One of the first things our Yellow Page ad design clients like
to do is get other opinions on their newly designed Yellow Page
ad before committing it to print. They ask employees, friends,
their spouse, and even their current customers. They may even
seek the opinion of a marketing specialist. Once, a client told
me he asked his 14-year old daughter for her input (She hated
it). The logic is, "the more feedback I get, the better!" But
you don't want bystanders to like your Yellow Page ad, you
want PROSPECTS to be persuaded by it.

The simple truth is that second opinions have LITTLE to NO VALUE
UNLESS that opinion is coming from a member of your
target audience at 1) the exact moment they are
viewing your ad and 2) are in immediate need of your
service. These folks are in a very "particular" state of mind.
They need a solution to their problem (at that instant) and
they're smack-dab in the middle of a decision-making process.
They're trying to determine "who can best solve my problem?"

At that moment in time, a prospects opinion is worth listening
to, but not necessarily something to be taken at face value,
cause what a person says they would do and what they actually
do, are two different things. Remember, tens of thousands of
prospective customers said they preferred the taste of New Coke
to Coke...but that hardly meant they were willing to buy it when
it came out.

So unfortunately, the most valuable opinion isn't necessarily a
conscious opinion at all - it's the gut level or emotional
response that will drive a prospects buyng decision when
confronted with your ad. This is a far cry from polling
customers and something really only measurable from results of
running an actual ad. But don't worry, there's an answer.

Before you pick up a pencil or stroke a single key for your new
Yellow Page ad, define your most important prospect and
think about what makes that person click. Crawl deep inside
their head! What emotional thoughts and words will move this
individual and convince them that YOU are the very best business
to call. When you're done, (and if you've been successful) your
Yellow Page ad should resonate with NO ONE except this
particular target individual. Their opinion will be the only one
that matters. And they'll happily voice their opinion through
phone calls, lots and lots of phone calls right to YOUR phone.

Experienced judgement absorbed from designing and running
decades worth of successful Yellow Page ads can save you years
worth of trial and error as well as tens of thousands of dollars
worth of missed sales. If you hire an experienced expert that
truly knows their craft - and you trust their judgement - you
can be darn sure that YOUR OPINION of Yellow Page advertising is
going to drastically change for the better.

About the author:
Explosive Yellow Pages advertising...Yellow Pages advertising
design that works! Call John Morana at 800-726-7006 for expert
advice and a href="http://www.max-effect.com/free_yellow_pages_ad_eval.html">F
REE no-obligation Yellow Page ad evaluation. Learn how to
maximize your Yellow Pages advertising ROI at href="http://www.max-effect.com">www.max-effect.com