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Essentials in
Get Famous
Listing Your Chapter in the Telephone Book
Help the public find your chapter. Here are some guidelines for your telephone book listings.
Updated: 7/25/2003 10:41:00 AM
Listing your chapter in the telephone book
How do people find you?
Before you determine the phone listing for your chapter, you must first decide on the phone that you will list for people to call: standard or cellular.
A cellular phone is the best option. It is available 24/7, totally portable and can be handed off to another chapter member when the primary person is out of town. With today’s competitive pricing plans, a cell phone is relatively inexpensive.
Choosing a cell phone company will require some easy research of companies in your area in order to get the most service for your money. Voice mail is an absolute necessity in any service plan.
Cellular plans vary in coverage area, minutes per service level and long-distance charges. As you do your research, it’s good to know your normal calling area for folks interested in attending shows and other performances. Be sure that whatever plan you select includes that area as part of the “local calling area.”
Your normal call experience will help you determine what the appropriate number of monthly minutes is for your chapter. Be realistic when selecting a service plan. It’s usually fairly simple to increase or decrease monthly minutes if you find the need to adjust them later.
Understand the company’s terminology regarding long distance. “Free long distance” generally means that long-distance calls can be made from the local calling area without any additional charge. The time will be subtracted from your monthly minutes. Additional fees would apply to calls made on your phone when outside the local calling area. Incoming calls usually do not incur any additional charges, but the time is subtracted from your monthly minutes.
As an alternative to cellular, a standard home telephone will work, providing it has voice mail or at least an answering machine. However, if the owner is unavailable calls will go unanswered. Again, your chapter’s typical monthly call volume will help you determine if a standard phone will be sufficient.
Check your voice mail or answering machine regularly – daily, if call volume warrants.
Yellow Pages listings
The recommended heading under which to list your chapter is “Entertainment—Family & Business.” Be alert to the fact that there is another listing, “Entertainment—Adult,” which is inappropriate for barbershop chapters.
There are several reasons why listing your chapter under Entertainment—Family & Business is preferable over other options. Under the heading “Clubs” you’ll often be told to “See Nightclubs.” The heading “Organizations” lists several different kinds of groups. “Fraternal Organizations” is not a place the general public would be likely to look for singers. And speaking of singers, the Yellow Pages do not have headings for “Singers,” “Choral” or Choral Singing.” This takes you back to “Entertainment—Family & Business” as the single-best choice.
Choosing your ad
The following information was provided by Barbershopper and noted emcee Carl Hancuff, who worked in the industry for several years.
You will find in the front two or three pages of the Yellow Pages a page that says "How to get in touch with us." Keep in mind, there is no connection between the Yellow Pages and the telephone company. They are separate entities.
Tell them you want to advertise in the next edition. All of these sales people are on straight commission and will try to "up sell" you. I suggest you hold your ground to one of the two following suggestions. The upside of all this is that they are very helpful as to what you can say or not say and how best to arrange it. Lean on them for this help.
Having been in the industry for more than12 years, here's my recommendation. It's called a 1 HS. This is a universal name that is used by all Yellow Page companies. It is a block in-column ad that is one column wide (the width will vary depending on how many columns you have in the Yellow Pages. The more columns the shorter in width it will be and ½ inch in height.
In a 1 HS, you get your name in bold print at the upper left corner of the ad, you can place up to three lines of text in the ad, and at the bottom left you can put the word “Call.....................................” and put the telephone number in the lower right hand corner. Your 1 HS would look something like this:
BARBERSHOP HARMONIZERS |
"Come Harmonize With Us" |
Methodist Church - 3rd & Main 8 p.m. Tuesdays |
Call.....................................................980-123-4567 |
The ends of this ad will be closed by the column line on each side. Notice I have only used two lines of text (The Barbershop Harmonizers is the name used and is no charge and the Call and phone number is also no charge). I suggest two lines of text to help them stand out. However, you might want to consider putting your web site in using the third line. Since our full name is too large to use in this type of advertising, I recommend we go with a name that prospective members would recognize, and because these ads are placed in alphabetical order a "B" would put you towards the top.
Second choice: A BOLD LISTING. In this type of advertising you could use your chapter or chorus name, or you might opt for the full Society name. Because of its length, the Society name will take up about three lines (with no box around it) and will certainly stand out. You do not have to list an address but it will include the cellular telephone number.
White Pages
It's a good idea to have a white pages listing, as well. This, too, should be under “Barbershop Harmony Society (chapter name)."
"Barbershop Harmony" is probably your best bet for the white pages listing, although you should check the phone book publisher's policy regarding "see also" pointers. Here in Kenosha, we're listed as "Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc.," but also have "Harmony Hall" listed with "see also Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America." Obviously, if they don't charge for that kind of cross-reference, you'll get more bang for the buck.
By the way, the sheer length of our name is an advantage here: it takes up more than three lines in the column, which really makes it stand out. It's like getting a free display ad in the white pages. Yet, because it's our legally registered business name, we are not charged extra for it. Great deal!
Newspaper listing
A regular listing in the local newspaper is worthwhile, too. This should run weekly on the day that your chapter meets. It should include time, place and phone number.
Choosing a phone number
Many phone companies will let you choose your own number, if it is available. Some charge for this, others will be accommodating. Have several letter/number combinations worked out in advance, then find out which exchanges your line would have to be on. You might be able to splice together a memorable phone number. Try fun combinations such as: SING (7464), SINGOUT (746-4688), SINGERS (746-4377), 4TET (4838), QTET (7838), HARMONY (427-6669), BRBRSHP (272-2247), PERFORM (737-3676).
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