13 Ways To Improve Your Yellow Page Ad
by William D. Esteb
When two Phoenix lawyers opened their Legal Clinic in 1976 they felt their idea of providing low cost legal services was a resource their entire community should know about. Invoking the freedom of speech provisions of the United States Constitution, but against the canons of the Arizona State Bar Association, they started advertising their services. The legal battle that ensued, ending up in the United States Supreme Court, ultimately opened the floodgates for all types of licensed professionals to advertise. The result has been a blessing... and an embarrassment.
This new freedom has invited doctors, lawyers and other professionals into a domain previously reserved for plumbers and retailers. Besides being a new discipline to master, yellow page advertising is different from any other form of advertising. The approaches suggested by the newspaper classified salesman turned yellow page advertising expert that worked for transmission specialists and pet stores don't automatically translate into the health care arena.
Why use the yellow pages? Prospective patients consulting the yellow pages are ready to make a buying decision. Listing advertising like the yellow pages is different than direct mail or newspaper advertising. When you're in the yellow pages you're positioned where some prospective patients want to find you. Whoever sees your ad is ready to purchase chiropractic care. They're not deciding whether they want a medical doctor or a chiropractic doctor, they're deciding which chiropractor.
Plus, the yellow pages can help you differentiate your services from other chiropractic offices, educate prospective patients, prequalify the types of patients that you attract, reduce the anxiety new patients might have about chiropractic and direct them to your website.
While I think money spent in the yellow pages could be better spent within the four walls of your clinic, here are some ideas to consider the next time the salesperson from the yellow pages comes begging at your office:
1. Identify your market. While many scoff at the quality of the patients that yellow page advertising produces, this is partially the result of not targeting the ad. Every practitioner has a particular demographic (age, sex, occupation, income, etc.) and psychographic (attitude, values, self-esteem, etc.) that they especially enjoy serving. Determine your ideal patient before creating your ad and then write and design your ad to appeal to this distinct market. "For patients who have been to other chiropractors!" "Chiropractic for those who want to avoid a relapse." "Why do we see so many children?"
2. Buy the largest ad you can afford. It's hardly any surprise that research shows that customers tend to call the largest ads first. Whether this is because larger ads are positioned towards the front of the chiropractic section, or that the larger size suggests that your business is more successful is hard to tell.
Today, with two or more yellow page directories begging for your ad, it's tempting to place an ad in each book. Unfortunately this divide and conquer approach dilutes your impact. Instead, poll your current patients. Which directory do they use? Find out and invest the majority of your budget in a single directory.
3. Differentiate your practice. Sadly, many doctors market their practice as if they were offering a commodity like sugar, salt or pork bellies. Worse, it seems as if there is a chiropractic vocabularly of about 21 words which are simply rearranged by each practictioner. Unlike many retail businesses or large corporate entities, your personality, experience and specialties are unique factors. While you may be reluctant to boast about your professional accomplishments, detail the way you create a care program or reveal your own health attitudes, it can quickly differentiate you and attract patients you'd enjoy serving. Let prospective patients know you're different.
4. Use lots of copy. Unlike newspaper advertising, research by the Lincoln Marketing Group suggest that in the yellow pages "heavy" copy out pulls light copy by 3 to 1. Even in small ads lots of words works better.
Avoid copy that restates the obvious or lists services that virtually all chiropractors offer. Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective apprehensive, new patient. What would they want to know about you and your office?
Be warned! Your yellow page representative is likely to say, "Looks like you have too much copy to me." Ignore their well-intentioned advice. They are simply applying the same guidance they give the chimney sweep, dog groomer and the other chiropractors down the street.
5. Remove internal dialogue. New patients are probably in pain and have heard stories about chiropractors. They've heard chiropractors aren't educated, are expensive and will ask you to come for the rest of your life. You can take a major step toward better new patient rapport by volunteering information to help dispel these myths. Don't be apologetic or defensive! Simply volunteer information that can serve to put an apprehensive new patient at ease.
6. Use a benefit-oriented headline. Headlines serve the same purpose in yellow page advertising as they do in newspaper or magazine advertising: to attract attention. The major difference here is that a yellow page audience is predisposed to chiropractic. Tailor your headline to the benefits your prospective patient is seeking. What does a new patient seeking chiropractic care in the yellow pages want? Pain relief or wellness care for their children? Probably relief.
7. Include a photograph. Your appearance plays a role in a patient's willingness to trust your recommendations, comply with your recommendations and even select your office. Do you look friendly? Compassionate? Approachable? Experienced? Successful? These questions run through the minds of a new patient. If your appearance isn't an asset, either because you look too young or your facial hair projects the image of a "fringe" practitioner, don't include your picture.
If you include a picture make sure it's big enough! Have a new picture taken and explain to the photographer its end use. Because of the coarse screen used in the yellow pages request a low contrast black and white print for best reproduction.
8. Avoid red ink. With increasing competition, publishers are offering a host of new services, including coupons, "talking yellow pages" and a rainbow of ink colors. Red headlines and blue borders can make sense in a sea of a dozen or more ads with monotone gray ink in the newspaper. However, the color of ink you use in the yellow pages is unlikely to attract more readers than a reassuring headline or volunteering the answers to the most frequently-asked questions about chiropractic. Instead, spend your money on a larger ad.
9. Monitor your results. Every dime of your marketing efforts should be held accountable. You'll never know if these ideas really work or what to do differently next year unless you keep track of the source of your new patients.
10. Include a map. Research by the National Research Group in Lincoln, Nebraska suggest those who use the yellow pages for health care services have lived in the community less than five years. These newcomers may need some help in finding your office. If space doesn't allow a map, describe your location in the context of a major intersection, popular retail store or local landmark.
11. Have a call to action. Ask for some type of commitment. "Call for a free office tour." "Call to interview the doctor." "Take a virtual tour of our office on line at www.ourpractice.com" "Call for a free information packet about today's chiropractic."
12. Get your ad professionally produced. Resist the temptation of delegating the design of your ad to one of the "artists" that work for the directory publisher! Hire a professional. Consult the yellow pages and look under Graphic Designer for a commercial artist that can help you. Set some appointments to review their portfolios and discuss your design needs. (Maybe have him or her rework your letterhead, business card and envelopes at the same time!)
13. Avoid the pack. Many of these ideas run counter to what your yellow page salesperson and even your graphic designer is used to. Everyone will attempt to talk you out of making waves. It takes courage to stand out.
Yellow page advertising will always be more an art than a science. Most businesses admit that half of their advertising doesn't work. They just don't know which half!
Excerpted from
My Report of Findings
Originally published in 1993
240 Pages
US $24.95
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