Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q. Why should I pay for an ad? My Yellow Pages rep designs it for free.
A. You've already invested five or six figures in the Yellow Pages, we can make your investment attract significantly more of the most profitable business.

For slightly more, you can make that investment work for you, and gain a substantial new influx of profitable clients and customers.

Q. My ads work fine. Why should I change them?
A. Because better ads generate better calls.

There is a direct correlation between the strength of the ad and the amount and quality of clients that respond to it. You should change them only if you want to earn more money.

Any kid with a graphics program can put together an ad. But improving its visual impact is only part of the solution. The strategy and message is what causes them to call.

Q. I already have an ad agency. Why haven't they proposed this to me? Why should I use your ads?
A. Because ours are proven to work much better.

Your current agency has helped you get where you are today, and if they could do better, they would have done so already. If you were where you wanted to be financially, you wouldn't have read this far. Sure, you can ask your agency to design you something "prettier," but can you trust that it will be strategically customer focused? That it will work? Has it been researched and tested?

You should use one of our ads because we have already done so much legwork that can produce concepts and approaches to meet your next deadline. You don't have to use your current ad for much longer.

Q: My Yellow Pages Representative says size is everything. Is it?
A: It's important, but not as important as great creative.

Obviously size matters, it can help put you in the competitive front section of your category, where most of the purchasing occurs. Which among them gets the business is based upon whose ad in this group stands out from the crowd and commands more attention with the right headline and message. If all the ads look alike, it's only luck if you get the business. An ad from Red Jackal Ads makes your getting the call a near certainty.

Q: I have a lot of useful information to convey, should I put it all in the ad?
A: No, readers flip past cluttered ads; they're too hard to read.

A great ad does a few things. It: (1) stops the readers on your page; (2) demonstrates that you understand them and that you represent people like them, and (3) persuades them to pick up the phone and CALL you.

If you've created enough interest, your ad needn't answer every possible question; specifics can be answered when they call. Studies show that less than half the ad should have text on it, or readers will simply flip to the next ad.A client's decision to call typically occurs in 30-60 seconds -- no one wants to spend a lot of time reading through endless text.

Open areas, called "white space", gives your eyes a visual break and makes it easier to read. This is why a Stop sign is surrounded by empty space. Your overall ad should be simple and concise with lots of open space. An advertising Stop sign.

Photos or other images are helpful to attract attention, although using the same clichéd images as your competitors is much less effective.

A few, well-crafted words with a compelling visual is a great ad.

Q: Are color ads more effective?
A: Not as effective as creativity.

Studies show color is only the fourth most influential element, but it's much more expensive than the other elements. And great creativity in black and white is much more effective than a big, colorful, bland ad.

Q: Is my Yellow Pages sales rep trying to grow my business?
A: Actually, he's working to grow your account.

Yellow Pages representatives are paid a commission based upon how much more money you spend over the previous year's contract. Think, did they ever make a strategic recommendation that resulted in your paying less money?

Q: My Yellow Pages rep says they have great designers. Is that true?
A: The average Yellow Pages ad is designed in less than 15 minutes.

At Red Jackal Ads, we have spent hundreds of hours conceiving, designing, refining, testing, revising and re-testing each ad.

Think of the Yellow Pages publishing companies as advertising assembly lines. Cavernous rooms full of faceless typists stamping out four ads per hour, every hour, 40 hours per week, all year long. These "designers" are paid for volume, not creativity.

CONSIDER: Your Yellow Pages rep needs every one of his advertisers to get an equal amount of business. Using similar ads ensures that every advertiser in each category gets roughly the same number of calls, so they all sign up again next year -- with an even bigger, or more colorful ad. If your ad were to start getting all the best calls in your category, your competitors would be furious at their rep.

At Red Jackal Ads, that's exactly what we expect to happen.

Q: CMRs can design my ad for free too. Should I use them?
A: CMRs can be useful, but they're not advertising specialists. You get what you pay for.

Certified Marketing Representatives ("CMRs") can be useful for placing national ads, but they have an inherent conflict -- their hefty commission. The publishers quietly kick back to them 10-25% of your annual directory payments.

In other words, if you spend a million dollars per year on directory advertising, the book publishers return to your CMR $100,000 to $250,000 of your money every year. So they also need you to spend more money on bigger, more colorful, and more numerous ads.

It would be against their financial interest to sell you smaller, more effective ads.

Get noticed. Get results.

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