YELLOW PAGES ADVERTISING

Whether your optical business is large or small, you probably don't have a huge advertising budget. But, since in most cases you have to advertise in order to succeed and grow, you probably rely heavily on two old standbys: Word of-mouth and Yellow Pages advertising.

While you can certainly encourage your customers to pass along a good word about your business, ensuring that they do so and quantifying the results of word-of-mouth advertising is difficult at best. On the other hand, proving the value of your Yellow Pages investment can be quite easy.

Return on investment (ROI) can be more simply described as a measurement of how well your advertising is working. But, how do you determine your ROI and turn your advertising dollars into customers and profits?

The best way is to follow this simple seven-step process, a process that will show you exactly how to measure the effectiveness of your advertising:

One: Begin by determining the number of calls you receive from your Yellow Pages ad each month. Ask each caller where they found your number (note that if you live in an area that has two directories, be sure to ask which one).

Two: What's your conversion rate? What percentage of your calls turns into visits and sales? You should already have a good idea of what your conversion rate actually is, but if not, take a look at your yearly sales figures.

Three: Determine the number of visits made by those customers that found your business in the Yellow Pages by dividing the number of calls by your conversion rate.

Four: Plug in your average gross profit per visit made by a customer.

Five: To determine your total gross profit produced by Yellow Pages ads, multiply the number of converted calls from Yellow Pages ads by the above average gross margin.

Six: Plug in your monthly Yellow Pages investment.

Seven: Your overall net profit gain from Yellow Pages advertising is calculated by subtracting your Yellow Pages monthly investment from the total gross profit produced each month (sales minus costs).

Working Example

Let's use an example with some figures. Say your business receives 100 calls in a month's time and that your call conversion rate is two. Take 100 and divide by your conversion rate (two) to get 50 (the number of visits attributed to Yellow Pages customers). If your average gross profit per visit is $50 and you multiply that figure by the number of transactions made with Yellow Pages customers (50), you arrive at a total gross profit of $2,500.

If you determine that you spend $600 per month on your Yellow Pages ad and subtract that number from your total gross profit, you will arrive at your net profit gain. If these were your numbers, you would have received $1,900 per month in gross profit over and above the $600 investment you made in your Yellow Pages ad.

Following this formula aids in the marketing planning process and enables you to see how your advertising dollars are working and if they're being spent wisely.

Also keep in mind that your advertising investment is impacted by other crucial factors. One of those factors is your service team. The bottom line goal-the actual return-of a successful Yellow Pages ad is to get your phone to ring. If the person answering the phone at your place of business isn't knowledgeable, prompt and courteous, your business will suffer no matter how good your Yellow Pages ad is.

The Ad Itself

A The other important component is indeed the ad itself. To help stand out from other ads and drive business through your door, remember these four key elements:

• Your ad should break through the clutter
• Your ad should be relevant to your services, your business and your audience
• Your ad should be believable and factual, and
• Your ad must involve the reader.

Advertising-no matter what the medium-can literally make or break a business.

Currently, for example, 62.8 million potential buyers consult the "Optometrist" heading in the Yellow Pages each year, making it the 45th most-referenced heading (out of 4,200).

Moreover, according to a recent study, the Yellow Pages are considered the most informative and credible of the advertising mediums available to small business people. And, as this article suggests, it's also one whose return on investment can readily be calculated.

Clint E. Pollard is executive vice president, marketing for the Yellow Pages Publishers Association (YPPA). EB