When we started Tri Megatech, we were counting on the Yellow Book to generate a lot of our initial business. We dumped over $2,000 into it for the year, hoping to see a large ROI. While we definitely made our money back on our investment, it wasn’t nearly as much business as we [...]
When we started Tri Megatech, we were counting on the Yellow Book to generate a lot of our initial business. We dumped over $2,000 into it for the year, hoping to see a large ROI. While we definitely made our money back on our investment, it wasn’t nearly as much business as we had hoped for. I originally made the ad for the book, and here’s what it looked like:
The time has come now when we had to renew our contract to advertise, so I began doing some research on how we can improve our results…we needed to generate more phone calls. I found a few important key factors that can hopefully dramatically improve an ads effectiveness:
There is a ton of other things that can make a good ad, but just looking at these key things we can already see some major mistakes that we initially made in our first run. Our logo is huge. Who cares? It’s not even compelling. Nobody cares what the name of your company is, people are looking for somebody that can provide a service for them. There is no headline for anybody to read, or anything like graphics to compel them in. By now they’ve already called another competitor.
With my newfound knowledge, I decided to redesign our ads. We decided to do two, one targeting home users, and another targeting networking aka businesses. Here’s what I did for home users:
In this new ad we see some drastic differences from our previous copy. For one, look at the difference in the logo size. It’s much tinier, and hidden in the corner. We have a compelling headline and graphic to catch a readers attention and get them looking at the list of services we provide. Hopefully one matches their needs, and they give us a call. I added credit card logos, as people love to charge things. It also better legitimizes our company.
For our ad that targets businesses we were given an opportunity for one color. We wanted to use this to our benefit in order to help us stand out as much as possible. We just need to lure the reader in, and get them to call. Getting them to call us is 90% of the battle of generating new business:
We obviously used red as our one color, and we used it to emphasize two key elements of the ad; the headline and what we’re giving away for FREE. People love free. Readers are already looking in the “Computer-Networking” category, we want to make sure we targeted that reader. While we do a lot more than networking, we knew that’s more than likely what a potential client was looking for, and what we could use to lure them in. We also made sure the first three services we list have to do with networking. Hopefully we get a client for networking, but end up doing a lot more business with them over time. Business clients is really where its at. They spend more money, and they are more concerned about getting things done then every penny that’s being spent.
Do you guys think that these ads are more effective? It will be some time before they go out to print, but I will definitely report back and let you all know whether or not we’re getting more calls. Constructive feedback is also always welcome.
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Manufacturer and reseller of aftermarket car parts
IT solutions based out of Maryland. From homeusers to mid-sized businesses.
My name is David Pitlyuk and I’m an entrepreneur. I’m always on the lookout for the next big opportunity. This blog hits topics of interest for entrepreneurs, as well as my miscellaneous ramblings.
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Tom
11/30/2007 10:56 amI have a feeling this will work out well for you. The new ad is a huge improvement over the old one. As someone with a computer problem, I would have no idea what “Trimegatech” is, but I would definitely know that my computer has a bug.
Derek
11/30/2007 11:05 amI think the new ad for the home users is a big improvement and I would imagine will catch the attention of more people. The business ad looks good as well although I’m not entirely sold on the “Need to be Networked?” line. Maybe something like “Network Problems?”. Just something to think about.
David Pitlyuk
11/30/2007 11:10 amThanks for the feedback guys!
Derek - We had actually thought of the “Network Problems?” line, but decided to go with “Need to be Networked?” because we wanted to target more businesses that needed to be setup in the first place, versus ones that had problems with their current network. While there is probably more business with network problems, the value behind a client needing the initial setup is worth a lot more to us because there is a high likelihood that we do a lot more work for them in the future…like fix their network problems
But I do see what you’re saying, and unfortunately it’s not as easy/cheap to test variations of ads as it is online lol.
Derek
11/30/2007 12:17 pmMakes sense and you are certainly correct that testing multiple ads is quite pricey. I’ll be looking forward to your analysis of the ads once they are running. Speaking of which, how have your door hangers been working out?
David Pitlyuk
11/30/2007 12:28 pmWe actually haven’t even handed those out yet (maybe a couple hundred). We were planning on doing a ton next weekend, so we’ll see how that goes.
I’m pretty sure there will be no problem recouping the cost of that back over time.
raincitykyle
12/01/2007 1:10 pmWOW! Huge improvement. Did you consider doing a metered number in your ads to actually count the calls each month for these ads? Most of the YP companies offer this service. I know Yellow Book does. Speaking candidly, I feel “TriMegaTech” sounded like some huge corporation out of “The Office” or “Office Space.” Consumers who shop in the Yellow Pages are typically people who do not know you. Appearing to be a huge corporation, instead of a local, helpful, friendly company could be a problem. Just like when a company only puts an 800 number in their local Yellow Book advertising. That’s the kiss of death for your ad. (Not that you did this) I would suggest you list a city or even your shop address to go one step further to appear local. Even if you do not welcome “walk ins” or drop bys. Just adding the city you serve or area can make a difference. Two other things I always tell my clients. Be sure you back up your programs in the directory with a smart “top of the list” placement on the dot com companion to the printed books. In this case yellowbook.com. These are getting phenomenal results for clients for very little extra each month! And lastly, be sure your white pages presence is bold or even has your logo art. A quick and easy way for the repeat customer and referral business to find you. Good luck!
David Pitlyuk
12/02/2007 2:56 amraincitykyle - First off, thanks for the excellent feedback and kind words.
How exactly does a metered number work? I’m assuming it’s a separate number for Yellow Book to track how many calls are coming from there? We always ask any calls where they found us, so we do have a good idea how customers found us.
I do agree that Tri Megatech is very corporate sounding, probably a turn off for YB readers…which is part of the reason of making the logo such a small part this time around.
We’re actually advertising in the 3 different Yellow Book type books (different counties and different books)…the ads that were due for 2/3 of the books were just submitted earlier today and I did in fact ad the counties we serve to the ads based on your feedback. I think you make a good point.
Regarding the address, we’re based out of a home office right now, so we will come to the customer. I could definitely see how putting an address on would be helpful, but we decided against it at this time.
Luckily one of our very good friends works in sales for Yellow Book, so we’ve already scheduled a meeting with him regarding our options for online. I’m sure we’ll be doing something with that in order to get better results from their website.
Thanks again, and I hope that my next update is good news…we’ve substantially upped our budget for Yellow Book type advertising this year. We’re spending about $8,000 or so.
Scot Smith
12/02/2007 4:57 pmThe new ad will get you more phone calls, good choice
Brandon - Call Center Consultant
12/04/2007 1:55 pmDefinitely a good choice with the new ads. Much better call to action.
raincitykyle
12/04/2007 2:01 pmMost directory companies offer a metered line service. A third party is contracted so there is no conflict. I know Standard Call is one that is widely used. (www.standardcall.com) For say $20 extra a month it will give you a new number to place into your ads and monitor the calls specifically generated by the ad placements. I love it for my clients because it can also help you build a contact database for direct marketing.
David Pitlyuk
12/06/2007 12:25 amThanks for the info rain, we’ll definitely look into it!