One day, usually shortly after you have your phone line installed, your friendly local yellow pages account representative will come calling. If you have nothing better to do that day, take about 30 minutes to listen to his presentation – it will do your ego some good and occasionally you can collect some neat swag. But, before you sign on the dotted line and commit to that scary monthly payment, consider that effective directory ads aren’t necessarily expensive and the expensive package the account rep is pushing may not be effective for your particular situation. Here are 12 points from my crash course into the world of phone directory advertising:

1. The general “Attorney” category is very competitive. Unless you can afford an ad that will be placed in the front third of this section, spend your money elsewhere.
2. If you do place an ad in the front third, position does not matter, “first” ads are not called more frequently than “last” ads.
3. Good ads will always get more calls Continue reading →