However, without solid advertising and marketing, you won't get customers. Even worse, you can spend a fortune on advertising in wrong places and you STILL won't get customers.

Here are four must-do things to remember when you start to promote your new business.

1. First, decide who your best customers are. Are they home owners in a particular part of town? Are they certain sized business in your industry?

Unless you have billions in investment capital, you can't afford to advertise to everyone. Even if you sell something that ANYONE would want, a limited budget means you must focus only on your best potential customers.

After all, that only makes sense. Just twenty percent of your customers will usually account for eighty percent of your sales. So focus on that special twenty percent.

2. Find out what media your customers use. If you run a nightclub, your customers probably find out about a business like yours from radio commercials and local entertainment newspaper listings. If you build web sites, your customers probably find someone like you with search engines, in email newsletters, or from referrals on popular sites.

Now focus only on media you can afford to use again and again. People will need to see your ad several times before they decide to buy. Far too often I see new businesses blow their entire ad budget one big newspaper ad, TV commercial, or live radio spot. They may get a flood of people in store first few days, but then people stop coming. Now, business doesn't have enough money left to continue advertising, and they eventually close their doors for good.

The nightclub owner above could advertise with cheap commercials late at night on pop stations that closely target age group and lifestyle that comes to his club. The web designer might limit his ads to a few popular ezines that provide web design tips.

Doing this is simple if you know right formula.

Unlike with press advertising, people looking in Yellow Pages are ready to buy right now. While on surface of things that’s great news, challenge is that you need to ensure that your prospect sees your ad first and acts upon it ... amongst sea of competitor’s ads.

So you don’t need to sell them on idea of needing your type of product or service, all you need to sell them on benefits of your particular business.

Sell them on reason why they should call you and nobody else.

Getting your ad noticed first ISN’T about being creative by using thick borders and attractive graphics. You see, many people mistakenly believe that if they include huge logos and thick borders their ad will get noticed first.

There’s two challenges with that:

First, if everyone has same idea of using a thick border and big bold graphics, your ad won’t in fact, stand out.

Second, even if your ad does get noticed first, it doesn’t necessarily mean your prospect will read ad and act on it.

The key to writing a sizzling Yellow Pages ad is to sell your services in print.

It's about standing out from every one of your competitors by offering your readers solution to their problems in a way that your competitors can’t match. And projecting that "uniqueness" in your headline.

If you like, your Yellow Pages ad is your silent salesperson. It needs to attract attention, create interest and desire and incite action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nuts and bolts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier we talked about uniqueness. Before you put pen to paper writing your ad, take a few minutes to consider what your prospects really want to achieve by doing business with you.

Write a list. Next to each point then list how your product or service helps them achieve their goals. Then next to these points, prove your claims.

Why is it unique?

How (specifically) do you deliver these results?

Is it 43 point checklist?

Is it a unique secret formula?

Is it a money back guarantee? These points now form basis of your ad.

The most important part of your Yellow Pages ad is your headline. If you have a hard hitting headline that projects a strong benefit and relates to needs of your prospect, half work is done.

Some headlines that help you do that include:

"How to xxxxx"

"6 reasons why ..."

"Before you xxxxx here are 6 vital factors to consider"

Once you’ve got a strong headline, it’s then time to work on your body copy. Your body copy should expand on benefits you've mentioned in your headline and show specific ways you'll help your prospect fulfil their needs.

Your ad then finishes off by telling your reader what to do. You MUST spell out your instructions. "Call us NOW on 939 9897 for a copy of our FREE report titled 'How to Write Powerful Ads'."

It has been proven that by writing 'Call us now on xxx xxxx' you'll get more responses than you would if you simply listed a phone number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 13 ways to spice up your Yellow Pages Ad ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) Write as you speak