Several landscaping and lawn care contractors I’ve spoken with recently have been talking about their Yellow Pages advertising – it’s renewal time again – so I figured it would be a hot topic to write about…
8 Secrets to Maximizing Your Landscaping or Lawn Care Yellow Pages Advertising
Yellow page advertising is a very misunderstood media. It’s the place where prospective clients will turn to the directory and ‘seek’ you out. And it’s a pretty big percentage of people who let their fingers do the walking. According to a recent survey 34% of the population uses the yellow pages before making a buying decision. And my guess is that number is even higher for people looking for landscapers, lawn service companies, tree care professionals and other similar services.
That’s over 1/3 of all purchasing situations!
And the good news for you is that almost 2/3 of these people don’t have a specific organization in mind when they open the book. That’s where you can profit.
Most Landscaping and Lawn Care Yellow Page Ads Terrible…
I would say 85%-95% of all yellow pages ads I see are a complete and utter waste of money.
I mean it – you’d be better off taking the money you spend every month and putting it into your kids college fund or taking a vacation to Hawaii. Landscapers simply take their business card and enlarge it – that’s called “Name, Rank and Serial#” advertising and nearly everyone in the directory does the exact same thing. If you look at the helpful hints for advertisers in the back of your directory you’ll see the terrific advice the publishers give you to maximize results.
No wonder nearly every yellow page ads look alike!
The Yellow Pages people themselves give some of the worst advice I’ve seen for creating a powerful landscape company yellow pages ad.
The first thing they tell you to put in your ad is “your business name and phone number”. WRONG!!! Why the hell would I want to know your business name or phone number UNLESS you’ve got some benefits to offer me?
Every sample ad that a Yellow Pages rep has ever shown me absolutely, positively sucked! That’s one more reason I suggest you never have the directory graphics people do your yellow pages ad. If you let them design it, I guarantee you that your ad will end up looking just like everyone elses ad.
I’m going to give you some tips right now that will help make sure you stand out from the competition in your yellow pages and *actually* maximize your results!
Tip #1 - You Must Use a Headline
This is basic. The same principles I teach in all other types of adverstising apply to yellow page headlines. There are two typical “headlines” advertisers in the yellow pages use. They are either the company name or the main services that they provide (ie; “Landscape Installation”, “Lawn Maintenance”, “Lawn Service”, “Tree Care”, “Tree Removal”, “Lawn applications”, etc.).
Now, putting your company name or your name as the headline is a complete waste of money. When someone opens the yellow pages they are not looking for a particular company name (they would search the white pages for that or at least alphabetical order in the free listings).
The second most abused headline is the service (usually in all-caps and set in reverse).
Using the service (such as “Lawn Care”) has some merit, but not much. That’s why I suggest using the strongest benefit
or advantage as the headline — this will serve you much, much better.
You can use a simple headline, like:
“7 Reasons Why More Property Managers & Homeowners Choose <your company> For <service>”
Then you go on and number all the benefits your company has to offer. These could be things like being showing up on time, award winning Landscaping company, crews speak English, etc.
Or, your headline can incorporate the WARNING approach:
“WARNING: Don’t Call Any Landscape Contractor Until You Read This!”
And then the ad copy could give the benefits of calling your 24-hour customer awareness hot line.
Also, you can even incorporate both of these headlines in your ad by making the top of your ad something like the “7 Reasons Why” then after your phone number and address you have another small ad with the “Warning” approach. This works great!
Tip#2 – Use The Biggest Size You Can Afford
In yellow pages ads you can appear as big as you want. Everybody is limited to a maximum of a full page (sometimes a
2-page spread). So, if you want to, you can look just as big as the biggest and most successful company in your area.
Plus, another advantage to using a larger size ad is most yellow page directories have the biggest ads placed first. The closer you are to the front the better for your results. Fact is, when investing in a larger size (let’s say a 2x bigger ad) it is not uncommon to see landscape contractors and lawn care companies get a 3x or 4x increase in response (not a 2x increase).
However, this only works if your ad is full of benefits and selling points! Which brings us to tip #3:
Tip#3 – Fill Your Ad With Benefits And Selling Points
Talk about what your prospective client will get when making a decision to use your company. Include reasons why your landscaping, lawn care, irrigation or tree care company is unique and what advantages they’ll get.
Put testimonials from satisfied clients (this is a VERY effective yellow pages sales tool). You should strive to make your ad look more like editorial matter than an ad.
Use these editorial techniques:
• Using a drop cap
• Insert a date line
• Captions underneath photos – Don’t forget the use of good photos. Good photographs are much more effective than line drawings or pictures.
You can include a head shot of yourself (let the photographer know you’re using the photos for yellow pages).
Also when making your ad look more like an editorial don’t forget to use the same graphics elements that make for easy readership.
•DON’T USE ALL CAPS except for short words like “FREE”
•Use a serif type face like Times Roman not sans serif.
•Don’t waste your money leaving plenty of “white space” — use every centimeter of space to include exciting benefit-laden
copy.
Tip#4 – Always, ALWAYS Include An Offer
This one is frequently neglected. You need to include some offer for prospects to take the next step. Unless you make an offer they likely won’t do anything.
Either a free service for those people ready to take the next step or a free report for other prospects that are a little more
nervous and unsure.
You can use your free report as bait to have them call either your office or your voice mail number. Don’t forget to make the call to action. Lead prospects to the action you want:
“For a copy of this informative report on how to hire a landscape contractor, call today 1-800-xxx-xxxx, for a free recorded message, 24 hours”
Tip#5 – Test Your Ad In Other Places First
You’ve got to live with your ad for one full year so it pays to make sure your ad really works. The best way to find out is run it as a newspaper ad first. This is usually cheap and easy. Once you have a good idea of which appeals are working you can incorporate them into your yellow page ad.
Tip #6 – Know Which Directory to Advertise In
It’s really not that uncommon to have 4 or 5 different directories in your area these days. How do you know where to run your ad? Did you know the walking fingers logo is in public domain in the U.S.?
Yep, that means any directory can use them (sometimes this can result in a fake bill being sent to the office – so beware). There are lots of directories for any given area – you might encounter the “main book”, “the red book”, the “one book” the “hispanic yellow pages”, the “community directory”, on and on and on…
The array of choices can be confusing – so which one do you pick?
Well, I’ve got an easy method for solving this problem. First, there is usually a “main” book. Down here it’s put out by At&T, usually it’s the main telephone monopoly for the area. If you’re only advertising in one book – this is the one to be in.
However, if your budget is a little more robust then let’s consider the other directories. Do a little test in your office
for 2 weeks – rip off the covers of every directory you have and place them in a plastic binder sheet. Then when you get a chance, take the covers out to a job and ask your existing landscaping or lawncare clients which yellow pages directory they use most, or which one they would be more likely to grab if looking for a landscaping company or a lawn care professional.
Most people will be able to tell you if they see the covers.
That way you’re spending your money on advertising your target market will see!
Tip #7 – Protect Your Ad
If your competitors or other landscapers realize your new and improved ad is working — they may try to rip-off your work. Don’t let them.
Protect your ad by simply placing a copyright notice on it. You don’t need to register it with any government agency. It’s a common law copyright.
Just use the copyright notice like: ©2008 Your lawn care company Name
If you follow these guidelines your yellow pages ad rep will fight you tooth and nail. Don’t let them change your mind. Stick to your guns. They only know how 99% of yellow page ads are supposed to look. They think you should look just like all of the other landscaping and lawn care companies in the directory.
They think you should only include your name, address, hours of operation, and phone number.
Everything they know is about traditional advertising. They don’t understand direct response like you do. That’s yet another reason why you should never, never let the yellow page publisher set your ad. (After setting Pizza Shop Ads and Auto Repair Shops all day do you really think they’ll try to make your landscaping ad stand-out and get the attention it deserves?) Don’t make that mistake. Hire a professional graphic artist unless you have some layout skills.
Tip #8 – Don’t Forget Your Tracking!
Another thing you must be aware of is tracking each ad. If you put ads in 3 different sections you want to know where your prospects are coming from.
So by putting a different 800 voice mail number on each ad or putting in, “ask for extension YP1,” you’ll know how well each ad is doing. In this example, extension “YP1” stands for the first yellow pages category you are in. (YP1 could be ‘landscape contractors’ and then “YP2” might be the ‘lawn care’ category, etc.)
Okay, so let’s put these tips into action…if you own my complete marketing system, then you have a comprehensive manual on this topic along with examples and even pre-done ads on a CD that you can use “as is” for your landscaping company or lawn care operation, or as a guide to make your own new one.
I’ve personally created several yellow pages ad for clients — and if that interests you – shoot me an email or give us a call.
Best!
Larry
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now: http://www.greenindustrysuccess.com/sale
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