The Electrician's Guide to Effective Yellow Page Advertising

I can guess that if your are any kind of electrician at all, you can do all the basic trouble-shooting, rewiring, and replacement that any homeowner or business person would require. After all, you are a licensed professional, right? But knowing how to replace a circuit breaker is not what?s going to pay the bills. So what is going to ultimately make you successful? Your accountant, insurance agent, landlord, truck fleet dealer, or your parts supplier? A big ?No? should be the answer in all those cases. How about your Yellow Page rep?

You have to bring in new customers or establish a reliable base of returning customers. It?s going to take a marketing plan that allows for future growth and increasing profits. Assuming that I you have realized that a Yellow Page program is essential for your success, what do you have in mind? Who do you want to reach and how will you get there? Set aside a reasonable advertising budget that has room to grow as you do. Now, pick up the local directory and survey the YP heading. How many of your competitors are in the book and what are their ad sizes? What will it take to meet or beat them? Now you have an idea of size, it?s time to get to the content of the ad.

What makes you better than all of them? Don?t say your price and experience. Everyone of them already says that somewhere. You have to come up with something that will get the readers attention and set you apart from the other guys. Hey, I didn?t say that this would be easy. It?s about time to seek out an expert, wouldn?t you agree?

I should know, I was a YP rep and consultant for nearly 25 years and, prior to that, had my own advertising agency. I also have a degree in marketing. I?ve been designing Yellow Page ads for the past three decades. So I have expertise in YP creation and have advised almost 7000 companies on how to put together the most effective YP ads. If you have a display or in-column ad, regardless of size, color or position, I can tell you it most probably needs improvement in the headline, artwork, body text, placement, book, or heading. You must understand the ROI or return on investment and learn how to track the results as well.

So consider getting some expert advice before you place your next ad. There are many good and inexpensive places to turn, some available on the internet. Or read any on my online articles here and you?ll probably pick up some terrific tips. Then go to my website for more great stuff.

Jeffrey Hauser's latest book is, "Inside the Yellow Pages,? which can be viewed at www.poweradbook.com

He was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.