important branding opportunity, here is the solution! Find a CD duplication vendor who will provide your company with branded media. Yes, you too can brand your company by arranging to have your logo screen printed on each piece of blank media you purchase (ours is pictured above). Also, the quality of the media will be much higher than the media you purchased at the retail office supply store.

When artwork for your company logo is created for CD-Rs, enough room should be left on the disc to write specifics about the disc’s contents, such as version number, serial number, a date, a person’s name, etc. A process called Perfect Printing is an option for customizing this information after your company logo has been screen printed on each blank disc. The combination of your screen printed logo and the Perfect Printing of specific content will give your media a more professional look. Furthermore, anyone looking at your discs will see your company name over and over again.

So, what are you waiting for? Start branding your media today!!!

To find out more information visit on how to brand your CD-Rs visit www.spinergymedia.com.

Article by: Adam Platzer Spinergy CD Replication, CD Duplication, DVD Replication, DVD Duplication, CD Screen Printing Phone: 800-333-1428 http://www.spinergymedia.com

Let’s take an example that is easy to check: I am French. Among the readers who reacted while reading that, an half felt their painful stomach ulcers starting up again while the others remembered their burning desire for visiting France. Nothing inexplicable. If the French-haters had not been that determined, the French-lovers would never have had to be so supportive. How long would it take to a Finn or a Bulgarian to provoke any reaction?

Whoever you are, whatever your activity, there are people who dislike you. The faster you sift them, the faster you can take care of the others. It is not only a matter of business; it is also good for your personal life. To know who your foes are and where they stand will avoid you a lot of trouble.

The easiest way to separate the grain from the bran and recognize your foes? Tell the truth! Your truth is bound to shock somebody else’s. Of course, if the only truth you have to reveal is "The sky is above the roof", the results may be disappointing; though, do not take it for granted. A short research on the internet will show you how "burning" the question of the rotundity of the earth still is.

By telling your customers what you deeply think they must know, you will do them and yourself a service; if they agree, they will appreciate your opinion as well as your straightforwardness; if they disagree, either they will mill your grain: each time they will repeat your words there will be an opportunity that they reach someone you have not reached yet, or they will prevent you from wasting time with them. Allow your foes to do you this service: spending more time doing the things that get you great results. Thanks to them, you will be more successful.

The lukewarm customer is so difficult to convince that the actual purchase, if it happens! hardly pays for the trouble of selling it. The like minded and like hearted customer is already convinced. He comes to buy and he will come back if your service corresponds to what you announced. So, act and speak to freeze or to burn, never in order to smooth your way… or go back to your previous job and obey your boss.

Gabrielle Guichard is a French teacher who can be listened to on FrenchPodcasting.com.

Discovering and owning a powerful word that reflects you and your business is the true key of successful branding.

Some organisations invest fortunes in this endeavour but there’s nothing stopping any of us from doing the same at a fraction of the cost.

Today I’ll introduce you to a simple, low-cost, branding process that will magnetise your business without breaking the bank.

Our discovery begins by answering three simple questions:

* What Are You Like?

* What Do You Do?

* How Do You Do The Things You Do?

So let’s begin…

STEP #1 - What Are You Like?

Understanding your names (or nouns) can really help to trigger your imagination. If I were to ask what you’d be if you were an animal, you’d feel a certain affinity with a particular animal and quickly be able to answer… Monkey, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Bird, Fish, Dolphin etc.

If asked for your profession you’d say one or more of the following… Coach, Therapist, Consultant, Teacher, Chef, Speaker, Author, Trainer etc.

If I asked you what you’d be if you were a car you might think… Ferrari, Rover, Mini, Porsche, Maserati, Lexus, Rolls-Royce, BMW etc.

If I asked for your role you might say things like… Man, Woman, Leader, Supporter, Parent, Carer, Entrepreneur, Explorer, Protector, Guardian, Helper etc.

If I asked what thing you sold you might say… Comfort, Books, Time, Inspiration, Words, Tools, Skills etc.

Brainstorm as many of these nouns as you can - it’s good to have more than one for each category. This process will trigger all sorts of other ideas to help you to realise your unique coaching name.

Time To Write…

Read the following statements and come up with as many answers as you can for each one:

* If I were an animal I’d be…

* If I were a car I’d be…

* If I were a colour I’d be…

* If I were to announce my occupation I could say…

* If I were to announce what I had to offer I’d say…

* If I were a famous figure from history I’d be…

STEP #2 - What Do You Do?

Once you’ve got a good list of names you can start asking what you actually do. Spend a good time on this. It may seem a challenge at first to think entirely in terms of what you do so use your lists of people, animals and things for inspiration. What do they do? Here’s some ideas…

* Coaches… encourage, listen, support, reflect

* Trainers… share, instil, empower, guide, teach

* Tigers… leap, hunt, run, survive, inspire, stalk

* Birds… fly, soar, see, dive, migrate

* Leaders… lead, inspire, persuade, encourage

* Chefs… cook, create, nourish, feed etc

You’ll notice a pattern here, you’ll have created a big list of doing words (or verbs).

Time To Write…

Go through your lists and play word association by answering the question… "What does an XYZ do?" for each one.

STEP #3 - How Do You Do The Things You Do?

Once you’ve got a good list of names and doing words it’s time to add spice to the mix…

As the song goes, "T’Ain’t What You Do It’s The Way That Cha Do It"

Discovering how you do something will give your brand a lot more clout than just knowing what you are and what you do.

We use adjectives to describe how we do something, how we compare to others, what makes us unique or what makes us easy to identify. For example…

A Tiger is… big, bold, fast, fearsome, stealthy

This is good, but it’s not all, you can go further by adding adverbs if you’re struggling by linking a noun with it’s verb to see what happens. Here’s another example…

A Tiger Leaps… stealthily, quickly, decisively, smoothly

You can take the "ly" ending off most words to create more appropriate adjectives for your brand. So in this case you’d have a list of words as follows: stealthy, quick, decisive and smooth.

Time To Write…

How do people describe you and what you do?

How would you like people to describe you?

What sets you apart as different? (think about your appearance, voice, manner, style etc)

How do you do what you do? (are you slow and methodical? fast-paced and energetic?)

Now, do the same for your list of animals, cars, roles, famous figures etc until you have a really big and full list of words.

Summary

You’ve now collected all the information you need to discover your unique business identity. You may already be getting a feel for how this process can give you a lot more ways to view and describe yourself but this is just the first step…

There are two more steps covered in this F’REE eBook, which you can download immediately, entitled Find Your Power Word….

Enjoy the book and thanks for staying tuned!

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
But don’t let that get in the way of your success.
This is the ideal time to work on your business
rather than in it. Get 2 F’REE eBooks and prepare
for more success with less effort here…
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

If you are creating a brochure, make sure you follow these 9 steps to get best return on your investment:

1 Grab Attention
You need a hook that gets your audience interested. The headline or main text is your first chance to grab attention. Get the adrenaline pumping, tears flowing, or sides splitting. Spark their curiosity and they will keep reading.

2 Time and Convenience
Provide value by meeting time and convenience needs. Offer useful information that will be of immediate benefit to the reader, whether they buy or not. Provide welcome advice rather than untimely interruptions. Position yourself as the expert and build relationships before the sale.

3 Know Your Audience
It’s not about you. Your audience wants to know how they can increase their sales/efficiency. Find out what your audience needs, then offer it. Make sure you have a high You to I/We ratio.

4 Know Yourself
What is your product or service? Describe it in brief easy to understand language. Explain why you are a better choice than your competition. What is your advantage?

5 Make it Sparkle
Your brochure is a reflection of you- so make it shine. Unless you are a graphic designer- get help. A well designed brochure will get you more bang for your buck. A poorly designed brochure will waste money and actually drive people away.

6 What and How
Features tell you what is offered, benefits tell you how this is good news. Low fat is a feature, it won’t clog your life giving arteries is a benefit.

7 Be consistent
A brochure is one tool in your marketing tool box. All of your tools need to work together to reinforce the message- same look, same feel, colors, design and message.

8 Action!
Now what? Tell the reader what to do- call, visit website, buy today. Don’t you dare leave off any pertinent information like your phone number, address, website. Link your brochure to the next step in the relationship.

9 Copy Right
Your copy must grab attention, provide value, be audience centered, promote your advantage over the competition, be consistent, highlight features and benefits, have a call to action and be written in clear easy to understand language.

Michael Daehn is the founder of marketingenious consulting and author of the book The Seven Keys to Marketing Genius: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Marketing IQ available at http://www.sevenkeysmarketing.com and http://www.borders.com. Visit his website at http://www.marketingenious.com or e-mail michael@daehntrain.com.

Make A Bold Promise Then Back It Up With An Awesome Guarantee

We finished the last article with a mnemonic…

All these extra sales you’re going to make are in the B.A.G.

A Bold Promise backed up with an Awesome Guarantee

So today we’ll look at what makes a Bold Promise and the three elements of an Awesome Guarantee!

A bold promise should be something that your customer really desires and which most of your competitors would be too afraid to make. Some people use, "we won’t be beaten on price", or "lowest prices guaranteed" but being the best on price is a stupid way to position your service business anyway. So stay away from price-promises and deliver a value-promise instead. A value promise means you can charge more instead of less - leading to higher profits.

Some Sample Bold Promises…

* I will double your orders in less than 12 months

* You will get at least 5 times your investment back

* This book will help you get beach fit in 6 months

* I will remove your ISSUE/PROBLEM/PHOBIA in 1 hour

* We’ll deliver XYZ in under 60 minutes

* You’ll learn at least 5 things to increase your revenue

Now on to the awesome guarantee. There are three things that make a guarantee awesome…

1. It’s Unconditional. There should be no long list of conditions that must be met by the buyer in order to get their money back if you screw up. It should be simple and free of tricks - people should feel 100% confident that you are sincere when they buy.

2. It’s Long. Now here’s a funny thing - the longer you guarantee something for the lower your return rate. Why? Well if you give a piddly, tiny, guarantee period, people (in an effort to ensure their purchase was good) will spend that time looking for things that might be wrong. If they don’t feel time pressure, they’ll simply forget to look - after all they have all the time in the world… I recommend at least 30 days - but there’s nothing wrong with months or even years - our Lean Marketing Toolbox is guaranteed for 5 Years - and I’ve had not one return yet!

3. It Creates A "Forced Performance Effect". This one works like magic. You not only remove risk by ensuring your customer gets their money back BUT you also penalise yourself for failure. This way people get a double-whammy! Not only do you remove their risk - you reverse it entirely - meaning it’s in your interests to deliver what you promised!

Some Sample Awesome Guarantees

* You get a full refund and keep the product worth £XXX - no questions asked

* The next time you visit it’s on me!

* I’ll gladly reimburse your fee and provide your next session free

* I’ll give you a free 1 hour consultation/coaching session worth £XXX

* We’ll refund your money and give you £XX For Your Trouble

Putting It All Together…

Simply bolting an Awesome Guarantee onto a Bold Promise can sound awkward and disjointed. So your final job is to a make the promise and guarantee with one simple statement.

Some examples…

If __________________ doesn’t _______________, then _______________________

If this course doesn’t give you at least 5 new techniques for boosting sales, then I’ll reimburse your fee in full and pay for your train ticket home.

If this 6-week fitness programme doesn’t help you lose at least 2 inches from your waist size, then I’ll gladly give you your money back and a beach wear gift voucher worth £25

If after one session of my NLP spider phobia cure you still can’t hold a spider in your hand without fear, then I’ll give you your money back and provide the next session free of charge.

________________________ or _______________________________

Double your sales success rate within 6 months or you get a full, no-questions-asked refund and a free place on my next course.

Read this book and find the man/woman of your dreams in 6 months or less or tell me what went wrong and I’ll gladly buy the book back and give you a free 1 hour telephone coaching session.

Have fun with this and be creative - it’s powerful. But never promise what you can’t realistically deliver (guarantee or not) and make sure you can deliver on your awesome guarantee when someone calls you on it.

This one approach could literally transform your business and boost conversion rates beyond recognition.

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
But don’t let that get in the way of your success.
This is the ideal time to work on your business
rather than in it. Get 2 F’REE eBooks and prepare
for more success with less effort here…
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

Many home improvement contractors attempt to use advertising to expand their client base and increase profits. Whether it be yellow pages, mailers, ads, or valpak; for many it’s a total waste of time and money. Why do so many contractors achieve less than desired results from their advertising dollars? The answer: They’re doing it the wrong way!

There are two types of advertising. One is a complete waste of money. The other is highly effective, yet very few people know about it.

Brand Marketing, or "image advertising" is a total waste of money. It’s easy to recognize. This is the sort of "getting your name out there" advertising we all see everyday. It is the type of advertising that only works for companies that have millions of dollars in their budget.

The advertiser tries to relay an image about how great the company is. They use large (expensive) ads with fancy logos, graphics, and colors to try to convince the prospect that the company is more professional, stronger, more trustworthy and competent than its competitors. It tries to make people feel that this is a company they should trust to do business with.

The problem is, the focus of this advertising is all me, me, me. The advertiser is suggesting you buy from him without actually telling the prospect what’s in it for them. The essence of the sales message is "buy from me because I’m telling you I’m a great company.” Specific, compelling reasons for a person to pick up the phone and call the advertiser are never given.

Fortunately for you, most of your competition doesn’t know this, so it continues to produce this drivel.

Let your competition waste its money on "image advertising,” and instead spend yours on advertising that creates calls from people who are ready, willing, and able to hire you to remodel their homes or offices. This type of advertising is called direct response.

Direct Response Advertising

Any advertising, in any media, can be direct response. The difference between direct response and brand marketing is that direct response is designed to produce an emotional response in the customer. It directs people to take action - an immediate response. This action could be a visit, call, purchasing decision, whatever.

In contrast, institutional advertising produces an emotional appeal to the ego of the person writing the ad. It’s all me, me, me. At best, institutional advertising produces results sometime in the future (which may not arrive in time to benefit you, given today’s hyper-competitive market).

Direct response doesn’t waste time or space making empty boasts about the company. It concentrates on results now. It does this by telling a complete sales story. It is precise and compelling, focusing on your customer, not you. Furthermore, because it always makes a specific offer, its results are easily measurable and countable.

A good direct response ad contains all of the following:

1. A big, bold, powerful headline that attracts readership of the ad.

2. Interesting copy that tells the reader right up front, "what’s in it for me."

3. Benefits that are expressed clear, evocative, and specific terms, not vague generalities. Avoid unproven claims of "the best" or "number one.”

4. A specific offer.

5. A response device to respond to the offer. The prospect must be told exactly how to respond to the offer. It could be a phone call, mailing in a coupon, etc.

6. A deadline or cut-off date stated so that the prospect knows when to respond by.

If you incorporate these direct response elements into your advertising, you’ll be light years ahead of your competition. They’ll still be scratching their head, trying to figure out what you are doing while you’re fielding more leads and your profits soar.

Knowing the difference between brand marketing and direct response advertising is a key weapon in today’s ultra-competitive market. You need to make the decision: are you going to feed your ego or feed your wallet? Though it may make you feel good about your company, fancy logos, catchy slogans and "name recognition" advertising is wasteful and unprofitable. Maximize the effectiveness of your advertising dollars by creating ads that provide specific clear benefits to the customer.

Tyrell MacGregor is Managing Director of FootBridge Media, a Referral Marketing Company that specializes in client newsletter templates and website marketing solutions for home improvement contractors. Visit them at http://www.footbridgemedia.com

Make A Bold Promise Then Back It Up With An Awesome Guarantee

Once you know what problem you, your service or your business can solve or what genuine benefit you can deliver then guarantee it!

A bold promise backed up with an awesome guarantee:

* Enables You To Significantly Raise Your Price

* Gives You A Genuine Differentiator

* Increases Sales and Commitment

* Demonstrates Rock-Solid Certainty In Your Abilities - People Find This Confidence Very Attractive

If you don’t currently guarantee what you do then I bet it’s down to one of these three things…

1. You don’t really know what you do

2. You’re not convinced of your ability to deliver

3. You’re afraid of getting ripped off

So before I share the simple formula - let’s address your concerns one-by-one…

1. You don’t really know what you do

Now, I know most people think they know what they do - but experience shows time and time again that they don’t.

If you’re a consultant - you don’t really sell consulting.

If you’re a coach - you don’t really sell coaching.

Despite what you might think, people are buying the results that your coaching or consulting brings. For a marketing consultant - your client is really buying the key to - more customers (and at a higher level - more profit).

When you know this you aren’t selling consulting anymore - you’re selling the solution to the question, "How Can I Get More Clients? How Can I Make More Money?" - You’re selling the promise of more customers.

So make a bold promise…

How many more customers can you deliver? How much more money can you earn your clients?

Could you double a client’s conversion rates?

Could you make them 5 times more money than you cost?

Whatever you’re confident you can do make it a promise!

2. You’re not convinced of your ability to deliver

This one winds me up! If you aren’t convinced that you can deliver something then you should never, ever say you can. Too many people make bold promises that they aren’t willing to back up with a guarantee. Is it fair that their customers should take on all the risk? I don’t think so!

If you can’t guarantee you can do what you say you can - start saying (or doing) something else.

If it’s just a confidence thing - then I can assure you that guaranteeing what you do will soon boost your confidence and raise your game.

3. You’re afraid of getting ripped off

This one I can understand and it’s precisely the reason why you can’t afford not to offer a guarantee because guess what… Your prospective customers are also scared to death of being ripped off too and if their fears aren’t dealt with - they ain’t gonna give you their money!

Seriously though, some people are dishonest. Some people will deliberately aim to gain stuff by deception. But, thankfully, not as many as you might think. Plus, the increase in sales to genuine, honest customers will always more than compensate for the odd bad apple.

Right, back to the formula…

I said it was simple and it is. Plus there’s a handy mnemonic for you…

Think of all these extra sales you’re going to make as being in the B.A.G.

Make a Bold Promise and back it up with an Awesome Guarantee

In the next issue I’ll show you how to make a bold promise and the three elements of an Awesome Guarantee!

See you then!

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
But don’t let that get in the way of your success.
This is the ideal time to work on your business
rather than in it. Get 2 F’REE eBooks and prepare
for more success with less effort here…
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

When you spend money on an advertisement you want to get the best return possible. To do that you need to get people to STOP and LOOK at your ad.

Remember, people are busy and they’re bombarded with thousands of commercial messages every day. So the odds of them giving your ad much attention are very small unless you give them a good reason to look.

The tool you can use to get people to look is called a disruptor. It disrupts what the reader is doing so they stop and look at your ad. It’s not complicated but it is critical if you want the best results from your ads.

What can you use as a disruptor?

In print advertising the ad headline and graphic are the primary disruptors.

The key is to put something in your ad that stands out, either visually or because of the meaning the words convey.

For example, graphics that have people in them or that show activity are good for this. People’s eyes are drawn to people and activity.

To make your headline stand out you might make it clever, funny or shocking. Or you might make an offer that people find attractive. Offer something better than the competition does and you’ll get people to stop and look at your ad.

As you plan your marketing material remember this idea. Put a disruptor in your visual marketing pieces and you’ll get better results without spending more money.

Kevin Stirtz is a successful entrepreneur, writer, trainer and speaker. He is a published author of over 200 business articles and he has been featured in local, regional, national and international business publications. He currently writes a marketing column for AllBusiness.com and he is writing his second book, which is due to be published in May of 2006. He can be reached at 1-952-212-4681 or http://www.KevinStirtz.com.

Yes, yes, we’ve heard it all before… loads of life coaches, consultants and therapists are struggling to make a decent living but still stick at it because they love their job.

Want to know why nearly every coach or consultant out there will always struggle?

…if you’re one of them then you’re not going to like this one little bit…

It’s a lack of CREDIBILITY

BUT before you hit the DELETE key just bear with me…

This lack of CREDIBILITY has a cause…

lack of FOCUS.

If I have a particular thing I’d like to improve in my life or business, wrongly or rightly, I will seek out and trust the advice of a SPECIALIST over a GENERALIST any day of the week.

And that’s the problem - LIFE, MARKETING and BUSINESS - is just too general.

If you want to become truly attractive and have CREDIBILITY you need to stand for something. If you’re a generic life coach then know this. People want to be able to turn to someone for a specific area of LIFE - this could be relationships, health, wealth etc.

The same is true if you’re a generic business or marketing consultant. People want to find the person who can help them with a specific BUSINESS challenge unique to them. You could choose a situation - say Legalised Tax Dodging, Setting Up Automated Business Systems, Getting People Working, Cutting Marketing Costs etc. or you could focus on a particular business-type such as - Solo Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Manufacturing Companies, Coaches, Speakers etc.

So ditch the shopping list right now - you can’t be the best at everything - and even if you are no-one will believe you. Choose to be the best (or look the best at one thing). Because as soon as you focus, your CREDIBILITY will skyrocket. You’ll have instant ATTRACTION just by getting clear about who you are and what you do.

Let me introduce Mollie McDonald

She has a fun, rewarding job and makes all the money she needs. She gets to add value and improve people’s lives every day. She loves her job and I’d hazard a guess that she gets as much, if not more, satisfaction than any Life Coach does from her work.

And yes… she gets to coach, cajole, support and work with inspired clients who want to make a change in exactly the same manner.

Is she doing anything drastically different to all the Life Coaches who are struggling? I know she’s not!

But she has done ONE thing differently. She’s tapped into a profitable, niche and provided a solution to a genuine gap into a considerably HUGE marketplace. In fact 90% of New Year’s Resolutions lead into this one niche perfectly.

Read Mollie’s book to learn you she does it…

Finally, some hints and tips while finding your niche…

* "Me Too" businesses are never in as high demand as unique specialists

* Would you trust your GP (General Doctor) to do brain surgery or would you prefer to be in the hands of a brain specialist?

* People don’t buy coaching/consulting etc. - they buy the solution. What’s their big challenge and what’s your solution?

* When you get VERY focused on solutions to problems - you’ll be able to make a strong "Targeted Promise". The result? People will seek you out!

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

SUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
But don’t let that get in the way of your success.
This is the ideal time to work on your business
rather than in it. Get 2 F’REE eBooks and prepare
for more success with less effort here…
http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

I’m wondering if… You Know Other People who should be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to look good) when you Pass On This link… http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk

Your Yellow Page Ad Deserves More than 10 Minutes of Thought a Year

Before long, your Yellow Page directory rep will be paying you a visit. It’s an annual event that happens several months before next year’s directory goes to press. He or she will urge you to think about your ad just long enough to renew what you used in the previous directory - or to upgrade according to their suggestions. If you comment that business is up OR down, they’ll recommend a larger, spruced-up ad as the answer.

The statistics they quote are out of date, and don’t reflect today’s realities. The typical business owner is afraid - unsure what to trust to bring enough new customers. Even if he wants to reduce his reliance on the Yellow Pages (or the every-escalating expense), he doesn’t know what to do instead. The truth is, no single promotional method can do the job. However, the majority of the public is already changing the way it decides where to buy - which doesn’t bode well for Yellow Pages.

Be forewarned. Sticking with what you’ve been doing is no longer a smart business move. The role the directory plays in our way of life has shifted dramatically - just during the last year. And those effects will increase in the future. Although people used to rely on the Yellow Pages before buying, that’s no longer true. Instead, they’re going online, to conduct searches for local vendors.

People Want More Information and the Want it Fast

Declines in Yellow Page usage are dramatic. Recent studies show that many as 70% of buyers rely on Internet search engines to find needed information, as part of their buying process (even when they intend to spend their money in their hometown). The advent of Local Search (combining a search engine query with a geographic term, like town or state) helps Internet users find local suppliers in seconds. Local Search already accounts for over a third of search queries. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t show up in those results - so aren’t even considered.

While I’m not recommending that you drop your directory ad, I strongly suggest that you shift some of those dollars to online exposure. My ebook, Yellow Page Smarts explains how to get your directory ad and the Internet to work together

http://www.yellowpagesage.com/smarts.html

Recognize that you need to present your business in a variety of ways, in order to match the purchasing styles of most consumers.

Develop an Integrated Yellow Page Strategy

Begin thinking about the next Yellow Page directory, starting now. The worst choice is to just renew what you’ve done without giving it any serious thought. Use this chance to improve your ad’s performance. You’ll be stuck with it (and paying for it) for a full year.

What to Consider Before Re-running Your Present Ad

- Whether you feel your current ad has been working for you (easiest to tell if you log your calls or customers

- All your present marketing methods (besides your Yellow Page advertising) and how well they work together

- What the other advertisers in your category are doing

- Which categories you need to appear in - Really?

- Ways to improve your copy and message, to demand more attention

- Rearrange the layout to be more legible, clear, and easy on the eye

- Updating anything that’s either out of date, or left out

- Adding your website and email address - Even when they use the directory, many people will only call ads with a website; it’s about credibility

Don’t be Afraid of the New Developments

Your choice is not between the Yellow Pages and an Internet presence. You’ll need a marketing method that’s big enough to include both. You can find needed answers to help you plot your course at http://www.localsearchresources.com

Your first task is to treat this matter as urgent. The Internet probably seems far afield from your daily priorities. But your customers are online, and your competitors are getting there. This trend is not going away; it’s getting stronger. Don’t miss the boat. Especially, when it’s not very costly or difficult to broaden your exposure to include the Internet. Get moving!

Copyright 2005 Off the Page

Dr. Lynella Grant Author, Yellow Page Smarts: Make more money from your directory ad in tandem with your website http://www.yellowpagesage.com Smarter ways to attract more YP customers. Local Search resources Off the Page Press (719) 395-9450