$ 379. monthly

13 years ago

Super easy to get clients. Most people dont realize that the yellow pages are dying out. Now, they will never fully be gone, but the days of looking through a 6 inch thick phone book are gone.

Most of my clients are with me as result of the lack of exposure in YP. They spend hundreds, if not thousands a month for mediocre results. With me they get consistency and reliability and actual service. Those of you starting out in the offline business...YP is your new client list

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saggsee

13 years ago

Originally Posted by sprks79

Super easy to get clients. Most people dont realize that the yellow pages are dying out. Now, they will never fully be gone, but the days of looking through a 6 inch thick phone book are gone.

Most of my clients are with me as result of the lack of exposure in YP. They spend hundreds, if not thousands a month for mediocre results. With me they get consistency and reliability and actual service. Those of you starting out in the offline business...YP is your new client list

Excellent piece of advice thank you.

Here in the UK we got YP and Thompson Local two client lists...

Thanks

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Seth Anderson

13 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I would think it pretty easy to find 10 clients just like me which would enable many to replace their income or just make a great deal of extra income.

All you have to do is try !

Enterpryzman

Do you have any suggestions in how to get started in this type of offline? I have only done online marketing

Thanks

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Peter Livingston

13 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I just renewed my yellow pages ad for my local business and it went up $ 7. monthly to a new total of $ 379.

The only reason I am telling you this is because some simply don't get how much it actually does cost to have a small ad in the phone book.

A few years ago, I reduced my ad sizes ( previously paid almost $ 1,000. monthly ) and they are now only 1-inch tall ( I have 2 locations in same town requiring 2 such ads ) I have devoted a great deal of effort to my own offline to online merger and it has served me very well.

Had I not been able to do these things myself, I would have easily agreed to pay at least a few hundred dollars monthly to enable me to later drop my yellow page ads big time.

I would think it pretty easy to find 10 clients just like me which would enable many to replace their income or just make a great deal of extra income.

All you have to do is try !

Enterpryzman

Inspiring post..thanks!

Thanks

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sjohn

13 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I just renewed my yellow pages ad for my local business and it went up $ 7. monthly to a new total of $ 379.

The only reason I am telling you this is because some simply don't get how much it actually does cost to have a small ad in the phone book.

A few years ago, I reduced my ad sizes ( previously paid almost $ 1,000. monthly ) and they are now only 1-inch tall ( I have 2 locations in same town requiring 2 such ads ) I have devoted a great deal of effort to my own offline to online merger and it has served me very well.

Had I not been able to do these things myself, I would have easily agreed to pay at least a few hundred dollars monthly to enable me to later drop my yellow page ads big time.

I would think it pretty easy to find 10 clients just like me which would enable many to replace their income or just make a great deal of extra income.

All you have to do is try !

Enterpryzman

Thanks for your post.
Any tips on how you would approach and get a client?

Thanks
1 reply

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marketingrep4u

13 years ago

Don't under estimate the YP. Although their printed book product is dying, they're killing it when it comes to new product creation and what they refer to as non-traditional revenue.

YP still builds over 15,000 websites every month. They offer local and mobile solutions just like the rest of us.

They have the financial resources and talent pool to evolve into whatever the market demands.

I think it's a huge misconception to think that YP is an inferior competitor.

Don't let your guard down!

Advertising Solutions - Internet Listings

How-To Tidbits « A-Fect -Dealing with the Internet

In Evolving Media Landscape, Yellow Pages and Search Engines Are Go-To Sources for Consumers Shopping Locally « Local Search Insider

Rich

Thanks
1 reply

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enterpryzman

13 years ago

Originally Posted by marketingrep4u

Don't under estimate the YP. Although their printed book product is dying, they're killing it when it comes to new product creation and what they refer to as non-traditional revenue.

YP still builds over 15,000 websites every month. They offer local and mobile solutions just like the rest of us.

They have the financial resources and talent pool to evolve into whatever the market demands.

I think it's a huge misconception to think that YP is an inferior competitor.

Don't let your guard down!

Advertising Solutions - Internet Listings

How-To Tidbits « A-Fect -Dealing with the Internet

In Evolving Media Landscape, Yellow Pages and Search Engines Are Go-To Sources for Consumers Shopping Locally « Local Search Insider

Rich

I certainly don't think I could do without it 100% and I was obviously not talking about their online ability, this was clearly about the book, nothing else they provide as was stated in the OP.

Unfortunately, I will always have some type of ad in the yellow pages but it will remain smaller than it once was. To attempt to drop it all together would be stupid in my and many other's cases.

Based on what I was paying prior to now, I am saving over $ 600. monthly which is too much to not consider. All cost in business is rising, my employee health premiums went up 45% this year ( single employee cost me $ 1,151. monthly ) and it is important to find savings some place, especially when it can assure me more business from the online community in the future.

Enterpryzman

Thanks

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surfless

13 years ago

I was considering yp for advertising, but that, i feel is a bit ridiculous for advertising costs. Do the phone books really give a ROI worth justifying the cost?

Thanks
1 reply

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HMartin 13 years ago

Enterpryzman,

Can you show us a scanned copy of your ad so that we may offer feedback?
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- enterpryzman 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by HMartin
  
  Enterpryzman,
  
  Can you show us a scanned copy of your ad so that we may offer feedback?
  
  I do not want to show exact details of my offline business however, I will tell you that it is nothing but the name of the business in BOLD letters and includes an extra line for my website to be displayed, these are not even box style ads. Nothing to critique or provide feedback with regards to art work, text, ect....only name-address-phone-url . It is one of 7 such business's within my small town of about 20,000 population.
  
  Enterpryzman
  
  Thanks
  
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WebdevelopmentGroup

13 years ago

I know this may seem a little of topic. But if in the future you need help advertising or marketing offline, I can help you 100%.

Advertising on the yellow pages is drying out completely- There's tuns of alternatives out there. And overall with the rite help you can get the clientele you need.

Best of luck to you-

Thanks
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enterpryzman

13 years ago

Originally Posted by WebdevelopmentGroup

I know this may seem a little of topic. But if in the future you need help advertising or marketing offline, I can help you 100%.

Advertising on the yellow pages is drying out completely- There's tuns of alternatives out there. And overall with the rite help you can get the clientele you need.

Best of luck to you-

I appreciate your thoughts however, you need to be aware that some business MUST continue to be listed and to drop it would be very bad advice for anyone to give them. My business would never be able to maintain without some phone book listings, as would many-many service driven business ventures.

If you own a service business that derives income from making sales based on certain life events that are unplanned, you rely on being able to be found when such events happen. It is true that many have cell phones and would call directory assistance if away from their computer BUT, not everyone will quit using the phone book.

I will tell you that mine are funeral service related companies and when a death happens you are often times at a hospital or nursing home and have no internet access to use for making contact. You do however have access to a phone book and actually in many of these places they will put you in a room with a phone book and tell you to select and call a funeral home or crematory.

Keep in mind that many making such arrangements are older who first think of phone books, not the Internet.

This is just one example, it could be a lawyer, a plumber, a towing service, and the list goes on and on. If you ever talk one of these types of business into dropping their phone book listings, you are serving only yourself and absolutely not them.

Enterpryzman

Thanks
2 replies

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HMartin 13 years ago

How do you distinguish yourself from your competition, apart from the size of the ad?
Have you given any thought to education based marketing?
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- enterpryzman 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by HMartin
  
  How do you distinguish yourself from your competition, apart from the size of the ad?
  Have you given any thought to education based marketing?
  
  I have a very successful business, we completely control our local market ( we serve 64 % of the market doing almost 4x the volume of my closest competition ) as a result of ongoing marketing of that type ( at least 10 years ) and many-many other creative technics combined with HUGE customer service and satisfaction. I also mail surveys to every client family that is very detailed and I make changes accordingly however, my satisfaction rate based on surveys completed is in the high 90's percentile and has never been below 96 %. When dealing with consumers in general, I feel that is pretty good. No matter what you do to get customers, if you ( any service business ) can't produce and serve,don't waste your time getting clients....at the end of the day, reputation and word of mouth means far more than anything else you could do as a local business.
  
  We grow a couple of percent yearly when in reality it is more about maintaining market share rather than growth to me. It is unrealistic for me to think I would gain even more % of the market and that would mean I would have to hire more employee's to correctly serve them ( already have 21 FT ). I am quite happy in the present position we enjoy.
  
  My brand is well known and the phone book simply helps me provide contact info for clients when needed. My online marketing helps me be found by out of town clients.
  
  I hope some of this helps,
  Enterpryzman
  
  Thanks
  
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Steven Carl Kelly

13 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I will tell you that mine are funeral service related companies and when a death happens you are often times at a hospital or nursing home and have no internet access to use for making contact. You do however have access to a phone book and actually in many of these places they will put you in a room with a phone book and tell you to select and call a funeral home or crematory.

My brother passed away just over a month ago. As we stood by his bedside in ICU, just minutes after he passed, the hospital staff asked us what we wanted to do with his body. My sister-in-law was in no shape to deal with it, and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said to me: "I want you to handle everything". My mother said she was going to pay for his final expenses, and that because of his wishes we should have an private crematory pick up his body.

I took out my smartphone and Googled "private crematory" and the city where he lived. I called their 24 hour number, and after answering a few questions the arrangements were made for his body to be picked up and taken to be cremated. Paperwork pending, of course.

Had I not had my phone and internet access, I guess it would have been the yellow pages for me.

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enterpryzman

13 years ago

Interestingly, I got a customer service survey from YB today asking for suggestions.....no way, I am not making suggestions. I only use the book because I have no choice.

Enterpryzman

Thanks

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Leonard45

Banned 13 years ago

[DELETED]

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enterpryzman

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Leonard45

That actually depends on your competition. Ads should be directly proportional to your competition.

I explained above that I do not agree in any way that it depends ( book use ) in certain industries, that is simply not true. In certain service industries, if you are not in the book and able to be reached by anyone with or without a computer, you are not a very wise business owner.

I am not just involved in marketing online as are many-many are here, I am an owner of a business who knows what it takes to stay in business offline.

Some here have implied to me ( not you ) that I could replace my book ads completely online, I have even had PM's offering to try and help me do so. After laughing at the crazy thought of that, I said a prayer that my competition was dumb enough to actually listen to such poor advice....LOL

Enterpryzman

Thanks
1 reply

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Amagi71

13 years ago

Originally Posted by enterpryzman

I explained above that I do not agree in any way that it depends ( book use ) in certain industries, that is simply not true. In certain service industries, if you are not in the book and able to be reached by anyone with or without a computer, you are not a very wise business owner.

I am not just involved in marketing online as are many-many are here, I am an owner of a business who knows what it takes to stay in business offline.

Some here have implied to me ( not you ) that I could replace my book ads completely online, I have even had PM's offering to try and help me do so. After laughing at the crazy thought of that, I said a prayer that my competition was dumb enough to actually listen to such poor advice....LOL

Enterpryzman

I have to agree here. YP for some businesses is no less important now that it was pre-internet. The problems for so many businesses using YP books boils down to a few basic things in my observance:

1. They have no idea whether the ad is actually making sales or not and therefore no idea whether the ad is justifying its own cost. They are advertising for the sake of advertising without actually measuring the results, e.g., the phone number they use in the ad is the same as the one in the white pages and every other form of advertising they use so if they get a call they don’t know whether the ad generated the call or not.

2. They leave the creation of the ad to the people at YP. This has to be one of the worst things they do. Presumably, they are operating under the false idea that the people at YP are marketing experts who know how to create compelling ads that make sales, when in fact, they are only experts at selling the ad space they are charging big dollars for.

3. The ad that they create or have created for them doesn’t feature any basic components of compelling copy. The ad is devoid of benefits (or contains the same standard benefits everyone else uses and the customer already expects: “best price!”, “best quality!”, “best selection!”), seldom has a compelling headline, and virtually never has a compelling call to action.

4. They are paying a lot of money per square inch for the ad but it’s wasted when the ad is cluttered with worthless images and/or logos that don’t resonate with the target customer and could otherwise be used for more compelling, benefits-laden copy. I recall one time seeing a near full page ad for a moving company. It must have cost a lot of money. Probably 20-25 percent of the ad space was taken up with the picture of a moose’s head. Not sure how that’s supposed to compel me to choose them as my moving company. What a waste.

5. The ads often don’t have links to the website of the business in question. This is assuming that the business has a website which many do not. Those that do have a website don’t set up the ad correctly to be able determine whether hits to their website are actually coming from the ad, i.e., much like having the same phone number in both the yellow pages and the white pages, they have no way of measuring whether the ad is making sales or generating leads. Those that do have websites in their YP ads don’t go the extra step (possibly for reasons of lack of knowledge) and make use of simple technologies like autoresponders to compel their potential customers to take immediate action by offering a coupon, report, tip, course, etc., in exchange for an e-mail address that could be the start of a substantial list that they could market to again and again.

6. The ads suffer from sameness. Nothing on the ad compels the eyes of the customer towards it. This can understandably be more difficult in some markets, but I generally notice too many of the same-type ads and none of them have a compelling headline or call to action that makes them stand out.

Thanks

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brittlesnc

13 years ago

Wouldn't an easy way to find out if it's worth having a yellow page ad is to just track how many calls your yellow page ad generates and from there determine on average how many of those calls lead to sales?

Obviously if the yellow page ad is only responsible for $3K in gross sales for the year but costs about $4,500 for the year then it might not be a good return on investment unless the lifetime value of each customer can make up for the short fall but this also assumes that you'll be able to have the customer as a repeat customer.

Also, if $3K is gross you have to also take into consideration how much you netted from those sales after expenses and that will also make the ROI of YP ad more transparent

.

However, if I'm wrong someone please correct.

Thanks

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enterpryzman

13 years ago

Tracking with various phone #'s will work in retail situations or non-personal service business's BUT, if you are a brand and have long standing telephone #'s, you might not want another number.

Keep in mind what the OP was about....I was not talking about creating display ads in the book. It was about having to maintain a small ( non-design ) ad, listing which would not require tracking in any way, when I tell you I have to keep it, statistical tracking need not be done to determine how effective it is.

I have restated the purpose a couple times and explained the situation which will not change based on ideas of how to create ads and track results. If that is what anyone here is suggesting, they fail to understand the point here.

Once again, when you do what I have done and eliminated an actual display ad keeping only a bold listing, nothing is available to redesign or change.

Keep in mind that many local business clients are in this exact situation and they MUST keep a listing in the book and if you sell them a web advertising solution to replace completely their listing, you have given very bad advice and in my opinion should be sued. Make sure you know what you are talking about when you are selling your services.

Enterpryzman

Thanks

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$ 379. monthly

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