Evergreen Ads the Six Common Mistakes Found in the Yellow Pages

Evergreen advertising is defined an ad that is intended to be used for a long time. The most common evergreen ad the majority of us use is yellow page advertising. Another common trait about evergreen ads is that most of them are awful!

Yellow page ads are one of three types of advertising that should, or could be used for any business. Today, we'll concentrate on the yellow pages. Here are three things (in addition to the cost) you need to be aware of about yellow page advertising:


1. Whatever you put into the ad, you have to live with that decision for a full year.


2. You are not looking for customers/clients. Readers are shoppers and they are looking to fill their needs.


3. You don't get a second chance to make a good impression. Shoppers respond to your ad or they don't.

Here are the six most common mistakes made in yellow page advertising:


1. Letting the sales rep edit, or even write your ad.


2. Following the example of the majority of ads that range from bad to, at best, mediocre.


3. Using your company name as a headline.


4. Using your address as a headline.


5. No real or compelling message.


6. Way to much white (yellow) space.

The pitfalls are many but the opportunities are great with yellow page ads. For most businesses their Yellow Page ad is the control for their marketing message. The right message makes the phone ring and gets the ball rolling on building your business. The key is your ad has to be better than everyone else's. At renewal time, redo your ad using the exercise below or bring in a marketing consultant or copywriter.

How does your Yellow Page ad stack up to the competition? Here's a quick test. Go to your heading in the yellow pages and look at the display ads. Start with your ad: On a sheet of paper make a list of all the features in your ad; credit cards, hours of operation, address, slogans, directions etc. Now go over all the other ads and put a check mark next to the feature that's the same as your ad. If you find a new feature add it to your list. Now, look at your list and all the check marks from the other ads. Eye opening isn't it?