Jen Johnson From: heather@insurance_company.com To: jen@work.com Subject: Aaargh!! Hi, Jen. You’ll never believe what just happened! My job here at the insurance company just went from awesome to awful. No, hunky Ben down the hall didn’t just transfer to another department – it’s worse! My boss just called me in, gave me major kudos for my performance – so far so good – then put me in charge of…(gulp)…
YELLOW PAGES!
Wow, that’s going to go over great at the class reunion next year, don’t you think (sarcasm)? I can see it now… Jeff (Mr. Stockbroker): “So Heather, I hear you’re in advertising. Done anything I would recognize?” Me: “Well, uh, did you happen to see the Yellow Pages ad in the…” Jeff: (interrupting) “Gee, look at the time…I really need to go talk to…well, anybody.”
Nice!
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Jen, you know I’ve busted my butt to get noticed around here so I could get assigned to our network TV advertising. But being assigned Yellow
I just became invisible. Nobody gets excited about Yellow Pages.
Pages means
It’s like if it isn’t causing problems, that’s good enough. Well you know what I just decided? That’s not going to be good enough for me! If I’m going do Yellow Pages, I’m going to do it right. I’ll keep you posted. Heather
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THE LARGEST INVESTMENT YOU’VE EVER IGNORED. Did you know that you probably spend more on Yellow Pages than almost any other media? • Nearly one-fifth of the money spent on advertising by insurance companies goes to Yellow Pages. • Insurance companies spend almost twice as much on Yellow Pages as on network TV, magazines, or newspapers.
YELLOW PAGES IS NOT LIKE OTHER MEDIA. Yellow Pages is a unique medium with unique requirements and benefits. • Yellow Pages reaches prospects who have already decided to buy (88%). Most, however (54%), have not yet chosen which company they will use. • Since directories are distributed without charge (controlled circulation), selecting just the right directories for your ad requires a unique strategy.
YELLOW PAGES FOR INSURANCE IS NOT LIKE YELLOW PAGES FOR OTHER PRODUCTS. The “Insurance” heading attracts different people than the average Yellow Pages user. • They are younger (46% are 18-34, compared to 34% overall). • They are more likely to be a new customer (56% vs. 47%). • They are more mobile (31% vs. 26%).
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GOOD IS NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH. Advertising gets talked about. That’s because people like you make sure it does its job – by considering the strategy, the execution, and getting the best specialists involved each step of the way. Yet Yellow Pages advertising largely gets ignored unless there are specific problems. In today’s sophisticated and specialized world, it no longer makes sense to trust your program to a one-size-fits-all Yellow Pages generalist. Insurance is not like other industries, and your Yellow Pages program should not be either. It starts with understanding how Yellow Pages works in the insurance industry. Knowing where Yellow Pages fits in the process that leads a prospect down the path from awareness to making a specific purchase decision is the first step in turning Yellow Pages into a strategic tool.
THE INSURANCE BUYING PROCESS AWARENESS INTEREST PREFERENCE PURCHASE ONGOING EVALUATION
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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Jen Johnson From: heather@insurance_company.com To: jen@work.com Subject: Opportunity Knocks! Hey, Jen. My head is absolutely swimming.
It turns out there is a lot more to this Yellow Pages thing than I thought, especially for a product heading that gets referred to as often as “Insurance.” First I found out that the average person using Yellow Pages for insurance is different than the average person using Yellow Pages for other things. Big surprise, huh? Yet most Yellow Pages experts treat Yellow Pages advertising for insurance the same way they would any other industry. Which assumes people buy insurance the same way they buy pizza – you know how it goes, you’re with a group of friends on a weekend and someone says,
“HEY, WHO’S UP FOR ORDERING IN SOME INSURANCE?”
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I was even more surprised when I figured out that most of those experts (they’re called CMRs in Yellow Pages, short for “Certified Marketing Representative”) really only understand Yellow Pages, not other advertising. So their answer to every marketing problem is – you guessed it – more Yellow Pages. Believe it or not I’m starting to think
this Yellow Pages assignment is pretty cool. I know for a fact that I can
that
make a big difference. Heather
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UP THREE STEPS TO THE NEXT LEVEL. The process of advertising boils down to answering questions in three areas.
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MARKETING (Who are you trying to reach and what do you want them to do?)
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MEDIA (How do you reach them?)
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MESSAGE (What is your creative?)
Your advertising agency provides expertise in each of these three areas when you do consumer advertising. The same questions should be answered for Yellow Pages advertising by a CMR that has developed expertise in each of those areas, not just which directory you should be in.
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MARKETING Each insurance sale follows a process in which the buyer needs different levels of information each step of the way. When they turn to the Yellow Pages, almost nine out of ten prospects have already decided to buy insurance. Most have not chosen a company, however, so the objective is to get them to see your ad and to call you. That is not done by trying to bring attention to your phone number. It is done by bringing attention to why someone would want to use your phone number.
MEDIA While many CMRs develop an expertise in directory selection to the exclusion of other issues, choosing directories is actually the easiest of the three steps to the next level in Yellow Pages. Insurance prospects using Yellow Pages are more mobile than the average user. A move often triggers an insurance purchase. Since the utility directory is the only one given out to most new residents, they are the starting place, but not end-all, for any good program.
CREATIVE Look through any Yellow Pages directory, and you will see that most people consider creating Yellow Pages ads to be an entrylevel job at best. There is no revenue generated from ad development, just ad placement. But the day of “a good ad is a done ad� is quickly passing because an excellent opportunity exists to distinguish one company from another through better writing and art, not more color and size.
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Jen Johnson From: heather@insurance_company.com To: jen@work.com Subject: Great News! Well Jen, I’ve been in charge of Yellow Pages for almost a year now, and guess what – it has turned out to be the coolest assignment I’ve ever had.
With a little help I’ve been able to improve our program in every area! Our Yellow Pages function is no longer isolated. It’s
now an integrated part of our overall media strategy. And now the creative people who produce our Yellow Pages ads at our new agency-owned CMR are the same people who do award-winning radio, TV, and magazine ads. Which means we no longer have to buy bigger ads and more color to stand out. We’re doing that with ads that stand out. Overall we’re spending about the same on Yellow Pages – more in some areas and less in others. But the total impact has dramatically increased. Which means calls have dramaticly increased.
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Which means – WALAA – that sales have increased too! So guess who is anything but invisible with management around here – MOI!! In fact, because Yellow Pages has gone so well, I just got a promotion and an additional assignment to my Yellow Pages –
NETWORK TV! Not that it matters to me as much as it did a year ago, but it’s still just in time to make Jeff eat his heart out at our class reunion next month, don’t you think? Heather
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WesDay National Yellow Pages is a Yellow Pages CMR specializing in the insurance industry. WesDay is a division of Wesley Day Advertising, West Des Moines, Iowa, which has been refining Yellow Pages for insurance since 1949. WesDay National Yellow Pages is a fully integrated part of Wesley Day, not a standalone Yellow Pages service bureau. Which means we undertake Yellow Pages with the same mindset, personnel, and processes that we apply to full-service agency work. If there is a better way to do something, our top strategic people will tell you. Plus our unique understanding of how insurance prospects use Yellow Pages, how insurance companies sell insurance, and the most opportune times for insurance purchases lets us make the most effective directory recommendations. Finally, whether it’s choosing the right words to make your phone ring with an Extra Line in a Boldface Listing to developing a display ad that dominates the page and supports unique branding, WesDay takes your Yellow Pages to the next level by involving the same creative talent that produces award-winning radio, TV, and magazine ads to do the job. Good enough is never good enough at WesDay, where we take insurance Yellow Pages to the next level.
Specializing in the Insurance Industry 1441 29th Street, Suite 111 West Des Moines, Iowa 50266-6500 Phone: (515) 224-9330 Fax: (515) 224-6737 E-mail: info@wda.com