There's a much better way to reach people that leverages the fact that nobody throws the yellow pages away even if they never look at it.

I haven't looked at mine in 10 years. The cost of a yellow pages ad for one zone in San Diego is really high. I like this way better. I learned it from Richard Roop.

1. Create a flyer on yellow newsprint that looks like the yellow pages. Of course every ad, including the full page one on one side, are yours. Use paper that's slightly bigger than the telephone book. Printer will print these up cheap in mass quantity.

2. Have envelopes printed up that appear to come from a yellow pages (aka phone directory) printer or "update" service. On the outside of the envelope print something like, "Important Telephone Directory Update".

3. Inside put either a letter or sticky note, which is really a small flyer you can have printed up, saying, "Hello. I missed the print deadline so please put this in your phone directory near page 1014. Thank you, your-name." Of course that's true, you did miss the deadline...because you never submitted it.

The larger dimensions of the flyer will make it stick out on all sides so they'll turn to it more often. Some people may just put it up on their refrigerator if they want what's on the flyer.

4. Either mail it to a list or a farm area in the case of real estate investing or for local business clients.

It has longevity and it's a flyer that gets right into the hands of prospects, in the case of a list, or suspects in the case of a farm area. It's cheap and doesn't get thrown away.

Cheers

If that's true for the "average" crappy yellow page ad, just think what it would be for a better ad with some salesmanship added to it.

About the yellow page ads.

I just came across this on infomarketingblog:
Good Yellow Page Advertising

Maybe an example of what a good yellow page ad could look like.

Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dream comes through
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On

-Aerosmith

It's a great book - more as an example of good marketing than any of the content itself.

What a great idea. Never heard that one before and I've been around some big mailers.

Have you or anyone you know tested this and if so in what market?

I used it in Real Estate looking for non-owner occupied houses. That market doesn't last long. It worked about the same as any other direct mail piece over the short term. I didn't stay in it long enough to test the long-term.

You can probably email Richard Roop on his web site and ask him how it went. He or his partner Dan Doran are pretty accessible. Cheers.

Subtle,

That head shot of Allen really helps to advance the sale, huh?

Hilarious but true.