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Next to having a great location for your self-storage facility, Yellow Pages advertising is the best way to get new customers, according to Larry Anderson, managing partner for Deerfield Beach, Fla-based Stor-All Storage. Moreover, Stor-All, a company with 41 locations nationwide, has successfully used this form of advertising to build its business for 37 years.
An easy method of judging a directory is to look at its restaurant section, as it is the most referenced heading. A directory without a well-developed restaurant section probably won’t be used heavily. The Price of Advertising Yellow Pages advertising is a major investment, however, Anderson believes in the medium despite rising prices. “Every market is different, so we have to factor in competition, our location, occupancy rates and customer referrals when deciding on the advertising spend,” he says. Basically, the less desirable a facility’s location, the more Stor-All relies on Yellow Pages advertising for customers. Cost-wise, it is smart to consider newer, competing directories as compared to incumbent directory publishers. According to Larry Angove, executive director of the Association of Directory Publishers, “U.S. incumbent directory publishers’ rates are the highest in the world. Many small- and medium-sized businesses have been priced out of the Yellow Pages because of these exorbitant rates. Competitive directory publishers offer rates that are typically 30- to 50-percent lower than incumbent publishers, and accordingly deliver a lower cost per call to advertisers. Any advertiser who does not consider competitive directories is in effect driving up, by their own actions, their cost of doing business.” Because it is public domain, there are 2,300 independent Yellow Pages directories produced by 250 publishers in the nation, with the largest independents being Yellow Book and TransWestern Publishing. Selecting a Directory for Your Advertising Most U.S. markets are served by multiple directories, including those published by the local telephone company, and a number of independent companies. Determining which directories to advertise in can be tricky, however we know that consumers use directories loaded with content. The more ads a directory has, the more usage it receives, so avoid directories that have little more than listings. An easy method of judging a directory is to look at its restaurant section, as it is the most referenced heading. A directory without a well-developed restaurant section probably won’t be used heavily. Divide and Conquer Advertising in community directories is an effective way to help local customers find you; however, it’s not economically feasible to have the largest ad in every directory. Instead, allocate your budget dollars so that you are represented in the most used directories. Moreover, putting all of your dollars into a single publication may backfire if that directory has a production, distribution or usage problem. Tracking your results from those ads will tell you whether you should continue advertising in that particular publication. Don’t blindly rely on a directory publisher’s claims of usage. The only meaningful measure of a directory’s performance is the number of leads your ad generates. Tracking each customer back to the ad source that triggered their call allows you to determine the return on your investment. Tracking systems can be as simple as asking and logging each caller. Some businesses post the cover of each directory behind their counter and ask the customers which one they use. More sophisticated and reliable techniques include using a metered telephone number that tracks the details of every call by recording the name and address of callers, as well as the time and duration of each call. Customer Focus The typical customer for a self-storage facility is primarily concerned about four critical factors: security, location, convenience and economy. At times it may seem that the customer is only concerned about price, but that’s simply because they haven’t been sold on the value of other benefits. Over-emphasis on price seldom generates calls, according to Fromholzer, as service, value, and expertise almost always trump claims of the “lowest price” and “discounts.” Regarding security, remember that calling your facility “secure” may not be meaningful. Making this claim specific by saying you have on-site, 24-hour security makes this tangible. Bigger Ads Aren’t Always Better Dennis Reimert, executive vice president of sales at TransWestern Publishing warns advertisers to be wary of sales representatives pushing the largest ad sizes or the first position in the directory. Reimert advises advertisers to focus more on creating ads that clearly communicate a focused message, rather than chasing the first position. “Our studies have found that shoppers spend more time on pages that include a column of listings. Ads on pages with listings tend to generate more calls. A three-fourths page ad will almost always generate more calls per dollar in-vested than an ad that completely covers two opposing pages,” he says. Is Color Always Worth the Additional Cost? With very few exceptions, the cost of putting color into an ad is not justified in generating more calls. The additional cost of putting color in your ad is usually better spent placing ads in a secondary directory, a secondary heading, or by increasing the size of your existing ads. Rather than upgrading to full color, a more effective strategy may be to add a “white knockout,” which is a white background instead of the standard yellow background. While there is an additional cost for the white background, the ad gains impact at a lower cost than full color. Design Your Ad for Leads Not Sales A Yellow Pages ad can’t close a sale for you. The ad’s primary objective is to get a prospective buyer to call or visit you. Give the shopper a good reason to call you and let your sales people close the sale. One highly effective method of generating leads is to offer a free report that gives the shopper information to make an informed decision. The goal of the report is to open a dialog with the customer, and to position your company as a trustworthy consumer advocate. Selecting a storage facility is an activity which can be confusing and frustrating for the customer, and offering a report may entice the shopper to call you first. Set off from the rest of the ad by a heavy border or outline, the copy should say something like “Call for Our Free Report! Five Questions You Must Ask Before Selecting a Storage Facility.” The report can be a typed sheet of paper that lists five important questions and answers portraying your company in a favorable light. It should not only be a sales tool for your company, but the type of advice you would offer to a friend. Fingers Keep Walking Despite huge gains in Internet searches, the printed Yellow Pages continue to be the driving force that matches local buyers and sellers. Following the steps in this article and monitoring your results will help you develop powerful ads that effectively deliver high-quality leads to your business. |
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| Dick Larkin is the publisher of the Yellow Pages Commando News, a free bi-weekly newsletter covering marketing issues affecting local businesses | ||||||||||||||
