2) Use a benefit headline on your coupon that affirms prospect is getting valuable, needed information. E.g. “Yes, I want to reduce my inventory costs by 50 percent.”

3) Include a picture of your brochure or catalog in your ad.

4) Use a sidebar in your ad packed with tips that your prospect will find useful. E.g “10 Ways To Reduce Your Phone Bill.”

5) Concentrate your copy on prospect, not on your company. Tell your prospect how your product or service will solve their problems. Use words “you” and “your” frequently and “I” and “We” less.

6) With a smaller ad, you can ask prospect to tear out ad, attach their business card and mail it to your company.

Directory Users Seek Information about Location First People who open Yellow Pages already have a desire to buy. That sets it apart from all other advertising media. For a brief time, eager-to-buy directory user checks competition, to see what each of them offers. They scan for solutions that satisfy their needs. Readers hope to find ads that leap out from rest, and will simplify their choice.

So they ignore any ad that doesn’t match what they’re looking for. And piece of information that fully half of them look for first is location of business. Buyers want to know how easy it is for them to get there. Businesses that are too far away are eliminated. So their ads aren’t even read.

Convenience is preliminary deciding factor. As readers scan through heading, they mentally delete: too far..., too far..., don’t know where that is (so no)....

After Sorting by Location, Then they Read Ads The selected ads are then studied in more detail. Not until that point, does information in ad actually get read or considered. Aside from location, when directory users are in "information gathering phase," they’re looking for many different kinds of answers, like hours, payment methods, and brands offered (which differ according to heading). They’re being educated by what they read in ads. They gain a clearer idea about their options and who provides it (you being just one).

Directory users don’t want to drag that step out. So it’s up to your ad to jump to front of their brain with a clear indication that you offer exactly what they’re looking for. Look-alike ads just make readers work harder to uncover what they want to find.

There’s no need to overcomplicate matter. The test of a good Yellow Page ad is its ability to generate calls. You don’t have to be a graphic designer or a marketing whiz to prepare an effective ad. You just have to know your customers well enough to know how they think and what they want. You need to be able to signal to them that you’ve got what they’re looking for.

The Ad Sells Call or Next Step Some ads prompt directory readers to pick up phone and call one or more of listed businesses. Callers often continue down their short (close) list until they can find enough of a reason to pick one.