99+ Ways Advertising in Yellow Pages
Advertising in Yellow Pages - Some people believe that yellow pages do not receive response like other advertising methods do and this is true to some extent but not in totality. When talking about traditional yellow pages, there sure is a decline in number of people opting for advertising in it. According to a recent report, even the most attractive advertisement in a particular section is not getting the response from callers like they used to get before. On the contrary, the prices of placing ads in directories are on a rise, which speaks a different, story altogether.
In reality different categories are witnessing different rates of decline. Like the lawyers category is seeing the maximum decline, where as emergency service provider's section has the same call rate. And sections like mobile phones, real estate and furniture are seeing a rise due to the increasing customer demand. Altering the size of the advertisement or changing the look cannot do wonders any more.
In reality different categories are witnessing different rates of decline. Like the lawyers category is seeing the maximum decline, where as emergency service provider's section has the same call rate. And sections like mobile phones, real estate and furniture are seeing a rise due to the increasing customer demand. Altering the size of the advertisement or changing the look cannot do wonders any more.
Advertising in Yellow Pages
Experts suggest that relying on yellow pages to get customers isn't enough. Other options should be considered as well along with it. With the Internet reaching every home, nearly half of the Internet users use the net everyday. They prefer to buy stuff online, from the comfort of their homes. Research should be done on the Internet to get reviews about the product. People, who don't usually shop online, also are also opting to shop online as information is provided at the click of a mouse. It is easier for people to trust as customers who used the product give their feedback about the product after using it.
A relatively newer concept is the yellow pages going online. The good thing about them is that they are updated frequently unlike the printed directories and can be viewed from any part of the world. According to researches conducted, the response increased by twenty five percent every year. So those who are interested to invest in yellow pages advertising can think of going online. Directories are submitted to search engines, which on typing a keyword or phrase bring the results. Small and local businesses, too, can land on the pages brought by the result. The cost of creating a website can be saved if all the relevant information about the company is included in the online yellow pages. Look out for the date to renew the directory listing, and if there is a need to change the advertisement, it is not a big problem on online yellow pages. Some starter websites offer to place advertisement in their yellow pages for free. Search out for such websites on the Internet.
Larger businesses can start their own websites and place links in the online yellow pages. Articles can be framed about the business and can be submitted to Ezines and websites related to the area of business. Some websites also allow posting articles for free. The purpose of the yellow pages is basically to get potential customers but that doesn't mean that existing customers should be neglected. Steps should be taken to strengthen the relationship with them and to retain their trust by maintaining the standard of the products supplied to them. Once they are completely satisfied, the price-rise won't bother them and they will talk about the company to people they know, which will fetch new customers.
The objective is to work smartly and select the right method of advertising. If a business isn't using any other method for advertising apart from using yellow pages, it can cause problems and the products may not sell. Analyze how much money is spent on placing ads in directories and estimate whether the amount of customers the business gets is desirable. Whenever a call is received from a potential customer, ask them how they got to know about the enterprise. This will help to analyze which advertising method is ideal for the business. It is never late to correct the mistake and go for the right method.
A relatively newer concept is the yellow pages going online. The good thing about them is that they are updated frequently unlike the printed directories and can be viewed from any part of the world. According to researches conducted, the response increased by twenty five percent every year. So those who are interested to invest in yellow pages advertising can think of going online. Directories are submitted to search engines, which on typing a keyword or phrase bring the results. Small and local businesses, too, can land on the pages brought by the result. The cost of creating a website can be saved if all the relevant information about the company is included in the online yellow pages. Look out for the date to renew the directory listing, and if there is a need to change the advertisement, it is not a big problem on online yellow pages. Some starter websites offer to place advertisement in their yellow pages for free. Search out for such websites on the Internet.
Larger businesses can start their own websites and place links in the online yellow pages. Articles can be framed about the business and can be submitted to Ezines and websites related to the area of business. Some websites also allow posting articles for free. The purpose of the yellow pages is basically to get potential customers but that doesn't mean that existing customers should be neglected. Steps should be taken to strengthen the relationship with them and to retain their trust by maintaining the standard of the products supplied to them. Once they are completely satisfied, the price-rise won't bother them and they will talk about the company to people they know, which will fetch new customers.
The objective is to work smartly and select the right method of advertising. If a business isn't using any other method for advertising apart from using yellow pages, it can cause problems and the products may not sell. Analyze how much money is spent on placing ads in directories and estimate whether the amount of customers the business gets is desirable. Whenever a call is received from a potential customer, ask them how they got to know about the enterprise. This will help to analyze which advertising method is ideal for the business. It is never late to correct the mistake and go for the right method.
Is Internet Yellow Page Advertising Worth It?
In geographic markets where fewer people are using the print Yellow Page books, many local advertisers are pulling back and shifting their precious advertising dollars to the web. Sensing this, the Yellow Page companies have started selling their own suite of online products. Are they worth it?
The future of marketing is online
Do you advertise on the Internet Yellow Pages websites? With the demise of their print products, Yellow Page sales reps are quickly shifting their focus to the Internet. Frequently, they use the business owner's lack of understanding about the web to maximize their commission gains at the expense of the business owner's profit.
One day Bob Perini from DrinkMore Water was having a conversation with a friend of his, the owner of another bottled water company in a different geographic market. They were talking about the decline in the performance of the print Yellow Pages. Bob's friend mentioned that while the print books' performance is rapidly declining, Internet Yellow Page advertising, specifically with Yellowpages.com, was his top marketing strategy. Even though Bob's friend admitted that his feelings were based on purely anecdotal evidence, Bob was interested and immediately called a meeting with Yellowpages.com.
We created an ad just like Bob's friend did (see Figure 1, below), but we overlaid the Blue Corona measurement and tracking system to accurately measure and track the results. Here's a look:
The importance of tracking and marketing analytics
Again, notice the specific phone number assigned to the ad. Blue Corona's ad tracking system uses dynamic number replacement technology so this phone number follows the person viewing the ad regardless of whether they click on DrinkMore's banner – which links to the main DMW website. They can call from the Yellowpages.com listing or they can click on the banner on Yellowpages.com, go to the DMW website and make an inquiry or a purchase. But no matter when the person picks up the phone (from Yellowpages.com or from Drinkmorewater.com), the call is tracked back to the original Yellowpages.com ad. This is an incredibly important feature of the Blue Corona tracking system (it's called Dynamic Number Replacement). The phone number in the ad carries over to the website so that anyone who started by clicking the ad will only be able to call the phone number associated with that ad campaign. That is almost complete trackability.
No longer can the Yellowpages.com sales reps infer that because DMW's website is generally a great marketing tool, the clicks sent to DMW's website from Yellowpages.com always do something of value. Their line that people using the Yellowpages.com are there to buy is often times incorrect
online yellow page results
Well, it was a little bit painful to show that data from Figure 2 to Bob Perini. DMW is paying $360.00 per month for that ad on a one year contract. As you can quickly surmise, DMW will be out of Yellowpages.com directory shortly. As a follow-up test, we created paid ads on all of the major Yellow Page websites – again, giving each one a specific tracking phone number
all online yellowpage sites
From June to October, 96 total calls were generated from DMW's ads on the 3 major Internet Yellow Pages websites (see Figure 4). Of the 96 calls, 15 came from auto-dialers (robot calls), 25 from other sales reps and only one was a lead that became a sale. Considering the cost per month for each of these ads, our recommendation to Bob was to cancel them. Could they increase in value in the future? Maybe, but is there any chance that Yellowpages.com is ever going to be one of DMW's top marketing strategies? Highly doubtful – just like their print products, if there is a way to oversell and under deliver, the Yellow Page sales reps will find a way to do it.
yellowpage website phone calls
Figure 5 is a glimpse of the online activity for the same time period. Superpages.com sent 126 visitors to DMW's website in 5 months (that's less than one visit per day). Of these, one inquired about delivery service and none made an online purchase. Yellowboss.com sent 8 visitors – without a paid listing. This might be a place to test a paid ad in the future to see if we could get more visitors.
Conclusion on Internet yellow page advertising
By accurately tracking every Yellow Page website – the phone calls and the online leads (independently – not using the Yellow Page's in-house tracking) – Bob Perini from DrinkMore Water has focused the vast majority of his budget on SEO and PPC campaigns (not run by the Yellow Pages). While some Yellow Page websites may become more effective in the future, at present nearly all of them are over-priced for his business.
The takeaway is not that you shouldn't run Yellow Page ads – print or online – for your plumbing, hvac, roofing, etc. company. It's that accurate tracking is critically important and a requirement to make intelligent advertising decisions. To receive other case studies like this one, please sign up for our monthly email newsletter by putting your email address in the box on the right side-bar of this webiste ("Get Monthly Online Marketing Tips"). Alternatively, you can enter your website address in the box below and see how your site stacks up against the competition!
In geographic markets where fewer people are using the print Yellow Page books, many local advertisers are pulling back and shifting their precious advertising dollars to the web. Sensing this, the Yellow Page companies have started selling their own suite of online products. Are they worth it?
The future of marketing is online
Do you advertise on the Internet Yellow Pages websites? With the demise of their print products, Yellow Page sales reps are quickly shifting their focus to the Internet. Frequently, they use the business owner's lack of understanding about the web to maximize their commission gains at the expense of the business owner's profit.
One day Bob Perini from DrinkMore Water was having a conversation with a friend of his, the owner of another bottled water company in a different geographic market. They were talking about the decline in the performance of the print Yellow Pages. Bob's friend mentioned that while the print books' performance is rapidly declining, Internet Yellow Page advertising, specifically with Yellowpages.com, was his top marketing strategy. Even though Bob's friend admitted that his feelings were based on purely anecdotal evidence, Bob was interested and immediately called a meeting with Yellowpages.com.
We created an ad just like Bob's friend did (see Figure 1, below), but we overlaid the Blue Corona measurement and tracking system to accurately measure and track the results. Here's a look:
The importance of tracking and marketing analytics
Again, notice the specific phone number assigned to the ad. Blue Corona's ad tracking system uses dynamic number replacement technology so this phone number follows the person viewing the ad regardless of whether they click on DrinkMore's banner – which links to the main DMW website. They can call from the Yellowpages.com listing or they can click on the banner on Yellowpages.com, go to the DMW website and make an inquiry or a purchase. But no matter when the person picks up the phone (from Yellowpages.com or from Drinkmorewater.com), the call is tracked back to the original Yellowpages.com ad. This is an incredibly important feature of the Blue Corona tracking system (it's called Dynamic Number Replacement). The phone number in the ad carries over to the website so that anyone who started by clicking the ad will only be able to call the phone number associated with that ad campaign. That is almost complete trackability.
No longer can the Yellowpages.com sales reps infer that because DMW's website is generally a great marketing tool, the clicks sent to DMW's website from Yellowpages.com always do something of value. Their line that people using the Yellowpages.com are there to buy is often times incorrect
online yellow page results
Well, it was a little bit painful to show that data from Figure 2 to Bob Perini. DMW is paying $360.00 per month for that ad on a one year contract. As you can quickly surmise, DMW will be out of Yellowpages.com directory shortly. As a follow-up test, we created paid ads on all of the major Yellow Page websites – again, giving each one a specific tracking phone number
all online yellowpage sites
From June to October, 96 total calls were generated from DMW's ads on the 3 major Internet Yellow Pages websites (see Figure 4). Of the 96 calls, 15 came from auto-dialers (robot calls), 25 from other sales reps and only one was a lead that became a sale. Considering the cost per month for each of these ads, our recommendation to Bob was to cancel them. Could they increase in value in the future? Maybe, but is there any chance that Yellowpages.com is ever going to be one of DMW's top marketing strategies? Highly doubtful – just like their print products, if there is a way to oversell and under deliver, the Yellow Page sales reps will find a way to do it.
yellowpage website phone calls
Figure 5 is a glimpse of the online activity for the same time period. Superpages.com sent 126 visitors to DMW's website in 5 months (that's less than one visit per day). Of these, one inquired about delivery service and none made an online purchase. Yellowboss.com sent 8 visitors – without a paid listing. This might be a place to test a paid ad in the future to see if we could get more visitors.
Conclusion on Internet yellow page advertising
By accurately tracking every Yellow Page website – the phone calls and the online leads (independently – not using the Yellow Page's in-house tracking) – Bob Perini from DrinkMore Water has focused the vast majority of his budget on SEO and PPC campaigns (not run by the Yellow Pages). While some Yellow Page websites may become more effective in the future, at present nearly all of them are over-priced for his business.
The takeaway is not that you shouldn't run Yellow Page ads – print or online – for your plumbing, hvac, roofing, etc. company. It's that accurate tracking is critically important and a requirement to make intelligent advertising decisions. To receive other case studies like this one, please sign up for our monthly email newsletter by putting your email address in the box on the right side-bar of this webiste ("Get Monthly Online Marketing Tips"). Alternatively, you can enter your website address in the box below and see how your site stacks up against the competition!
11 Reasons Why Your Business Should NOT Advertise with Yellow Pages
One of the most interesting facets of blogging comes with keyword research of one's own website. For example, I was going over the different phrases searchers had used during these past 3 weeks to find The Sales Lion and found quite an interesting pattern in terms of small businesses and their concerns regarding Yellow Pages. In fact, I think the following statements/questions are perfectly symbolic of the debate that is raging amongst thousands of small businesses all over the country trying to spend their advertising dollars wisely.
So in an effort to prevent any more business owners from using their hard-earned bucks on dead-end advertising, here are 11 of YOUR most interesting questions/thoughts (only exact search phrases have been used), and my responses:
1. Why so expensive to place Verizon yellow page ads in books?
Let me take a gander at this one by giving a short history lesson. At one time, the Verizon Yellow Pages was the evil empire of the advertising world. They managed to set up a paradigm amongst small businesses everywhere that success in life and in businesses ran through that little yellow book of theirs. They also established pricing structures that made it very difficult for business owners to down-size their ads when they realized the costs were too high. Such made for a financially debilitating cycle for many business owners. Luckily for all though, this little thing called 'The Internet' was invented and businesses far and wide celebrated cost effective advertising and marketing solutions that actually worked….Yeeee Hawwww!
2. Should I pay for yellow pages?
Uhhm, in a nutshell, NO, unless you're the type that loves flinging dollar bills off of country bridges…. Listing your company name, number, and domain address is fine. Beyond that though, you're going to pay ridiculous amounts of money that could be better spent elsewhere.
3. How dead are yellow page books?
Can you say dead as Elvis?? In fact, I wrote an article about this recently explaining how the advertising model of yellow pages simply doesn't fit the mind of today's consumer. Today's consumer searches online before they do anything else. Their first step towards making a purchasing is essentially the first keys they hit on their computers at work or at home to begin the information gathering process.
Although there are certainly a few that would disagree with my Elvis analogy, it's safe to say that Yellow Pages, at least the 'book' form, won't be around in a few more years as businesses get smarter and smarter with their advertising dollars
4. Why should big companies advertise in yellow pages?
Because big companies are well-known to waste thousands of adverting dollars freely and if they're going to do that, then there is no way better than with the Yellow Pages. But seriously, if a big company is still heavily investing in Yellow Pages advertising in this day and age then they likely need to fire their head of marketing.
5. Life without yellow pages: How it's impacted my business
Life without wasting money is AWESOME. At least, that's my opinion. Since my company stopped advertising in the Yellow Pages last year (other than our name, number, and website listing) we have saved an average of $2,000 per month. For all math gurus, that $24,000 a year. Do you know how much killer web marketing can be done with $24,000 a year?? Holy cow, the possibilities are through the roof. This is also why I'm always shocked when businesses squawk over spending less than $10,000 a year on a lead generation machine and Content Management System like Hubspot when they're essentially burning money in the campfire with the crazy amounts they're paying in YP advertising.
6. Small businesses need to be in the yellow pages
And I need to saw my ankle off with a spoon….Ouch, OK, maybe that's not the best analogy, but the idea that a company has to be in the Yellow Pages to be successful is absolutely absurd. Yes, there are a few businesses where phone book listings are still very beneficial, like pizza delivery companies, but even they are now seeing more and more of their phone calls and orders being placed online. So, let's all say it together:
7. Yellow pages waste of money in 2017
This article was originally written in 2010 and the truth of this statement has been, and continues to be, very true. Don't waste your money on yellow page advertising.
8. My business moved do I have to pay my yellow pages ad?
This search phrase gave me a nice snicker. Just think, if this person's marketing was all internet based, he could make the necessary changes at NO COST. Instead, he's stuck paying for words on a yellow sheet of paper that are sending customers to the wrong address. OUCH.
9. Why should a business not buy a yellow pages ad?
Boy, could I list about 50 reasons for this one, but we'll just give 4 for the sake of time:
The majority of consumers in our country won't even crack the book open in 2010.
The costs are an utter RIP-OFF and would be much better spent on a content-driven web presence.
The ROI stinks.
We are, for all intents and purposes, a global economy. The ideas of companies simply marketing towards one or two towns/cities is going the way of the dinosaur.
10. What if I can't pay my yellow page ad?
Man, I feel for you. Heck, I feel for all the small business owners out there that have been swooned into thinking the Yellow Pages is still a viable marketing platform. But to answer your question, if I were your accountant I'd just go ahead and put the Yellow Pages at the back of my 'To-Pay' list.
11. Death to yellow pages
Ahhh, I like this phrase. I'm not sure if the person that typed it in was asking a question or if they were making a toast. So if they were asking a question, please refer back to #3. If the person was making a toast, then I'm raising my glass to that!
One of the most interesting facets of blogging comes with keyword research of one's own website. For example, I was going over the different phrases searchers had used during these past 3 weeks to find The Sales Lion and found quite an interesting pattern in terms of small businesses and their concerns regarding Yellow Pages. In fact, I think the following statements/questions are perfectly symbolic of the debate that is raging amongst thousands of small businesses all over the country trying to spend their advertising dollars wisely.
So in an effort to prevent any more business owners from using their hard-earned bucks on dead-end advertising, here are 11 of YOUR most interesting questions/thoughts (only exact search phrases have been used), and my responses:
1. Why so expensive to place Verizon yellow page ads in books?
Let me take a gander at this one by giving a short history lesson. At one time, the Verizon Yellow Pages was the evil empire of the advertising world. They managed to set up a paradigm amongst small businesses everywhere that success in life and in businesses ran through that little yellow book of theirs. They also established pricing structures that made it very difficult for business owners to down-size their ads when they realized the costs were too high. Such made for a financially debilitating cycle for many business owners. Luckily for all though, this little thing called 'The Internet' was invented and businesses far and wide celebrated cost effective advertising and marketing solutions that actually worked….Yeeee Hawwww!
2. Should I pay for yellow pages?
Uhhm, in a nutshell, NO, unless you're the type that loves flinging dollar bills off of country bridges…. Listing your company name, number, and domain address is fine. Beyond that though, you're going to pay ridiculous amounts of money that could be better spent elsewhere.
3. How dead are yellow page books?
Can you say dead as Elvis?? In fact, I wrote an article about this recently explaining how the advertising model of yellow pages simply doesn't fit the mind of today's consumer. Today's consumer searches online before they do anything else. Their first step towards making a purchasing is essentially the first keys they hit on their computers at work or at home to begin the information gathering process.
Although there are certainly a few that would disagree with my Elvis analogy, it's safe to say that Yellow Pages, at least the 'book' form, won't be around in a few more years as businesses get smarter and smarter with their advertising dollars
4. Why should big companies advertise in yellow pages?
Because big companies are well-known to waste thousands of adverting dollars freely and if they're going to do that, then there is no way better than with the Yellow Pages. But seriously, if a big company is still heavily investing in Yellow Pages advertising in this day and age then they likely need to fire their head of marketing.
5. Life without yellow pages: How it's impacted my business
Life without wasting money is AWESOME. At least, that's my opinion. Since my company stopped advertising in the Yellow Pages last year (other than our name, number, and website listing) we have saved an average of $2,000 per month. For all math gurus, that $24,000 a year. Do you know how much killer web marketing can be done with $24,000 a year?? Holy cow, the possibilities are through the roof. This is also why I'm always shocked when businesses squawk over spending less than $10,000 a year on a lead generation machine and Content Management System like Hubspot when they're essentially burning money in the campfire with the crazy amounts they're paying in YP advertising.
6. Small businesses need to be in the yellow pages
And I need to saw my ankle off with a spoon….Ouch, OK, maybe that's not the best analogy, but the idea that a company has to be in the Yellow Pages to be successful is absolutely absurd. Yes, there are a few businesses where phone book listings are still very beneficial, like pizza delivery companies, but even they are now seeing more and more of their phone calls and orders being placed online. So, let's all say it together:
7. Yellow pages waste of money in 2017
This article was originally written in 2010 and the truth of this statement has been, and continues to be, very true. Don't waste your money on yellow page advertising.
8. My business moved do I have to pay my yellow pages ad?
This search phrase gave me a nice snicker. Just think, if this person's marketing was all internet based, he could make the necessary changes at NO COST. Instead, he's stuck paying for words on a yellow sheet of paper that are sending customers to the wrong address. OUCH.
9. Why should a business not buy a yellow pages ad?
Boy, could I list about 50 reasons for this one, but we'll just give 4 for the sake of time:
The majority of consumers in our country won't even crack the book open in 2010.
The costs are an utter RIP-OFF and would be much better spent on a content-driven web presence.
The ROI stinks.
We are, for all intents and purposes, a global economy. The ideas of companies simply marketing towards one or two towns/cities is going the way of the dinosaur.
10. What if I can't pay my yellow page ad?
Man, I feel for you. Heck, I feel for all the small business owners out there that have been swooned into thinking the Yellow Pages is still a viable marketing platform. But to answer your question, if I were your accountant I'd just go ahead and put the Yellow Pages at the back of my 'To-Pay' list.
11. Death to yellow pages
Ahhh, I like this phrase. I'm not sure if the person that typed it in was asking a question or if they were making a toast. So if they were asking a question, please refer back to #3. If the person was making a toast, then I'm raising my glass to that!
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