I wrote this article because advertising in the yellow pages can be a very costly mistake that some business owners make. Earlier this week at one of our open marketing meetings someone asked: Do people still use the yellow pages? And someone commented yes when my grandson comes to visit I use it as a booster seat so he can sit at the table. That comment got a chuckle out of everyone at the table so I thought it was worth sharing a story about advertising in the yellow pages as a business. But, before we start, I suggest you to create your own application for your business, it’t easy to create on your own, you can buy app reviews as a promotion, and then you’ll get plenty of new clients and have great relationships with your existing clients.
So when do people use the yellow pages? when people need an emergency service right away like a locksmith, pest control, carpet cleaning or plumbing they run for the yellow pages. With that said let’s look at yellow page ad cost versus return in this example from one of our clients. A web development company was approached by one of the phone book companies and was told that they would get lots of calls by listing their business in the yellow pages of their metro phone book. They purchased a full-color quarter page ad for 1 year at $16,000. The yellow pages salesman was so convincing that this would bring in lots of phone calls and the business owner was so excited he also paid for a separate telephone number so he could track all the calls. Their average sale for a website was $500 – $2,500 so the owner thought it would only take about 20 calls for the yellow page ad to be paid off.
The business owner tracked all the calls that year from this number and here is how it broke down:
- 1 actual call about a web site that was just shopping around for websites for under $100
- 2 phone calls from people looking for an internet service provider(not something he offered)
- 2 phone calls from people looking for jobs
- 60+ solicitation calls from people trying to sell him something
His conclusion was that his typical customer was not looking in the yellow pages for his services and that not many people use the yellow pages anymore. He was out $16,000 but he learned a valuable lesson which made him look into the buying habits of his client base and where they really shop for his service.
The way to determine if yellow page ads are right for your business make sure that your customers are using this method in seeking your type of business. My advice is to ask someone you know in your line of business if they track their calls and how successful or not successful their yellow page ads are to gain a little insight. Some businesses do really well with yellow page ads.
This story is about 5 years old but the message still rings true… know where your customers shop for your services or products and you can save lots of money and time.