November 15, 2002
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Little RASCILs in this issue
-- RELIABILITY
-- AUTHORIZED Brands or Services
-- SPECIAL Features
-- COMPLETENESS of Line
-- ILLUSTRATIONS, emblems or slogans
-- LOCATION, maps, web address
-- Brain Teaser

Hi again!

Although the information in this newsletter is directed toward the Yellow Pages industry, you may find it useful yourself.

Feel free to pass it along.

If you'd like me to entertain your audience in person, just drop me a line.

I mentioned last week that I was attending our Initial Sales Training class this week and next. Luckily, I hadn't planned on using my nights for sleeping, because the drill sargeant isn't cutting me any slack. Originally, I planned on re-running a previous column, but instead, I'm taking a few minutes to go over some of the basics we're reviewing in class.

When designing effective Yellow Pages ads, it's very important to help the business owner think like a consumer. We use the acronym RASCIL to organize the main concepts of building POWERFUL ads that make the phone ring.

The acronym RASCIL stands for:

• Reliability
• Authorized sales and service
• Special Features
• Completeness of line or services
• Illustrations, emblems or slogans
• Location of the firm

RELIABILITY
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If you think about it, the reliability of a firm is perhaps the most critical factor in their success. No company or individual can thrive over the long term without projecting an image of reliability.

In Yellow Pages advertising, reliability is expressed by making sure that the ad includes plenty of the following types of information. To keep my battered brain cells pointing in the same direction, I'll turn my focus to the classification, "Child Care Centers" for this example.

Reliability of a Child Care Center takes several forms, so I'll just touch on a few here.

Business Name. The name of a Child Care Center should evoke nurturing development, caring, and safe feelings. You might think twice before patronizing Child Care Centers with these names:

• Stalag 17 Kids Kamp
  
• Mommy Dearest Nursery School
  
• Roman Polanski Youth Counseling Services
• Rusty Nail Gymnastic Center
• Little Tears - a division of Kervorkian Hospice
• The Video Babysitter

References can serve as a powerful tool when building reliability. You'll want to use highly credible references whose recommendations carry significant influence. You should probably avoid some of these types of references when preparing an ad for the Child Care Center.

• As Featured on "60 Minutes"
• Facilities under FBI surveillance
• Staff certified by the Illinois Department of Corrections
• As seen on, "COPS"

• Third time's a charm
• Management Recently Paroled
• "Kids watching kids"
• Over 18 months without a drive-by shooting

AUTHORIZED Brands or Services
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Local businesses can often piggyback on the goodwill of a national brand to influence a buying decision. You'll want to make sure that you select brands that have a positive and well-known image in the marketplace. For example, the Child Care Center could serve "Good Earth" baby food.

You may want to avoid listing brands that do not have such positive images.

For example

• Proudly serving "E Coli brand Baby Food (tm)"
• Featuring "3rd World brand Dairy Products (tm)"
• Nutritious snacks including "Upton Sinclair's Famous Hotdogs (tm)"
• Passing around "Fuzzy Fungus Pacifiers (tm)"
• Free time in "Geneva Convention brand Play Pens" (tm)

SPECIAL Features
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SPECIAL Features help attract buyers with special concerns by informing them of conveniences offered. Hours of service, promptness, parking, ages served and payment types accepted are good influencers. You may want to avoid listing the following Special features for your Child Care Center.

• Derelicts Welcome
• Bullet Resistant Playground
• Free Pimp-Mobile parking
• Food Stamps & jewelry accepted

COMPLETENESS of Line
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As a general rule of thumb, consumers have no imagination. They assume that if a product or service isn't listed in an ad, then the business probably doesn't offer it.

Completeness of Line can be a tremendous convenience to the buyer who wants to competitively shop by visiting as few locations as possible. Here's where you list all of the services, availability, and features of your Child Care Center.

• Off Track Betting
• Needle Exchange Program
• Lead Paint Peeling Crafts
• Jerry Springer Video Collection
• Group Bathing
• Weekly Cockroach Races
• Registered Halfway House

ILLUSTRATIONS, emblems or slogans
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Illustrations are important because they "Stop the eye and start the sale" before a single word has been read.

Generally, the illustration should cover about 1/3rd of the total ad.

As a helpful guideline, any illustrations that could be admitted into evidence during a trial probably shouldn't be used in your Child Care Service ad.

The Chalk Outline may not be the best motif for your Child Care Center.


Slogans can be powerful triggers for a consumer researching in the Yellow Pages. The branding accomplished in other media such as TV and radio is extended to the buying decision in the Yellow Pages.

Some Slogans that you might consider modifying for your Child Care Center...

• "Where Kids Grow Up Real Fast"
• "Nurturing tiny minds through corporal punishment"
• "Home of the Scalding Teapot"

LOCATION, maps, web address
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Location, maps and directions may also trigger a buying action. Let's face it, some addresses are simply more prestigious than others. You probably would want to avoid location descriptions for your Child Care Center such as:

• "Conveniently located next to the Meth Clinic"
• "Gusty Winds Trailer Park, Space #44a"
• "Follow the crime scene tape"
• "12 steps west of Liquor World"

A great way for a business to direct users to their web site is to make sure that the web address is part of all of their ads and listings.

Email addresses are important as well to make it convenient for the consumer to contact the business.
Brain Teaser
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Sarah Lisbon's son Franklin sent in the following brain teaser to see how many verbivores we have out there.

Can you rearrange the following into one word?

• new door