Clients often ask if they should renew their YELLOW PAGES ad.
Our response:
“Yes”
“No”
“That depends.”
Can you guess why and under what conditions we’d say these 3 responses?
Make a comment and let us here your opinion:
“Yes, because . . . .”
“No, due to . . . .”
“That depends on . . . .”
YES because you have a specific coupon that’s designated for the yellow pages book and you know that’s where most of my coupons come from so it’s a great idea to keep that lead source out there.
NO if you are only doing it because you don’t know any other way out there to reach people.
NO if you are wanting to place the ad because that’s what everyone else in your industry is doing.
NO unless you can tell me WHICH yellow pages is the best (aren’t there like 5 or 6 of these big books around that get delivered to my doorstop?). Which has the best coverage area? Are the prices all the same. Does it give me an ad on the yellowpages.com online site?
MAYBE if you are willing to put a special code or phone # to put in the ad to differentiate it from your other advertising so you can track the results.
Hope that helps!
It depends on your product/service and your market…as well as what is ‘unique’ about your ad.
I’ve found that people only look for 2 things in the yellow pages:
1) the first company listed that is local to them. So if your company name starts with an ‘A’, you’re in good way. ‘G’? No one will find you.
2) the first 1/4 page ad that catches the reader’s eye…and is local. If you don’t have the 1/4 page ad and you only have a line listing, I think you are wasting your money and effort.
As aggravating as telemarketing and e-mail campaigns can be for the recipient, it costs much less than a yellow pages ad and offers (at the very least) a direct interaction with the consumer. The Yellow Pages ad does not offer that. I’d rather pay someone $10.00 and hour for 5 hours just to call the local residents and offer some kind of discount or promotion for my business than to plant a ‘plain vanilla’ ad in the middle of Yellow pages and hope for the best.
Jeff, great points. I would saw that email campaigns if done correctly can be far from aggravating and very easy to navigate. The problem is we’ve all been so “spammed” to death with Angelina Jolie and E.D. ads that we are scarred. We love iContact (www.iContact.com) and how user friendly it is and we recommend products like this highly just as long as its used correctly using permission-based emails and you don’t overdue your messages where people get sick of hearing from you.
Love the chatter!
oops – I guess I should have proofed my own comment !! I meant to say “I would SAY that email campaigns…” – although there are a few I’ve received that I wouldn’t mind running a saw through! HA
Thanks Jeff for your contribution here. Good counsel to small business owners. Offering something in the ad is essential – a free report, a coupon, or something unique. If you don’t offer anything but your contact info, then customers will likely skip right over.
I would say yes to a yellow pages ad if your business is local and offers a “need it now” kind of product like new tires, a wheel alignment, florist [especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to pick their flowers out personally], a local art supply store for the artist who needs just one tube of paint…that sort of thing.
No if your business is basically internet.
Maybe if your business would have a visible absence by NOT being there: in a listing with other attorneys, doctors…that sort of thing.
P.S. thanks for the info about i.Contact – I’ve seen this somewhere else so maybe I’d better check it out. – Linda
yes-if your a local business, seeking local more local business.
it depends- is there heading confusion in your business if you were to advertise your business there? if so your advertisment might not be nearly as effective
no-? only if you have no advertising budget, its the first dollar every local business owner should spend, even if its just in column ads that are mostly advertising to repeat customers. whats your roi?