afety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper fl

Even with the best of intentions, you still may have overlooked the obvious. Suppose you spent hours on a good headline, took a pretty picture of your storefront and covered all the who, what, where, when, and why questions, did you still forget the most important reason you ran the ad in the first place? Of course you want customers, but which ones? If you said, “all of them,” then shame on you. You can’t have them all. There are competitors and they are also chasing after them as well. So why not specialize?

Why? Well, do you want only the price-shoppers? If you emphasized “low-prices” in the headline, that’s what you’ll get. Are you really a discounter, or would you prefer a high-end customer? How do you get to choose? It’s easy, really. You target your market. A Mercedes dealer doesn’t expect or need every car buyer to come into his showroom. He also doesn’t talk about price, because he’s expensive. Rather, he talks about reliable German engineering, safety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper fl

t the most important reason you ran the ad in the first place? Of course you want customers, but which ones? If you said, “all of them,” then shame on you. You can’t have them all. There are competitors and they are also chasing after them as well. So why not specialize?

Why? Well, do you want only the price-shoppers? If you emphasized “low-prices” in the headline, that’s what you’ll get. Are you really a discounter, or would you prefer a high-end customer? How do you get to choose? It’s easy, really. You target your market. A Mercedes dealer doesn’t expect or need every car buyer to come into his showroom. He also doesn’t talk about price, because he’s expensive. Rather, he talks about reliable German engineering, safety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper fl

ell. So why not specialize?

Why? Well, do you want only the price-shoppers? If you emphasized “low-prices” in the headline, that’s what you’ll get. Are you really a discounter, or would you prefer a high-end customer? How do you get to choose? It’s easy, really. You target your market. A Mercedes dealer doesn’t expect or need every car buyer to come into his showroom. He also doesn’t talk about price, because he’s expensive. Rather, he talks about reliable German engineering, safety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper fl

oose? It’s easy, really. You target your market. A Mercedes dealer doesn’t expect or need every car buyer to come into his showroom. He also doesn’t talk about price, because he’s expensive. Rather, he talks about reliable German engineering, safety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper fl

afety, and performance. That’s what sets him apart from Ford or Toyota. You can do the same thing in your Yellow Page ad. Find a niche that fills a need.

If you sell flowers, talk about freshness. Explain that someone can buyer cheaper flowers that wilt faster, but if you want to give your lover a gift that will last, your store offers quality over low price. You can apply this principle to virtually any type of service or retail business and attract the better or targeted customer that, in turn, will return a large profit margin. It starts with the headline, so be imaginative and think of who you want and how to get their attention. Okay you say, so who am I and how do I know so much?

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 hea